Thanksgiving Day thoughts by a Founding Father

Having a master degree in History, this is what my dad read to us at our family Thanksgiving meal.


Thanksgiving Proclamation 1795

President George Washington

"It is in an especial manner our duty as a people, with devout reverence and affectionate gratitude to

acknowledge our many and great obligations to Almighty God, and to implore Him to continue and confirm

the blessings we experienced...I, George Washington, President of the United States, do recommend to

all...Persons whosoever within the United States, to set apart and observe (Thanksgiving Day) as a day of

public thanksgiving and prayer, and on that day to meet together and render sincere and hearty thanks to the

great Ruler of nations for the manifold and signal mercies which distinguish our lot as a nation...And at the

same time humbly and fervently beseech the kind Author of these blessings graciously to prolong them to us;

to imprint on our hearts a deep and solemn sense of our obligations to Him for them; to teach us rightly to

estimate their immense value; to preserve us from the arrogance of prosperity...To dispose us to merit the

continuance of His favors by not abusing them, by our gratitude for them, and by a corresponding conduct as

citizens and as men to render this country more and more a safe....Asylum for the unfortunate of other

countries; to extend among us true and useful knowledge; to diffuse and establish habits of sobriety, order,

and morality and piety, and finally in impart all the blessings we possess or ask for ourselves to the whole

family of mankind.

In testimony whereof, I have caused the seal of the United States of America to be affixed to these presents,

and signed the same with my hand, George Washington.