Words from Our Founders: Fasting and Humiliation
Today we celebrate our independence as a nation. To mark this day, we have for the past two weeks posted words from our nation’s founders and early representatives highlighting the importance they placed on religion, religious liberty, and virtue. We have posted many thanksgiving proclamations and many calls to prayer and fasting.
Below is an extraction from the minutes of Congress dated December 11, 1776–just five months after the signing of the Declaration of Independence. It refers to the American Revolution as a “just war,” and resolves to recommend to all the states to proclaim a day of fasting and humiliation to seek God’s forgiveness and favor as a nation.