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PROCLAMATION
Thanksgiving
James
Madison, 1815
The
Senate and House of Representatives of the United States
have by a joint resolution signified their desire that a
day may be recommended to be observed by the people of the
United States with religious solemnity as a day of thanksgiving
and of devout acknowledgments to Almighty God for His great
goodness manifested in restoring to them the blessing of
peace.
No
people ought to feel greater obligations to celebrate the
goodness of the Great Disposer of Events and of the Destiny
of Nations than the people of the United States. His kind
providence originally conducted them to one of the best
portions of the dwelling place allotted for the great family
of the human race. He protected and cherished them under
all the difficulties and trials to which they were exposed
in their early days. Under His fostering care their habits,
their sentiments, and their pursuits prepared them for a
transition in due time to a state of independence and self-government.
In the arduous struggle by which it was attained they were
distinguished by multiplied tokens of His benign interposition.
During the interval which succeeded He reared them into
the strength and endowed them with the resources which have
enabled them to assert their national rights and to enhance
their national character in another arduous conflict, which
is now so happily terminated by a peace and reconciliation
with those who have been our enemies. And to the same Divine
Author of Every Good and Perfect Gift we are indebted for
all those privileges and advantages, religious as well as
civil, which are so richly enjoyed in this favored land.
It
is for blessings such as these, and more especially for
the restoration of the blessing of peace, that I now recommend
that the second Thursday in April next be set apart as a
day on which the people of every religious denomination
may in their solemn assemblies unite their hearts and their
voices in a freewill offering to their Heavenly Benefactor
of their homage of thanksgiving and of their songs of praise.
Given
at the city of Washington on the 4th day of March, A. D.
1815, and of the Independence of the United States the thirty-ninth.
[seal.] JAMES
MADISON
Source:
II A Compilation of the Messages and Papers of the Presidents
545-46 (James D. Richardson ed., 1897)
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