From
the earliest days of America’s history, our forebears offered frequent
and fervent prayers of thanksgiving to God. In our giant compilation of
America’s great historical documents, called THE FREEDOM DOCUMENTS,
we include the very first Thanksgiving Proclamation rendered in this
new land. The date was June 20, 1676. On this day, the governing council
of Charlestown, Massachusetts, held a meeting to determine how best to
express thanks for the blessings of Divine Providence that had seen
their community securely established. By unanimous vote they instructed
Edward Rawson, the clerk, to proclaim June 29 as a day of thanksgiving,
America’s first. America’s first Thanksgiving Proclamation says in part
(spelling in the original):
The
Council has thought meet to appoint and set apart the 29th day of this
instant June, as a day of Solemn Thanksgiving and praise to God for such
his Goodness and Favour, many Particulars of which mercy might be
Instanced, but we doubt not those who are sensible of God’s Afflictions,
have been as diligent to espy him returning to us; and that the Lord
may behold us as a People offering Praise and thereby glorifying Him;
the Council doth commend it to the Respective Ministers, Elders and
people of this Jurisdiction; Solemnly and seriously to keep the same
Beseeching that being perswaded by the mercies of God we may all, even
this whole people offer up our bodies and souls as a living and
acceptable Service unto God by Jesus Christ.
I
don’t think it was coincidental or circumstantial that one hundred
years from this day (almost to the day) the Continental Congress
received Richard Henry Lee’s resolution for a Declaration of
Independence from Great Britain. (We have Richard Henry Lee’s Resolution for Independence in THE FREEDOM DOCUMENTS as well.)
All
told, we have 212 full-size (8½ x 11) pages containing 57 of the
greatest documents of American history compiled under ONE title. We call
this magnificent collection THE FREEDOM DOCUMENTS. There isn’t another
book like it in existence. This book is absolutely essential to the
knowledge of American history.
THE FREEDOM DOCUMENTS are being printed and distributed RIGHT NOW.
The
first Thanksgiving Proclamation issued by the revolutionary Continental
Congress was on November 1, 1777, and authored by Samuel Adams. It
reads in part:
FORASMUCH
as it is the indispensible duty of all men to adore the superintending
providence of Almighty God; to acknowledge with gratitude their
obligation to Him for benefits received . . .
It
is therefore recommended . . . to set apart THURSDAY the eighteenth day
of December next, for SOLEMN THANKSGIVING AND PRAISE: That at one time
and with one voice, the good people may express the grateful feeling 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 sins, whereby
they had forfeited every favor; and their humble and earnest
supplications 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 . . . 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.” {Quoting Romans 14:17}
Remember,
Sam Adams penned this Thanksgiving Proclamation in the midst of the
Revolutionary War, when the sufferings from war were at their worst—and
when the outcome of the war was very much in doubt.
After
our War for Independence had been successfully concluded and our
Constitution and Bill of Rights had been adopted, a motion was made in
Congress to initiate the proclamation of a National Day of Thanksgiving.
Mr.
Elias Boudinot (who was the President of Congress during the American
Revolution) said he could not think of letting the congressional session
pass over without offering an opportunity to all the citizens of the
United States of joining with one voice in returning to Almighty God
their sincere thanks for the many blessings He had poured down upon
them. Mr. Roger Sherman (a signer of both the Declaration of
Independence and the Constitution) justified the practice of
thanksgiving on any signal event not only as a laudable one in itself
but as warranted by a number of precedents in Holy Writ. This example he
thought worthy of a Christian imitation on the present occasion, and he
would agree with the gentleman who moved the resolution.
The
following is taken from the Congressional Record (U.S. Senate),
September 26, 1789 (the House version passed on September 25):
Resolved,
That a joint committee of both Houses be appointed to wait on the
President of the United States, to request that he would 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 constitution of government for their safety and happiness.
Ordered, That Messrs. Boudinot, Sherman, and Sylvester be appointed of the said committee on the part of this House.
Resolved,
That the Senate do concur in the above recited resolution, and that
Messrs. Johnson and Izard be the committee on the part of the Senate.
This
resolution was delivered to President George Washington, who readily
agreed with its suggestion and put forth the following proclamation by
his signature:
Thanksgiving Proclamation
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 thanks-giving and prayer to be
observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many 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, which we experienced 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 enabled 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 hath been pleased to confer upon us.
Given under my hand at the city of New York the third day of October in the year of our Lord 1789. George Washington
America’s
Pilgrim and Patriot forebears led our country in offering continual
prayers of thanksgiving to God. They genuinely believed that America’s
independence, peace and prosperity were due to a divine work of
providence from the hand of a merciful, benevolent Creator and Redeemer.
Tragically,
the spirit of humility and thanksgiving that birthed this great country
has all but vanished. When expressions of thanksgiving are extended,
they are not rendered to a gracious Divine Providence but to
self-aggrandizing politicians. And for the most part, politicians are
not humble servants of the people but proud, arrogant, self-serving
charlatans. They respect neither the Natural Laws of God nor the
constitutions of the people who elected them. Even worse is the fact
that many (if not most) professing Christians seem to prefer their
politicians that way.
But
only people who are filled with the spirit of humility and gratitude
can expect the favor and blessing of Heaven. As one reads America’s
history, he or she must be impressed with the spirit of humility and
gratitude that commonly resided within the hearts of the great men and
women who birthed and built this once-free nation.
Read the great documents contained in THE FREEDOM DOCUMENTS, and one will easily see this spirit of thanksgiving resident in the hearts of America’s patriots—past and present:
From the Mayflower Compact to Patrick Henry’s Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death speech to the personal letters between John and Abigail Adams to the Virginia Bill of Rights to Thomas Paine’s The American Crisis to Ben Franklin’s Call to Prayer to America’s Declaration of Independence to George Washington’s Farewell Address to William Barret Travis’ Letter to The People of Texas at the Alamo to Grover Cleveland’s First Inaugural Address and to Ron Paul’s Farewell Address to Congress,
one will read and sense the ubiquitous spirit of respect and reverence
for and thanksgiving to Almighty God and the principles of Natural Law.
Once
again, THE FREEDOM DOCUMENTS are available RIGHT NOW. Our supply will
not last long. Now you can have the great documents of American history
at your fingertips in one beautiful volume.
To learn more or to order THE FREEDOM DOCUMENTS, go here:
THE FREEDOM DOCUMENTS
HAPPY THANKSGIVING!
© Chuck Baldwin
