Page:Republican Court by Rufus Griswold.djvu/216

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THE REPUBLICAN COURT.

peacefully to establish a constitution of government for their safety and happiness." The creators of the Constitution do not seem ever to have dreamed of the wretched demagoguism which has discovered that it is unconstitutional for the government to recognize the existence and kindness of the Deity. On the third day of October, therefore, Washington acceded to this request, and recommended that the twenty-sixth of November "be devoted by the people of these states to the service of that great and glorious Being who is the beneficent Author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be; that we may then all unite in rendering unto Him our sincere and humble thanks for his kind care and protection of the people of this country previous to their becoming a nation; for the signal and manifold mercies and the favorable interpositions of his providence, in the course and conclusion of the late war; for the great degree of tranquillity, union, and plenty, which we have since enjoyed; for the peaceable and rational manner in which we have been enabled to establish constitutions of government for our safety and happiness, and particularly the national one now recently instituted; for the civil and religious liberty with which we are blessed, and the means we have of acquiring and diffusing useful knowledge; and, in general, for all the great and various favors which he has been pleased to confer upon us."

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