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A Thanksgiving Proclamation 2025
By the President of the United States James Madison (Were he President Today)** The year now drawing toward its close has been marked by trials not unknown to the human condition; yet, amidst the difficulties that attend a free and populous Republic, the hand of Providence hath not withdrawn itself from our favored land. The liberties for which our fathers contended remain secure beneath the guardianship of the Constitution; the Union, though often exercised by diverse opinions, still advances in its proper orbit; and the arts of peace, industry, and knowledge continue to enlarge the happiness of our fellow-citizens. While the national Government is restrained by its charter from prescribing forms or modes of religious worship, it is both suitable and becoming that the people of the United States should, of their own free will, unite in acknowledging the many blessings which no human policy alone can bestow. And though the Executive cannot rightfully compel observance in matters of conscience, he may, without violating that sacred line of separation, recommend to the people an occasion for grateful reflection. In this spirit, I therefore designate Thursday, the Twenty-Seventh of November, to be observed by those who are so disposed as a Day of Thanksgiving and Peaceful Recollection. Let it be a season in which citizens, assembling as their faiths and judgments incline them, shall render thanks for the bounties of the year; and for the continued capacity of this free people to govern themselves through reasoned debate rather than force. Let us likewise commend to the Author of all good the welfare of the widowed, the orphaned, the poor, and the afflicted; beseeching that compassion and public virtue, no less than prosperity, may characterize the American example. And let us remember that gratitude is best shown not in words alone, but in renewed fidelity to the principles of liberty, moderation, and mutual respect—principles which, when faithfully observed, preserve both the dignity of the individual and the harmony of the whole. Given under my hand at the City of Washington, this 24th day of November, in the Year of our Lord Two Thousand and Twenty-Five, and of the Independence of the United States the Two Hundred and Forty-Ninth. James Madison President of the United States |