Thanksgiving

Today is Thanksgiving day. This is a day that was set aside by the earliest settlers here to give thanks to God. It was later proclaimed by President Washington to be a national day to give thanks to God on 10/03/1789. President Lincoln proclaimed it a national holiday on the last Thursday of November. I am including the text of Washington’s proclamation, but I would recommend you study the holiday for yourself in-depth and teach your children and any other children about it. You had better study as many of the documents of our founding fathers as you can since, as I was starting to type this, a report came over Sean Hannity’s radio show that a teacher in Los Angeles has been ordered by his principal that he cannot distribute materials that refer to God or Christianity. It does not matter that the document in question is THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE! That is right, folks. Fifth-Graders are not supposed to read it, according to this principle. I found a link to a Reuters Story http://www.reuters.com/printerFriendlyPopup.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=6911883 on http://www.drudgereport.com/ and the actual legal document on www.thesmokinggun.com the link to the story and document is http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/1124041declar1.html

Hmmm, I wonder which side the ACLU will take? Anyway, I will tell you all about the feast our family will have in a couple of days, after I get done digesting.

George Washington’s 1789 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 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 enable 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 show 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.

Given under my hand, at the city of New York, the 3d dy of October, A.D. 1789.

(signed) G. Washington