Beschreibung:

MADISON, JAMES, President ]. Manuscript proclamation ("By the President of the Unitred States of America, A Proclamation") of national thanksgiving for the end of the War of 1812 (text and signature "Jas. Madison" in the hand of James Graham Chief Clerk of the U.S. State Department), Washington. D.C., 4 March 1815. 2 pages, 4to, integral address leaf (neatly detached) addressed to "The Editor of the National Intelligencer" and with remains of wax seal, faint mat-burn. THANKSGIVING FOR THE END OF "THE SECOND WAR OF INDEPENDENCE" The War of 1812, termed at the time "the second war of independence," ended with the Senate's unanimous ratification of the Treaty of Ghent on 16 February 1815; the treaty was endorsed by President Madison the following day and hostilities ceased at 11 a.m. on 17 February. As noted in the preamble of the present proclamation, the Senate and House of Representatives had voted that a day be set aside by Americans as a day of "thanksgiving and of devout acknowledgements to Almighty God for his great goodness manifested in restoring to them the blessings of peace." Madison's official proclamation is in the National Archives in Washington, D.C. The present is the official transcript prepared in the State Department to be sent to the semi-official National Intelligencer, where it was first published. Madison proclaims "a day on which the people of every religious denomination may, in their solemn assemblies, unite their hearts and their voices in a free will offering to their Heavenly Benefactor." Americans, he asserts, should thank God for having "originally conducted them to one of the best portions of the dwelling place allotted for the great family of the human race" where He "protected and cherished them," preparing them for "a transition in due time to a state of independence and of self government." During the Revolution, "the arduous struggle by which it was attained," America had "multiplied tokens of His benign interposition," and afterwards, "He reared them into the strength, and endowed them with the resources, which have enabled them to assert their national rights...in another arduous conflict [the War of 1812], which is now happily terminated by a peace and reconciliation with those who have been our enemies. It is for blessings such as these, and more especially for the restoration of the blessing of peace," that Madison sets aside the second Thursday of April a national day of thanksgiving. In a pencilled note of the verso of the address leaf, James Graham in a note to the printers, informs them that "It is not intendedthat the Proclamation should be signed by the Secretary of State" (James Monroe).