The 1st National
Thanksgiving Proclamation , November
1, 1777 By the Continental Congress
FORASMUCH as it is the indispensable duty of all men
to adore the superintending Providence of Almighty God; to acknowledge
with gratitude their obligation to Him for benefits received, and
to implore such farther blessings as they stand in need of; and it
having pleased Him in His abundant mercy not only to continue to
us the innumerable bounties of His common Providence...
IT IS THEREFORE recommended to the legislative or
executive powers of these United States, to set apart Thursday,
the eighteenth day of December next, for solemn thanksgiving and
praise;
THAT with one heart and one voice the good people
may express the grateful feelings of their hearts and consecrate
themselves to the service of their Divine Benefactor; and that
together with their sincere acknowledgments and offerings, they
may join the penitent confession of their manifold sins, whereby
they had forfeited every favour, and their humble and earnest supplication
that it may please God, through the merits of Jesus Christ, mercifully
to forgive and blot them out of remembrance;
THAT it may please Him graciously to afford His blessing
on the government of these states respectively, and prosper the
public council of the whole; to inspire our commanders both by
land and sea, and all under them, with that wisdom and fortitude
which may render them fit instruments, under the Providence of
Almighty God, to secure for these United Sates, the greatest of
all human blessings, independence and peace.
THAT it may please Him, to
prosper the trade and manufactures of the people, and the labour
of the husbandman, that our land may yet yield its increase;
to take schools and seminaries of education, so necessary for
cultivating the principles of true liberty, virtue and piety,
under His nurturing land, and to prosper the mEans of religion
for the promotion and enlargement of that kingdom which consisteth "in
righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Ghost."
AND IT IS further recommended, that servile labour,
and such recreation as, though at other times innocent, may be
unbecoming the purpose of this appointment, be omitted on so solemn
an occasion.