Washington’s Thanksgiving Proclamation

A statue of George Washington stands in front of Federal Hall National Memorial in 2020 in New York. Washington took the oath of office as the nation's first president, April 30, 1789, at the site. AP Photo

Commentary

This Thanksgiving, we should set aside time not only for prayer as a grateful nation, a practice George Washington established in 1789 and Abraham Lincoln renewed during the Civil War, but to discuss the blessing it is that great leaders throughout our nation’s history have called Americans to uphold both religious belief and religious pluralism.