| Thanksgiving Proclamation 1777 By the Continental Congress by Continental Congress (11/01/1777) In the First National Thanksgiving Proclamation, the Continental Congress of the United States, in 1777, with the country still engaged in the war for independence, not only enjoined Americans to publicly offer acts of thanks to almighty God, but exhorted all to “consecrate themselves to the Service of their Divine Benefactor,” to make “the penitent confession of their manifold sins,” and to offer “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.” | |