Americans need Thanksgiving – our founders knew the value of this moment

In October 1789, George Washington issued our nation’s first Thanksgiving proclamation, declaring that Thursday, Nov. 26 would 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.”

Washington was just a few months into his first term. It was far from clear that our fledgling nation would survive, much less still be thriving over two centuries later.

Yet Washington found much to be thankful for.

He called upon Americans to be “united in rendering unto [God] our sincere and humble thanks” for what we had. He recounted how God’s provision had been evident throughout the history of the nation, from settling the colonies to making it through a difficult war. The nation’s statesmen had come to a peaceable ratification of the new Constitution. Americans lived in a land with “civil and religious liberty.” The new president was grateful.