Beschreibung:

THE FIRST NATIONAL THANKSGIVING – In Congress, November 1, 1777. Forasmuch as it is the indispensible duty of all men to adore the superintending providence of Almighty God … It is therefore recommended to the legislative or executive power of these United States, to set apart Thursday, the eighteenth day of December next, for Solemn Thanksgiving and Praise … By Order of Congress, Henry Laurens, President. – State of Massachusetts-Bay. Council Chamber, in Boston, November 27. 1777... By the Honor's command. John Avery Dep. Sec'ry. God Save the United States of America! [Boston: John Gill, 1777.] The first national Thanksgiving—the first broadside announcement to appear at auction in nearly a century. A rare broadside recommending the first Thanksgiving to be observed throughout the United States. Declared to commemorate the American victory at Saratoga, Congress recommended "to the legislative or executive powers" that 18 December 1777 be set aside for "solemn thanksgiving and praise.” The text, believed largely the work of Samuel Adams, opened: “Forasmuch as it is the indispensable duty of all men to adore the superintending providence of Almighty God … and it having pleased him in his abundant mercy not only to continue to us the innumerable bounties of his common providence, but also to smile upon us in the prosecution of a just and necessary war, for the defence and establishment of our unalienable rights and liberties; particularly in that he hath been pleased in so great a measure to prosper the means used for the support of our troops and to crown our arms with most signal success." After setting the 18th of December as the day of observance, the resolution continues with the intent "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." Congress hoped that God would bless "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.'" Congress recommends further "that servile labor, and such recreation as thought at other times innocent, may be unbecoming the purpose of this appointment, may be omitted on so solemn an occasion." Below the printed signature of Henry Laurens, who had been elected as President of the Continental Congress the morning of 1 November, appears a resolution of the State of Massachusetts, 21 November 1777, adopting the recommendation of the Continental Congress, and calling "upon Ministers and People of every denomination, religiously to observe the said day accordingly." Signed in print by Jeremiah Powell and fourteen others, and closes with: "GOD SAVE THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA!" Provenance: Private owner, Middletown, N.Y. – acquired from John F. Fleming, New York, c. 1956 (New York Times, 22 Nov. 1956, p. 35) – by descent to the consignor. Extremely Rare. Evans 15679; Ford, Massachusetts Broadsides, 2097. Thre