In addition to the general conviction that we ought to be grateful to live in a country where Thanksgiving is today a universal holiday comes these notions: the indigenous peoples who first inhabited this soil no doubt gave regular expressions of gratitude to their Maker; our first President, George Washington, issued a proclamation in his first year in office - LOC - highlighting our great national "union"; our greatest President, Abraham Lincoln, who strove to preserve that Union on more than one occasion issued proclamations urging the citizens of the U.S. to express their gratefulness to the Almighty for blessings received (we usually are referred to the Fall of 1863 - Natl Archives - but might overlook that after the Union victory at Gettysburg*); and our current President, Barack Obama, and U.S. Congress continue to extol the virtue of expressing thanks to our Creator by means of statute, statement, and example.
This is no mean thing. Take a look around the world ... and come back home in gratitude for this beacon of radiating light in a shrinking sea of darkness.
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* July 15, 1863, setting "Thursday, the 6th day of August next, to be observed as a day for national thanksgiving, praise, and prayer" - Pres Project
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