Happy Thanksgiving
WHEREAS, Both the 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 kno wledge; and, in general, for all the great and various favors which He has been pleased to confer upon us.
And also that we may the n 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.
--George Washington - October 3, 1789
Putting any and all personal beliefs, interpretations, or any other distractions the above should forever put to rest the question of our founding fathers intent with respect to religion in our uniquely America society and culture.
To all, however you observe this American Holiday ... Happy Thanksgiving!
Cross posted to the Left Coast Rebel.
I wonder if God still provides any men like that? It sure doesn't seem so. Have a nice thanksgiving.
ReplyDeleteHappy Thanksgiving Les...
ReplyDeleteLes,
ReplyDeleteLoved this post. People simply do not speak like this anymore.
However, as I read it, it dawned on me that if George were alive today and said such things aloud, he would have been vilified as a "right-wing Christian militant trying to force his religion down our throats".
The Freedom From Religion group would have been beside themselves in horror and the ACLU would have said that George blatantly violated the non-existent "separation of church and State" concept that isn't even in our Constitution to the cries of support from God-haters and liberals alike.
Anyhoos...
Thanksgiving 2010 is now just another footnote in our Nation's history, and tomorrow will bring with it new struggles and troubles. I can only hope that the feelings we had today, feelings of thankfulness to God, democracy, freedom, or what have you, will remain as a fire in our hearts.
Today was a day of peace. Tomorrow we all return to the battlefronts of our Nation.
Long Live the Republic.
Donald in Bethel, CT
A few quotes, from a single speech (a political speech at that) by a single person is not sufficient grounds by which to "forever put to rest the question of our founding fathers intent with respect to religion ..."
ReplyDeleteThe founding fathers were a fractious lot and to maintain that they were of a single mind on important political issues is to do them a grave intellectual injustice.
There was no love lost between Washington and my favorite founding father, Jefferson. Such was the enmity between them that, after Washington's death, Martha Washington remarked that the worst day of her life was when her husband died and the second worst was when Jefferson visited Mount Vernon to pay his respects.
Some additional food for thought from Jefferson:
'Believing with you that religion is a matter which lies solely between man and his God, that he owes account to none other for his faith or his worship, that the legislative powers of government reach actions only, and not opinions, I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should "make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof," thus building a wall of separation between church and State.'
"Some men look at constitutions with sanctimonious reverence and deem them like the ark of the covenant, too sacred to be touched. They ascribe to the men of the preceding age a wisdom more than human and suppose what they did to be beyond amendment. I knew that age well; I belonged to it and labored with it. It deserved well of its country. It was very like the present but without the experience of the present; and forty years of experience in government is worth a century of book-reading; and this they would say themselves were they to rise from the dead."
"I am certainly not an advocate for frequent and untried changes in laws and constitutions. I think moderate imperfections had better be borne with; because, when once known, we accommodate ourselves to them, and find practical means of correcting their ill effects. But I know also, that laws and institutions must go hand in hand with the progress of the human mind. As that becomes more developed, more enlightened, as new discoveries are made, new truths disclosed, and manners and opinions change with the change of circumstances, institutions must advance also, and keep pace with the times."
"I hope we shall crush in its birth the aristocracy of our monied corporations which dare already to challenge our government to a trial by strength, and bid defiance to the laws of our country." -- Thomas Jefferson
"Under a separation of state and economics, especially with laissez-faire capitalism [Free Trade], the state no longer has a role to play in protecting the people and assuring their happiness. Laissez-faire means capitalism is outside the regulatory control of the state and that the people are entirely at the mercy of the capitalists."