As I told you, I am filled with awe at the knowledge that I have and ancestor that participated in the First Thanksgiving in Plymouth, and loved reading what he had to say about it in "Of Plymouth Plantation"
I was fascinated to learn as I thought my children about the Holiday to learn it wasn't until much later that it became an official day of thanksgiving. I had just grown up with the wonderful family gatherings thinking it was always there. I am posting the original Massachusetts Centinel Oct.14 1789 published Proclamation.
I love the profession of faith, the humbleness of the Proclamation and admonitions for the Nation. You can get this at the website called Archiving America. Just Click on the yellow lettering. It is a great site for Colonial periods to the Civil War. Haven't explored further than that.
The second Thanksgiving Proclamation came from Abraham Lincoln. Here is his speech as available at the Abraham Lincoln Association
"The year that is drawing towards its close, has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies. To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which they come, others have been added, which are of so extraordinary a nature, that they cannot fail to penetrate and soften even the heart which is habitually insensible to the ever watchful providence of Almighty God. In the midst of a civil war of unequalled magnitude and severity, which has sometimes seemed to foreign States to invite and to provoke their aggression, peace has been preserved with all nations, order has been maintained, the laws have been respected and obeyed, and harmony has prevailed everywhere except in the theatre of military conflict; while that theatre has been greatly contracted by the advancing armies and navies of the Union. Needful diversions of wealth and of strength from the fields of peaceful industry to the national defence, have not arrested the plough, the shuttle, or the ship; the axe had enlarged the borders of our settlements, and the mines, as well of iron and coal as of the precious metals, have yielded even more abundantly than heretofore. Population has steadily increased, notwithstanding the waste that has been made in the camp, the siege and the battle-field; and the country, rejoicing in the consciousness of augmented strength and vigor, is permitted to expect continuance of years, with large increase of freedom.
"No human counsel hath devised nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy.
"It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently and gratefully acknowledged as with one heart and voice by the whole American people. I do therefore invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next, as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens. And I recommend to them that while offering up the ascriptions justly due to Him for such singular deliverances and blessings, they do also, with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience, commend to his tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably engaged, and fervently implore the interposition of the Almighty Hand to heal the wounds of the nation and to restore it as soon as may be consistent with the Divine purposes to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquillity and Union."
Abraham Lincoln, October 3, 1863
Sorry this was long, but I feel the words deep within myself and wanted to share with whomever would like to read.
May you have a blessed day.
What a great post! I knew that Lincoln was a spiritual man, but didn't realize that his words were so powerful!
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