Thanksgiving and appeal - 1777
John Trumball's painting showing the surrender of General Burgoyne.
Introduction
In 1777, British general John Burgoyne surrendered to American general Horatio Gates at Saratoga, which proved to be a turning point in the United States’ revolutionary war. Samuel Adams, Rev. John Witherspoon, and Richard Henry Lee proposed the following resolution to Congress, which passed it on this day, November 1, 1777. The legislators did not consign their thanks and petitions to a vague Providence, but rested their invocation on the “merits of Jesus Christ.” (Congress had observed religious forms from its day of inception.)
Quote
“FORASMUCH as it is the indispensable Duty of all Men to adore the superintending Providence of Almighty God; to acknowledge with Gratitude their Obligation to him for benefits received, and to implore such farther Blessings as they stand in Need of. . . .
“It is therefore recommended to the legislative or executive powers of these United States, to set apart THURSDAY, the eighteenth Day of December next, for Solemn Thanksgiving and Praise; That with one Heart and one Voice the good People may express the grateful Feelings of their Hearts, and consecrate themselves to the Service of their Divine Benefactor; and that together with their sincere Acknowledgments and Offerings, they may join the penitent Confession of their manifold Sins, whereby they had forfeited every Favour, and their humble and earnest Supplication that it may please GOD, through the Merits of Jesus Christ, mercifully to forgive and blot them out of Remembrance; That it may please him graciously to afford his Blessing on the Governments of these States respectively, and prosper the public Council of the whole; to inspire our Commanders both by Land and Sea, and all under them, with that Wisdom and Fortitude which may render them fit Instruments, under the Providence of Almighty GOD, to secure for these United States the greatest of all human blessings, INDEPENDENCE and PEACE; That it may please him to prosper the Trade and Manufactures of the People and the Labour of the Husbandman, that our Land may yet yield its Increase; To take Schools and Seminaries of Education, so necessary for cultivating the Principles of true Liberty, Virtue and Piety, under his nurturing Hand, and to prosper the Means of Religion for the promotion and enlargement of that Kingdom which consisteth ‘in Righteousness, Peace and Joy in the Holy Ghost’ . . . .”
Extract from the Minutes, Charles Thomson, Secretary, Journals of the American Congress From 1774 to 1788 as quoted in Leben, 2#4 (2006).