A Thanksgiving Day Proclaimation by President Andrew Johnson
Thanksgiving Day
Proclamation
By the President of the United States of America
October 28, 1865
October 28, 1865
Whereas it has pleased Almighty God
during the year which is now coming to an end to relieve our beloved country
from the fearful scourge of civil war and to permit us to secure the blessings
of peace, unity, and harmony, with a great enlargement of civil liberty; and
Whereas our Heavenly Father has also
during the year graciously averted from us the calamities of foreign war,
pestilence, and famine, while our granaries are full of the fruits of an
abundant season; and
Whereas righteousness exalteth a
nation, while sin is a reproach to any people:
Now, therefore, be it known that I,
Andrew Johnson, President of the United States, do hereby recommend to the
people thereof that they do set apart and observe the first Thursday of
December next as a day of national thanksgiving to the Creator of the Universe
for these great deliverances and blessings.
And I do further recommend that on
that occasion the whole people make confession of our national sins against His
infinite goodness, and with one heart and one mind implore the divine guidance
in the ways of national virtue and holiness.
In testimony whereof I have hereunto
set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed.
Done at the city of Washington, this
28th day of October, A.D. 1865, and of the Independence of the United States of
America the ninetieth.
ANDREW JOHNSON.
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