It is a happy coincidence that our first national day of Thanksgiving under the new Constitution in 1789 and this year’s holiday share the same calendar date. November 26 was widely celebrated 226 years ago by Americans with gatherings, feasts and prayers, as was yesterday.
At such an historical juncture, it’s interesting to compare and contrast then and now in terms of our national attitude—as expressed by the president and Congress—about the meaning of Thanksgiving.
The proclamation of 1789 establishing a Day of Thanksgiving and Prayer (the two were inextricable in those days) was George Washington’s first as president, and minces no words in its declarations.
“[I]t is the duty of all Nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God,” it potently begins, and then gets stronger, “to obey his will, to be grateful for his benefits, and humbly to implore his protection and favor …”
This language wasn’t just Washington’s, but Congress’, penned as a resolution contemporaneous to
the week with the proposed First Amendment.
A duty by definition is an obligation and a responsibility, not an option. And it’s worth noting the universal understanding: the duty wasn’t just America’s, but every nation’s.
In the second half of the proclamation’s first sentence, Washington names “Almighty God” again and credits him as the source of the people’s “opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness.”
Next, the first president recommends unity, not diversity, in our national approach: “That we may then all unite in rendering unto him our sincere and humble thanks.”
There’s precious little doubt regarding to whom thanks is owed. Washington described Almighty God as “the Author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be,” and called for collective gratitude for God’s protection before we became a nation, for God’s providence in the conclusion of the Revolutionary War, for God’s deliverance of tranquility and plenty since the war, and particularly for the Constitution “now lately instituted.”
Continuing an itemization of God’s blessings, Washington counted civil and religious liberty, means of acquiring and diffusing useful knowledge and “in general for all the great and various favors which he hath been pleased to confer upon us.”
Washington wasn’t done with worshipful admonitions, either. He next recommended “also that we may then 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.”
Beseech isn’t a pansy word. It means to fervently and urgently ask, not to casually request, and the object of the pleading didn’t stop with forgiveness.
Washington urged seeking God’s blessing to enable the people to be dutiful and punctual, to render the government wise and just, to protect our allies, to promote the practice of “true religion and virtue,” and “generally to grant unto all Mankind such a degree of temporal prosperity as he alone knows to be best.”
The document is nothing less than a God-fest. Indeed, if every sentence referencing God is deleted, all that’s left is this: “By the President of the United States of America, a Proclamation.”
Fast forward to 2015. Gone are any acknowledgments of national duty to God, as is the word “prayer” in conjunction with the “Day of Thanksgiving.”
This year’s proclamation is a humanistic mish-mash panacea that’s a cornucopia of pander.
“Rooted in a story of generosity and partnership …” it begins. The author evidently thought “Once upon a time” to be a tad trite.
Thanksgiving as viewed from the Oval Office today is a chance “for us to express our gratitude for the gifts we have and to show our appreciation for all we hold dear.”
Oh, and we also honor our men and women in uniform, and their selfless military families.
The modern proclamation then delves into a brief history lesson about the Pilgrims and the Wampanoag native Americans, before giving a nod to previous presidential proclamations by Washington and Abraham Lincoln.
The only mention of God in this year’s document is in quoted passages from those earlier proclamations.
There are feeble indirect references, such as including “silent prayers” (an interesting categorization) as an example of the “inherent selflessness and common goodness” of the American people, and paying tribute to “the same spirit of togetherness and thanksgiving” that inspired the 1621 event.
Economical with words, Washington used “all” to include every American.
The 2015 version takes pains to enumerate “people of every background and belief who contribute in their own unique ways to our country’s story” and who bring their own “traditions, cultures and recipes” to the holiday.
Obama encouraged that we “give thanks”—but failed to identify the intended recipient. Left unnamed, the unspoken implication smacks of a gratitude to government.
Washington unapologetically recommended (a stronger term than encouraged) that the people thank God.
Nobody puts Obama, or any modern leader, in Washington’s league, of course.
The point is, it isn’t the Constitution that has watered down our Thanksgiving proclamations.
A heaping holiday-helping of shame on those who want to hide behind it in their revisionist crusade of a secular America origin that never was.
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Dana D. Kelley is a freelance writer from
Jonesboro.