The goodness and the mercy of God, which have followed the American
people during all the days of the past year, claim their grateful
recognition and humble acknowledgment. By His omnipotent power He has
protected us from war and pestilence and from every national calamity;
by His gracious favor the earth has yielded a generous return to the
labor of the husbandman, and every path of holiest toil has led to
comfort and contentment; by His loving kindness the hearts of our people
have been replenished with fraternal sentiment and patriotic endeavor,
and by His unerring guidance we have been directed in the way of
national prosperity.
To the end that we may with one accord testify our gratitude for all
these blessings, I, Grover Cleveland, President of the United States, do
hereby designate and set apart Thursday, the 24th day of November next,
as a day of thanksgiving and prayer, to be observed by all the people of
the land.
On that day let all secular work and employment be suspended, and let
our people assemble in their accustomed places of worship and with
prayer and songs of praise give thanks to our Heavenly Father for all
that He has done for us, while we humbly implore the forgiveness of our
sins and a continuance of His mercy.
Let families and kindred be reunited on that day, and let their hearts,
filled with kindly cheer and affectionate reminiscence, be turned in
thankfulness to the source of all their pleasures and the giver of all
that makes the day glad and joyous.
And in the midst of our worship and our happiness let us remember the
poor, the needy, and the unfortunate, and by our gifts of charity and
ready benevolence let us increase the number of those who with grateful
hearts shall join in our thanksgiving.
In witness whereof I have set my hand and caused the seal of the United
States to be hereunto affixed.
[SEAL.]
Done at the city of Washington, this 25th day of October, A.D. 1887, and
of the Independence of the United States the one hundred and twelfth.