A Thanksgiving Message from George Washington
In honor of it being thanksgiving I want to include George Washington’s Thanksgiving Proclamation he gave in 1789.
Whereas it is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits, and humbly to implore His protection and favor; and Whereas both Houses of Congress have, by their joint committee, requested me to “recommend to the people of the United States a day of public thanksgiving and prayer, to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many and signal favors of Almighty God, especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness:”
Now, therefore, I do recommend and assign Thursday, the 26th day of November next, to be devoted by the people of these States to the service of that great and glorious Being who is the beneficent author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be; that we may then all unite in rendering unto Him our sincere and humble thanks for His kind care and protection of the people of this country previous to their becoming a nation; for the signal and manifold mercies and the favorable interpositions of His providence in the course and conclusion of the late war; for the great degree of tranquility, union, and plenty which we have since enjoyed; for the peaceable and rational manner in which we have been unable to establish constitutions of government for our safety and happiness, and particularly the national one now lately instituted for the civil and religious liberty with which we are blessed, and the means we have of acquiring and diffusing useful knowledge; and, in general, for all the great and various favors which He has been pleased to confer upon us.
And also that we may then unite in most humbly offering our prayers and supplications to the great Lord and Ruler of Nations and beseech Him to pardon our national and other transgressions; to enable us all, whether in public or private stations, to perform our several and relative duties properly and punctually; to render our National Government a blessing to all the people by constantly being a Government of wise, just, and constitutional laws, discreetly and faithfully executed and obeyed; to protect and guide all sovereigns and nations (especially such as have shown kindness to us), and to bless them with good governments, peace, and concord; to promote the knowledge and practice of true religion and virtue, and the increase of science among them and us; and, generally to grant unto all mankind such a degree of temporal prosperity as He alone knows to be best.
I want to use this post to share how thankful I am to be living in America. Living in America is a great blessing that comes with immense responsibility. America is the “land of the free and home of the brave.” It’s in America that a person may worship as he pleases. America is the land of equal opportunity a place where everyone is given a chance at success. In America we can express our views freely and speak our minds. America is a nation greatly blessed by God. I truly am blessed by God to be living in such a free and beautiful country. And let’s not forget it was God who made this country into what it is today. It is because of an Almighty God we are free.
Happy Thanksgiving and God Bless America.
Jackie Seal 
See, this is what Presidential hope is.
That man had a way with words Barry could not hope to manage. I have yet to tear up to ‘ole Barry, but George can get me going.
Thanks for the words.
Greetings from a New Zealand liberal, good to see a lass your age taking an interest in politics.
But let me ask you a couple of awkward questions, as a conservative I take it you are against socialism, if so do you believe that social security, medicare, medicaid should all be dropped because they are socialistic programs.
If you do not want them dropped, why not ?
Should US conservative states get more money from all US taxpayers via Washington DC than what they put in ?
If yes, why ?
I’m not Jackie, but I have to respond to your comment. I realize that Oz is a Socialist Country, so I can understand why you would not understand some of the politics of the U.S.
Social Security should never have become a form of welfare. There are people being paid S.S. benefits who never contributed one dime to the fund. Years ago it should have been converted to private individual accounts investing in solid no risk bonds. By the time for retirement came around, we could live a very comfortable life. I am retired and receive S.S.I. The pittance I get is way less than what I get from my private retirement fund, way less.
Medicare and Medicaid are both welfare plain and simple and should be scrapped.
The Federal Gov. has grown into a monster that the Founding Fathers would never have allowed. All Americans should be taxed no more than 5% of income to the Feds and 5% to the State.
That would give the Feds and the States the money to do what they are supposed to do. No Federal give backs to the states. I do not belong to the”Gimme, Gimme” crowd. I have worked my entire life and never asked for anything. We raised two wonderful successful daughters, with no handout from anyone. We paid for their college and weddings out of our own pockets. Who would have thunk you could do that? Thank you very much.
Thanks so much for sharing this. Happy Thanksgiving.
Jackie,
Thank you for sharing your witness. Our lives, our nation, our very being are blessings from a loving God. The opening line of the Doxology said it all: “Praise God from Whom all blessings flow.”
Here’s wishing you and your family a blessed and happy Thanksgiving.
Jackie,
Thanks for the postings and the thought (and heart) that went into them – each one! Clearly you are but speaking the convictions sourced within. For that, I not only say a heartfelt “thank you” to you . . . but also give glory to God. He will abundantly use you in the days ahead, Jackie. Keep meditatin’ and articulatin’ kid!!! Way to go!
yea, um… i think you’ve forgotten some people for whom this country still guarantees neither equal treatment (de facto or de jure), nor equal the inalienable rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. for example: homosexuals, african americans, latino/a americans, women, and others.
Additionally, you might consider that in the 233 years since the Declaration of Independence, other nations have made immense strides towards implementing governments that do guarantee these rights, and others, to all citizens through various strategies.
In fact, if you checked any of the most comprehensive studies, you may be surprised to find that our country is not (at least, statistically) the greatest country in which to live. On the Human Development Index, we are 13, and while we may have the highest GDP of any single country in the world (except the EU), our per capita GDP really isn’t that impressive.
But you’re right, we do have a lot of things for which to be thankful. Our economy is no longer based on chattel slavery, although it does take advantage of the outcome of systematically disrupting an entire people’s most basic form of human capital, leaving them economically impotent in a postindustrial urban wasteland from which they lack the tools to escape. Oh wait, and that process of disruption didn’t end in 1865… it persisted through Jim Crow until 1953. And it still took another decade for the passage of a civil rights bill. All that time, white people have been making more money, stabilizing the family unit as a support system, accumulating wealth and assets, and monopolizing the best of the education system through the most indetectable combination of politics and subterfuge.
Yea, we should definitely ‘get back to the constitution,’ which allowed a large portion of the nation’s constituents to be considered four-fifths of a man in determining how the very men who brutally subjugated them would be represented the slave states in congress.
Just ignore the fact that slavery boosted the American economy by eliminating labor costs, thus maximizing profits, and that this economic strength was one of the major sources of strength in fighting what our founding fathers called ‘oppression.’
Dude, you might want to check out the Democrat “Race” lies since you’re on about preaching about slavery and blacks and such. And the only place there is inequality in the “races” is within the liberal mindset and within “affirmative action”. Oh, and in liberals’ treatment of women like Sarah Palin, Michelle Bauchman, Margaret Thatcher, Susan B Anthony, etc, ad infinitum, you have unequal treatment of women.
You really should do your homework before appearing on a site where people actually do their homework.
And, dude, name the two co-founders of the NAACP, their gender, their “race”, their political affiliation. Go ahead, give it a shot.
Time to chase the trolls back under their bridge …