Leadership Lessons From The Great Books

Because understanding great literature is better than trying to read and understand

yet another business book on the Leadership Lessons from the Great Books

Podcast, we commit to reading, dissecting, and analyzing the great

books of the Western canon. You know, those

books from Jane Austen to Shakespeare and everything else in

between that you might have fallen asleep trying to read in high

school. We do this for our listeners, the owner, the

entrepreneur, the manager, or the civic leader who doesn't have the time

to read, dissect, analyze, and leverage insights from

literature to execute leadership best practices in the

confusing and chaotic postmodern world we all now

inhabit. Welcome to the rescuing of Western

Civilization at the intersection of literature

and leadership. Welcome to the Leadership Lessons from

the Great Books Podcast from the Fred W.

Smith National Library for the Study of George

Washington and Mount Vernon Thanksgiving

by T.K. Byron, Ph.D., Assistant

Professor of History, Dalton. State College

Quote since the settlement of. The colonies, Americans were

familiar with setting. Aside days of thanksgiving, prayer, and

fasting. In response to significant events.

In 1789, President George Washington issued a

proclamation designating November 26th of that year as a national

day of Thanksgiving to recognize the role of Providence in creating

the new United States and the new federal Constitution.

Later, President Abraham Lincoln took steps towards designating it a

permanent federal holiday. Americans

traditionally recognize the first Thanksgiving as having taken place at

Plymouth Colony in the autumn of 1621.

The separatist Puritan settlers of Plymouth, known as Pilgrims,

held a feast after their first harvest as a way of thanking God for their

blessings. Invited to their observance were members of the neighboring

Wampanoag tribe, among whom such a harvest celebration was also

neither unfamiliar nor uncommon.

The 1621 Thanksgiving celebration, however, did not become an annual event.

Rather, residents of Plymouth and the other colonies held days

of thanksgiving and fasting over the years at different times of the year

and for a variety of reasons.

During the American Revolution, the practice continued. Colonial

legislatures set aside days of prayer to recognize military victories against

the British Army. After British General John Burgoyne

surrendered to the Americans at Saratoga, New York, in

October 1777, the Continental Congress suggested that a national

day be set aside to recognize the victory. Commander

of the Continental Army, General George Washington agreed, proclaiming

December 18, 1777, as the first national

Thanksgiving Day. The Continental Congress supported similar

Thanksgiving proclamations through 1784.

In 1789, Representative Elias

Boudinot from New Jersey presented a resolution requesting that

Congress persuade the now President of Washington to

declare Thanksgiving observance in honor of the creation of the new United States

Constitution. Congress agreed and passed the

resolution creating a joint committee to make their request to the

President, Washington issued a proclamation on October

3, 1789, designating Thursday, November 26,

as a national day of thanks. In

his proclamation, Washington declared that the necessity for such a day

sprung from the Almighty's care of Americans prior to the Revolution,

assistance to them in achieving independence, and help in

establishing the constitutional government. Not ignoring the

authority of state governments, Washington distributed his proclamation to the

governors, requesting that they announce and observe the day within

their states. Newspapers throughout the country

subsequently published the proclamation, and public celebrations

were held. Washington himself marked the day by attending

services at St. Paul's Chapel in New York City and by donating

beer and food to imprisoned debtors in the city.

The 1789 Thanksgiving proclamation, however, did not

establish a permanent federal holiday. Washington

issued another proclamation in February 1795 to recognize the

defeat of a taxation rebellion in Pennsylvania. Later

presidents, including John Adams and James Madison,

declared days of thanksgiving, but it. Was not until the Civil war

of. The 1860s that President Lincoln

initiated a regular observance of thanksgiving in the

United states. From the Mount

Vernon Educational Resources

Thanksgiving Proclamation of 1789

by the President of the United States of America. A. Proclamation

Whereas it is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of

Almighty God, to obey his will, to be grateful for

his benefits, and humbly to implore his protection and faith

favor and whereas both houses of Congress have by their joint committee

requested me to recommend to the people of the United States

a day of public thanksgiving and prayer, to be observed by acknowledging with

grateful hearts the many signal favors of Almighty God,

especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a

form of government for their safety and happiness. Now

therefore do I recommend and Assign Thursday, the

26th day of November next, to 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, that we may then all unite in.

Rendering unto him our sincere and humble. Thanks for his kind care and

protection of the people of this country previous to their becoming a nation for

the signal and manifold mercies, and the favorable interpositions

of His Providence which we experienced in the course and conclusion of the late

war, for the great degree of tranquility, union, and plenty

which we have since enjoyed for the peaceable and rational manner in

which we have been enabled to establish constitutions of government for our

safety and happiness, and particularly the national one now

lately instituted, for the civil and religious liberty with

which we are blessed, and the means we have 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 and 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 to enable us all,

whether in public or private stations, to perform our several and relative

duties properly and punctually to render our national

government a blessing to all the people, by constantly being

a government of wise, just, and constitutional laws,

discreetly and faithfully executed and obeyed to protect and guide all

sovereigns and nations, especially such as have shown

kindness unto us, and to bless them with good government,

peace and concord, to promote the knowledge and practice of

true religion and virtue, and the increase of science

among them and us and generally to grant unto all

mankind such a degree of temporal prosperity as he

alone knows to be best

given under my hand at the City of New York, the third day of

October in the year of our Lord

1789.

President George Washington

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