Skip to main content

Ulysses S. Grant's Proclamation of a Day of Thanksgiving, 1871

Share This article

National Thanksgiving Proclamation by the President:

The procession of the seasons has again enabled the husbandman to garner the fruits of successful toil. Industry has been generally well awarded. We are at peace with all nations, and tranquility, with few exceptions, prevails at home. Within the past year we have in the main been free from the ills which elsewhere have affected our kind.

If some of us have had calamities, there should be an occasion for sympathy with the sufferers, of resignation on their part to the will of the Most High, and of rejoicing to the many who have been more favored.

I therefore recommend that on Thursday, the 30th day of November next, the people meet in their respective places of worship, and there make the usual acknowledgments to Almighty God for the blessings he has conferred upon them; for their merciful exemption from evil, and invoke His protection and kindness for their less fortunate brethren whom, in His wisdom he has deemed it best to chastise.

In witness 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 twenty-eighth day of October, in the year of our Lord, one thousand eight hundred and seventy one, and of the Independence of the Untied States of America the ninety-sixth.

By the President,

Ulysses S. Grant.

Hamilton Fish, Secretary of State

Share This article

About The Author

CBN Social Icon
The Christian
Broadcasting Network

The Christian Broadcasting Network (CBN) is a global ministry committed to preparing the nations of the world for the coming of Jesus Christ through mass media communication. For over 60 years, CBN has proclaimed the Good News to 156 countries and territories, with programs and content translated into 76 languages making it one of the largest television ministries in the world. With its many subsidiary and affiliate organizations, CBN goes beyond the bounds of broadcasting to reach the world with a message of hope of Jesus Christ. Learn more about the impact CBN is making around the world at