President George Washington issued the first Thanksgiving Proclamation (pictured below). Then, President Lincoln made it a federal holiday with his 1863 Proclamation. With that, he invited American citizens to “set apart… the last Thursday of November… as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens.”
The first presidential Thanksgiving Proclamation
First, here is a portion of the Thanksgiving Proclamation Issued by President George Washington on October 3, 1789:
“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… 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…Now, therefore, I do recommend and assign [the last] Thursday… of November… 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… .”
“Inestimable blessings”
Next, this is an excerpt from President Abraham Lincoln’s Thanksgiving Day Proclamation, dated October 20, 1864:
Now, therefore, I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States, do hereby appoint and set apart the last Thursday in November… as a day which I desire to be observed by all my fellow-citizens, wherever they may then be, as a day of thanksgiving and praise to Almighty God, the beneficent Creator and Ruler of the Universe. And I do further recommend to my fellow-citizens aforesaid that on that occasion they do reverently humble themselves in the dust and from thence offer up penitent and fervent prayers and supplications to the Great Disposer of Events for a return of the inestimable blessings of peace, union, and harmony throughout the land which it has pleased Him to assign as a dwelling place for ourselves and for our posterity throughout all generations.”
Finally, here is the first verse from “The President’s Hymn” written by William Augustus Muhlenburg for President Lincoln in 1863:
Give thanks, all ye people, give thanks to the Lord,
Alleluias of freedom with joyful accord:
Let the East and the West, North and South roll along,
Sea, mountain and prairie, one thanksgiving song.
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