1Circular to the Governors of the States, 3 October 1789 (Washington Papers)
I do myself the honor to enclose to your Excellency a Proclamation for a general Thanksgiving which I must request the favor of you to have published and made known in your State in the way and manner that shall be most agreeable to yourself....that he would recommend to the people of the United States a day of public thanksgiving and prayer to be observed by acknowledging, with grateful hearts...
2Thanksgiving Proclamation, 3 October 1789 (Washington Papers)
By the President of the United States of America. a Proclamation....and 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...
3[November 1789] (Washington Papers)
, 25 Nov. 1789). Rev. Joseph Buckminster became pastor of the North Congregational Church in Portsmouth in 1779 and held the post for 33 years (, 19 Nov. 1789, state that on Sunday, 1 Nov., Tobias Lear was married in Portsmouth “to an amiable young lady of that town” and that GW attended the wedding. This is clearly in error since Lear did not marry...
4From George Washington to the Presbyterian Ministers of Massachusetts and New Hampshire, 2 November 1789 (Washington Papers)
The tribute of thanksgiving which you offer to “the gracious Father of lights” for his inspiration of our public-councils with wisdom and firmness to complete the national constitution, is worthy of men, who, devoted to the pious purposes of religion,...his letter to Betty Lewis, 12 Oct. 1789, n.3
5From George Washington to Beverley Randolph, 14 December 1789 (Washington Papers)
of GW’s Thanksgiving Day proclamation and of copies of a number of laws passed by Congress (
6Detatched Memoranda, ca. 31 January 1820 (Madison Papers)
(See the papers referred to in this, annexed to the letters to Genl. Washington.)...or ever heard that after Col: Hamilton had been severely pressed for a supposed misappropriation of the money devoted by law to special purposes, he Col: H produced a letter, authorizing it, signed by President Washington, while on his tour to South Carolina; that the President at first denied its existence in...
7John Jay and the Yellow Fever Epidemics: Editorial Note (Jay Papers)
...suffered a mini-epidemic in 1791, with 100 deaths. The city responded to Philadelphia’s 1793 epidemic with quarantine and a measure to enforce the City’s law against nuisances. By proclamation, New York’s governor, George Clinton, citing a 1784 quarantine law, banned all intercourse with Philadelphia. Despite this measure, the City of New York did contribute funds to the relief effort....
8Editorial Note: Fixing the Seat of Government (Jefferson Papers)
the Conococheague. After Washington announced by proclamation the site of the Federal District—a choice he had made even before undertaking a tour for the ostensible purpose of deciding among rival locations...’s House, the departmental offices, and other public uses. Maryland citizens on whom Washington relied for aid in solving the problem—Daniel Carroll, William Deakins, Jr., and...