[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 158 (2012), Part 11]
[House]
[Pages 15375-15378]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                             GIVING THANKS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of 
January 5, 2011, the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Gohmert) is recognized 
for 60 minutes as the designee of the majority leader.
  Mr. GOHMERT. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
  There's so many problems in the world. There's so many problems here 
in America. There's so many things that are being hidden, kept secret, 
that need to have sunlight hit them and come to be known, because 
sunlight truly is an illumination of not only facts, but creates 
cleanliness when shining light comes upon things that have been hidden.
  We have so many things yet to resolve, so many people that are now in 
poverty that have not been in the past, an economy that's in trouble, a 
Congress that can't seem to find its way to reduce spending, so we keep 
digging deeper and deeper holes. But with all the problems in this 
Nation, we are the most blessed nation in the history of mankind.
  Solomon's Israel did not have the liberties for the individuals that 
we have. It didn't have the assets that we have. It didn't have obesity 
as a major health problem for the nation's poor, as we do.

                              {time}  1240

  We are so richly blessed. So amidst all the skirmishing, debating, 
fussing and arguing, we are about to go out of session for the last few 
moments before we hit Thanksgiving. It's a time when people should 
pause and understand, without dwelling on our problems, that we are so 
richly blessed. It's time--as the Founders and as those leaders 
throughout our great history have every year paused--to thank God for 
the blessings which we have.
  Some people see us fussing and debating and getting angry at times. 
We have such different views of the way to fix things. I see my friend, 
Eliot Engel. We don't vote on a lot of things the same way, but I know 
his heart and I know he's a great, honorable man. I don't agree with Ed 
Markey very often; in fact, we are usually crossways in our Committee 
on Natural Resources. He and I think we can reach some agreements on 
some issues regarding natural gas. Louise Slaughter, she didn't let a 
bunch of my amendments through when she was Rules chair, but I like her 
very much and she is a friend. Carolyn Maloney, she thinks we should 
eliminate private guns and I believe the Second Amendment should be 
enforced, but she's a friend. Having friends in a body in which we 
disagree over things on the best way forward is another one of those 
blessings.
  So before we recess for Thanksgiving, it is such an honor to get to 
remind people, you know, we have so many people who have blessed our 
Nation who were not born here. There are people like the President, who 
was born in Hawaii but was not educated for his early years, is not 
aware so much of the history that many of us grew up being taught. So 
it's a real honor for me to get to share some of our history as we 
approach the Thanksgiving holiday.
  For example, James Madison was given credit as having more to do with 
our Constitution than any of the other Founders. When he was President, 
March 4, 1815, he had this proclamation--a guy that should know what 
the Constitution means and that it was never intended to prevent a 
people from prayer and thanking God for our blessings, either in a 
governmental setting or a nongovernmental setting. It was never meant 
to force people to pray, but never intended to prevent governmental 
leaders from leading prayers. This was James Madison, March 4, 1815. He 
said:

       No people ought to feel greater obligation to celebrate the 
     goodness of the Great Disposer of Events and of the Destiny 
     of Nations than the people of the United States.
       And to the same Divine Author of every good and perfect 
     gift we are indebted for all those privileges and advantages, 
     religious as well as civil, which are so richly enjoyed in 
     this favored land.
       I now recommend a day on which the people of every 
     religious denomination may in their solemn assemblies unite 
     their hearts and their voices in a freewill offering to their 
     Heavenly Benefactor of their homage of thanksgiving and of 
     their songs of praise.

  Abraham Lincoln, in the midst of the worst war in American history--
more Americans died in the Civil War than in any other war of this 
Nation--in July of 1863, the middle of the Civil War, our President, 
Abraham Lincoln, provided these official words. For those who are on 
the Supreme Court and did not have a proper education about our 
history, these words might be surprising, but Abraham Lincoln made 
these an official proclamation when he said:

       It is meet and right to recognize and confess the presence 
     of the Almighty Father, and the power of His Hand equally in 
     these triumphs and in these sorrows. I invite the people of 
     the United States to assemble on that occasion in their 
     customary places of worship and in the forms approved by 
     their own consciences to render the homage due to the Divine 
     Majesty for the wonderful things He has done in this Nation's 
     behalf, and invoke the influence of His Holy Spirit to subdue 
     the anger which has produced and so long sustained a needless 
     and cruel rebellion.

  Andrew Johnson, October 28, 1865, as President of the United States, 
he succeeded Abraham Lincoln, as we all know, after the terrible 
atrocity of Abraham Lincoln's assassination; came at the end of such a 
cruel war that saw family member fighting and killing family member, 
and so much destruction, so much hate. Andrew Johnson's official words 
as President of the United States in 1865:

       Whereas it has pleased Almighty God, during the year which 
     is now coming to an end, to relieve our beloved country from 
     the tearful scourge of civil war, and to permit us to secure 
     the blessings of peace, unity and harmony, with great 
     enlargement of civil liberty; and
       Whereas, our Heavenly Father has, also, during the year 
     graciously averted from us the calamities of foreign war, 
     pestilence and famine, while our granaries are full of the 
     fruits of an abundant season; and
       Whereas, righteousness exalteth a nation, while sin is a 
     reproach to any people.
       I recommend to the people thereof that they do set apart 
     and observe the first Thursday of December next as a day of 
     national thanksgiving to the Creator of the Universe for 
     those great deliverances and blessings.

  Ulysses S. Grant, as President, responding as did those already 
mentioned--and actually every President each and every year--I'm just 
selecting specific official proclamations. This one was President 
Ulysses S. Grant, 1869. He said:

       I, Ulysses S. Grant, President of the United States, do 
     recommend that Thursday, the 18th day of November next, be 
     observed as a day of thanksgiving and of praise and of prayer 
     to Almighty God, the Creator and the Ruler of the universe; 
     and I do further recommend to all the people of the United 
     States to assemble on that day in their accustomed places of 
     public worship and to unite in homage and praise due to the 
     bountiful Father of All Mercies in fervent prayer for the 
     continuance of the manifold blessings he has vouchsafed to us 
     as a people.


[[Page 15376]]


  Rutherford B. Hayes, 1877, said these in his official proclamation:

       The completed circle of summer and winter, seed time and 
     harvest, has brought us to the accustomed season at which a 
     religious people celebrates with praise and thanksgiving the 
     enduring mercy of Almighty God. Let us with one spirit and 
     with one voice lift up praise and thanksgiving to God for his 
     manifold goodness to our land, his manifest care for our 
     Nation.
       I earnestly recommend that, withdrawing themselves from 
     secular cares and labors, the people of the United States do 
     meet together on that day in their respective places of 
     worship, there to give thanks and praise to Almighty God for 
     His mercies, and to devoutly beseech their continuance.

                              {time}  1250

  Chester A. Arthur, November 1881:

       It has long been the pious custom of our people, with the 
     closing of the year, to look back upon the blessings brought 
     to them in the changing course of the seasons, and return 
     solemn thanks to the All-giving source from whom they flow.
       The countless benefits which have showered upon us during 
     the past 12 months call for our fervent gratitude, making it 
     fitting that we should rejoice with Thanksgiving, that the 
     Lord, in His infinite mercy, has most signally favored our 
     country and our people.

  That was Chester A. Arthur.
  Grover Cleveland in 1885:

       The American people have always abundant cause to be 
     thankful to Almighty God, whose watchful care and guiding 
     hand have been manifested in every stage of their national 
     life, guarding and protecting them in time of peril and 
     safely leading them in the hour of darkness and danger.
       It is fitting and proper that a Nation thus favored should, 
     on one day in every year, for that purpose especially 
     appointed publicly acknowledge the goodness of God and return 
     thanks to him for all his gracious gifts.

  That was Grover Cleveland in his official proclamation of 1885.
  And again, there were proclamations every year by every President. So 
we're selecting just a few, as it being fit and proper, as our country 
has done every year of its existence since we had a Constitution in 
1789, to declare a time of thanksgiving to God for our blessings.
  Benjamin Harrison. This is November 1, 1889:

       Now therefore, I, Benjamin Harrison, President of the 
     United States of America, do earnestly recommend that 
     Thursday, the 28th day of this present month of November, be 
     set apart as a day of national thanksgiving and prayer, and 
     that the people of our country, ceasing from the cares and 
     labors of their working day, shall assemble in their 
     respective places of worship and give thanks to God, who has 
     prospered us on our way and made our paths the paths of 
     peace, beseeching him to bless the day to our present and 
     future good, making it truly one of thanksgiving for each 
     united home circle as for the Nation at large.

  Benjamin Harrison, November 1889.
  Grover Cleveland, November 1893, said:

       While the American people should every day remember with 
     praise and Thanksgiving the divine goodness and mercy which 
     have followed them since their beginning as a Nation, it is 
     fitting that one day in each year should be especially 
     devoted to the contemplation of the blessing we have received 
     from the hand of God and to the grateful acknowledgment of 
     His loving kindness.
       On that day, let us forego our ordinary work and 
     employments and assemble in our usual places of worship, 
     where we may recall all that God has done for us, and, where, 
     from grateful hearts, our united tribute of praise and song 
     may reach the throne of grace.
       Let the reunion of kindred and the social meeting of 
     friends lend cheer and enjoyment to the day. And let generous 
     gifts of charity for the relief of the poor and needy prove 
     the sincerity of our thanksgiving.

  Can't help but parenthetically note that the greatest blessing in 
giving comes not from a government that forcibly takes people's money 
but from people who give from the bounty of their own hearts to those 
in need. It makes us better people.
  Another, William McKinley, in 1897 officially proclaimed, ``In 
remembrance of God's goodness to us during the past year, which has 
been so abundant''--he put in quotes--``Let us offer unto him our 
Thanksgiving and pay our vows unto the Most High.''
  McKinley went on:

       Under his watchful providence, industry has prospered. The 
     conditions of labor have been improved. The rewards of the 
     husbandman have been increased, and the comforts of our homes 
     multiplied. His mighty hand has preserved peace and protected 
     the Nation. Respect for law and order has been strengthened, 
     love of free institutions cherished, and all sections of our 
     beloved country brought into closer bonds of fraternal regard 
     and generous cooperation.
       For these great benefits, it is our duty to praise the Lord 
     in a spirit of humility and gratitude, and to offer up to Him 
     our most earnest supplications, that we may acknowledge our 
     obligation as a people to Him who has so graciously granted 
     us the blessing of free government and material prosperity.

  William McKinley, October 1897.
  Theodore Roosevelt, as President of the United States, said these 
words in 1903, officially proclaiming:

       The season is at hand, when according to the custom of our 
     people, it falls upon the President to appoint a day of 
     praise and thanksgiving to God.
       During the last year, the Lord has dealt bountifully with 
     us, giving us peace at home and abroad, and the chance for 
     our citizens to work for their welfare unhindered by war, 
     famine, or plague. It behooves us not only to rejoice greatly 
     because of what has been given us, but to accept it with a 
     solemn sense of responsibility, realizing that under heaven, 
     it rests with us ourselves to show that we are worthy to use 
     aright what has been entrusted to our care.
       In no other place, and at no other time has the experiment 
     of government of the people, by the people, for the people 
     been tried on so vast a scale as here in our own country in 
     the opening years of the 20th century. Failure would not only 
     be a dreadful thing for us, but a dreadful thing for all 
     mankind because it would mean loss of hope for all who 
     believe in the power and the righteousness of liberty.
       Therefore, in thanking God for the mercies extended to us 
     in the past, we beseech Him that He may not withhold them in 
     the future.

                              {time}  1300

  That was Theodore Roosevelt, 1903.
  William Howard Taft, 1909:

       The people of the United States are wont to meet in their 
     usual places of worship on a day of thanksgiving appointed by 
     the civil magistrate to return thanks to God for the great 
     mercies and benefits which they have enjoyed. During the past 
     year, we have been highly blessed . . . It is altogether 
     fitting that we should humbly and gratefully acknowledge the 
     Divine source of those blessings.
       Therefore, I hereby appoint . . . a day of general 
     thanksgiving, and I call upon the people on that day, laying 
     aside their usual vocations, to repair to their churches and 
     unite in appropriate services of praise and thanks to 
     Almighty God.

  William Howard Taft in 1912, without any problem from the Supreme 
Court, officially proclaimed:

       A God-fearing nation, like ours, owes it to its inborn and 
     sincere sense of moral duty to testify its devout gratitude 
     to the All-giver for the countless benefits it has enjoyed. 
     For many years, it has been customary at the close of the 
     year for the national Executive to call upon his fellow 
     countrymen to offer praise and thanks to God for the manifold 
     blessings vouchsafed to them . . .
       Wherefore, I, William Howard Taft, President of the United 
     States of America, in pursuance of long-established usage and 
     in response to the wish of the American people, invite my 
     countrymen, wheresoever they may sojourn, to join on 
     Thursday, the 28th day of this month of November, in 
     appropriate ascription of praise and thanks to God for the 
     good gifts that have been our portion and in humble prayer 
     that His great mercies toward us may endure.

  It's worth noting that William Howard Taft was the only person in 
American history to have been elected to Congress, to have been elected 
President of the United States, and after making these official 
proclamations every year as President of the United States, where he 
officially chided Americans to thank God for our blessings, he then 
became Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. He is the only one in our 
history to have been in Congress, President, and on the Supreme Court, 
and in his case, he was actually Chief Justice. He never failed to 
thank God officially, publicly, as President of the United States.
  Woodrow Wilson, October of 1913, officially proclaimed this:

       The season is at hand in which it has been our long 
     respected custom as a people to turn in praise and 
     thanksgiving to Almighty God for His manifold mercies and 
     blessings to us as a Nation. The year that has just passed 
     has been marked in a peculiar degree by manifestations of His 
     gracious and beneficent providence . . . We have seen the 
     practical completion of a great work at the Isthmus of 
     Panama, which not only exemplifies the Nation's abundant 
     resources to accomplish what it will and the distinguished 
     skill and capacity of its public servants, but also promises 
     the beginning of a new age, of

[[Page 15377]]

     new contacts, new neighborhoods, new sympathies, new bonds, 
     and new achievements of cooperation and peace.

  Then Woodrow Wilson put these words in quotes as he quoted from the 
Holy Bible, ``Righteousness exalteth a Nation.'' Then Wilson put in 
quotes, ``Peace upon Earth, good will towards men,'' which is also from 
the Holy Bible, ``furnish the only foundations upon which can be built 
the lasting achievements of the human spirit . . . Now, therefore, I, 
Woodrow Wilson, President of the United States of America, do hereby 
designate Thursday, the 27th of November next, as a day of thanksgiving 
and prayer.''
  Apparently, he didn't know to say ``a moment of silence.'' He, as 
every President before him, commended a time to prayer and invited 
``the people throughout the land to cease from their wonted occupations 
and in their several homes and places of worship render thanks to 
Almighty God.''
  John F. Kennedy, October of 1961, officially proclaimed these words. 
Having become President some 9 months earlier, this was President 
Kennedy's first Thanksgiving proclamation:

       The pilgrims, after a year of hardship and peril, humbly 
     and reverently set aside a special day upon which to give 
     thanks to God . . . I ask the head of each family to recount 
     to his children the story of the first New England 
     Thanksgiving, thus to impress upon future generations the 
     heritage of this Nation born in toil, in danger, in purpose, 
     and in the conviction that right and justice and freedom can, 
     through man's efforts, persevere and come to fruition with 
     the blessing of God.

  This will be the next to last, Mr. Speaker. Yet it is important, just 
as every President every year has proclaimed a day of thanksgiving to 
God, to our eternal and omnipotent source of all blessing, so every 
President has done it. President Obama has done it. It is just so 
important. We see surveys done of schoolchildren in America--of high 
school students, of college students. They're asked, To whom did the 
original pilgrims give thanks? So many say the Indians, say each other, 
and do not understand what has been part of our history since that 
early Thanksgiving with the pilgrims when they set it aside to 
celebrate with the Indians, in gratitude to the Indians; but the 
purpose was a proclamation of thanksgiving by every heart to Almighty 
God. As some try to rewrite our history, it must be said that, for the 
Nation's whole history, each year was a proclamation of thanksgiving to 
God.
  It's even worth noting, Mr. Speaker, that here in the House Chamber--
where you and I are dwelling right now--above all the doors in the 
gallery, it has the side profile of the greatest lawgivers in the 
history of man. Some are sometimes surprised to see Napoleon, but he 
gave us the Napoleonic Code. Louisiana still uses that as the basis of 
its law. There are Popes who were considered great lawgivers of 
mankind.

                              {time}  1310

  Some have heard of Hammurabi. We have him up there. The Justinian 
Code, he's up there. But the only one who is considered a great 
lawgiver, who does not have a side profile is directly in front of you 
and above you, Mr. Speaker, because he was considered the greatest 
human lawgiver. He is faced as a full face, not a side profile, and 
around which all the other great lawgivers as thought when this Chamber 
was built, he was thought to be the greatest. He had 10 pretty good 
ones apparently, and that is the face of Moses.
  I was noting, as I listened in recent years, to oral argument before 
the Supreme Court as lawyers argued, including my friend Ted Cruz, who 
was arguing on behalf of the State of Texas. They were arguing as to 
why Texas should be allowed to keep a monument on its State capitol 
grounds to the Ten Commandments. It was combined with a case from 
Kentucky as to whether or not Kentucky should be allowed to keep a 
posting of the Ten Commandments publicly posted.
  As I listened to this great oral debate before the Supreme Court on 
whether or not there could be a calling out, a noting of the Ten 
Commandments, and as I looked at the Court, I looked up on the marble 
wall to my right. There, looking down on us, carved into the marble 
wall was Moses holding two tablets with Hebrew written on the tablets. 
I have been told by people who have gotten tours over there--one 
individual said their official tour guide said Moses is holding the 10 
Bill of Rights, but, Mr. Speaker, you and I know those were not the 
Bill of Rights. Moses was holding and depicted as holding the Ten 
Commandments. It has been a part of our history.
  I want to close before we conclude here with the first Thanksgiving 
proclamation since we had a Constitution. It was written in 1787. It 
was ratified in 1789. As it says, as it is dated in the year of our 
Lord, 1787, Washington had a Thanksgiving proclamation that he made 
October 14, 1789. Mr. Speaker, I will conclude with this before 
recessing for an official Thanksgiving, the first Thanksgiving 
proclamation by the Father of our Country, George Washington.
  Some have tried to rewrite history and say he was a deist. We know a 
deist is one who thinks there is some force that set things in motion 
and then lets nature take its course. They believe that if such deity 
of such force still exists, such force never interferes with the ways 
of nature or man. That's a deist.
  George Washington was not a deist. His own words, official as they 
were, make that very clear. His words, his official proclamation, given 
the third day of October, A.D., 1789, Washington said:

       Whereas it is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the 
     providence of Almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful 
     for His benefits--

  That means he is not a deist. He believed God provided this Nation 
benefits.
  Washington goes on to say:

     --and humbly to implore His protection and favor; and whereas 
     both Houses of Congress have, by their joint committee, 
     requested me to recommend to the people of the United States 
     a day of public thanksgiving and prayer, to be observed by 
     acknowledging with grateful hearts the many and signal favors 
     of Almighty God, especially by affording them an opportunity 
     peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety 
     and happiness.
       Now, therefore, I do recommend and assign Thursday, the 
     26th day of November next, to 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 
     tranquility, union, and plenty which we have since enjoyed; 
     for the peaceable and rational manner in which we have been 
     able to establish constitutions of government for our safety 
     and happiness, and particularly the national one now lately 
     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.
       And also that we may then unite in most humbly offering our 
     prayers and supplications to the great Lord and Ruler of 
     Nations and beseech Him to pardon our national and other 
     transgressions; to enable us all, whether in public or 
     private stations, to perform our several and relative duties 
     properly and punctually; to render our national government a 
     blessing to all the people by constantly being a government 
     of wise, just, and constitutional laws, discreetly and 
     faithfully executed and obeyed; to protect and guide all 
     sovereigns and nations (especially such as have shown 
     kindness to us); and to bless them with good governments, 
     peace, and concord; to promote the knowledge and practice of 
     true religion and virtue, and the increase of science among 
     them and us; and, generally to grant unto all mankind such a 
     degree of temporal prosperity as He alone knows to be best.

  George Washington's official Thanksgiving proclamation, October 14, 
in the year of our Lord 1789.
  And as we finish and recess for Thanksgiving, the official day this 
year proclaimed by this year's President, President Barack Obama, I am, 
Mr. Speaker, profoundly grateful and, as all these Presidents 
mentioned, thankful to God for my blessing. I know they're not earned.

                              {time}  1320

  There was nothing I ever did in the womb to deserve to be born in the

[[Page 15378]]

greatest country in history, but I was blessed because generations 
before were blessed, and it is an honor to rise up and call them 
blessed for the opportunities that were given us through their devotion 
and thanksgiving and hard work and acknowledgment to God for our 
blessings.
  Mr. Speaker, I was blessed with an older sister, whom I love. I'm 
blessed with two younger brothers, one who died a couple of years ago, 
and for my youngest brother, Bill, whose birthday we'll celebrate 
November 17 as a Baptist pastor and my friend.
  With that, Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

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