Happy Thanksgiving! In the words of George Washington, I, too, am thankful "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 he hath been pleased to confer upon us."
Read the full text of George Washington's first Thanksgiving Proclamation: http://lcweb2.loc.gov/ammem/GW/gw004.html
On October 3, 1789, President George Washington issued the first Thanksgiving Proclamation for our new country. Congress had issued them prior to the founding of our new nation, but this proclamation of Washington's set aside Thursday, November 26, 1789 as a day of Thanksgiving. Later, on October 3, 1863, President Lincoln issued a proclamation of Thanksgiving setting the last Thursday of November as a national holiday -- a day of Thanksgiving. I don;t think it was a coincidence that Lincoln dated his proclamation the same day as Washington's. Amazing, isn't it?
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