Proclamation for a Day of Public Thanksgiving and Prayer

On October 18, 1780, the Continental Congress issued a Proclamation for a Day of Public Thanksgiving and Prayer. The proclamation came after Benedict Arnold's plot to betray the Continental Army was discovered and thwarted. The public day of thanksgiving and prayer was in response to the Providential deliverance of General Washington and the Continental Army.

“Whereas it hath pleased Almighty God, the Father of all mercies, amidst the vicissitudes and calamities of war, to bestow blessings on the people of these states, which called for their devout and thankful acknowledgments, more especially in the late remarkable interposition of his watchful providence, in the rescuing the person of our Commander-in-Chief and the army from imminent dangers, at the moment when treason was ripened for execution... 

It is therefore recommended to the several states...a day of public thanksgiving and prayer, that all the people may assemble on that day to celebrate the praises of our Divine Benefactor; to confess our unworthiness of the least of his favours, and to offer our fervent supplications to the God of all grace...to cause the knowledge of Christianity to spread over all the earth.”