Thanksgiving Thought: America’s Founders Knew Better
Thanksgiving Thought: America’s Founders Knew Better
There’s no doubt about it: America’s Founders were genuinely religious people, and smart. They rejected the idea of a monarchy based on divine right, theocratic government, and secular extremist government. They established a moderate secular government that publicly and gratefully acknowledged God and the dependence of America’s government and America’s people upon God. They supported religion generally, without establishing an official national religion and with respect for the private right of conscience. The believed that human rights came from God. Thus, America’s Declaration of Independence proclaimed: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed….” They believed in freedom of religion, not freedom from religion.
Herewith the first Thanksgiving Proclamation issued in 1789 by George Washington, as the first President of the United States of America under the Constitution, after a request by Congress:
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