First Presidential Proclamation of Thanksgiving Day

Thanksgiving has been celebrated nationally since 1789, with the first proclamation by President George Washington after a request by Congress. The Continental Congress, the legislative body that governed the United States from 1774 to 1789, issued several "national days of prayer, humiliation, and thanksgiving", a practice that was continued by presidents Washington and Adams under the Constitution, and has manifested itself in the established American observances of Thanksgiving and the National Day of Prayer today. As President, on October 3, 1789, George Washington made the proclamation and created the first Thanksgiving Day designated by the national government of the United States of America. On the day of thanksgiving, Washington attended services at St. Paul's Chapel in New York City, and donated beer and food to imprisoned debtors in the city.