IV

106TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION H. RES. 597

Reaffirming the proclamation signed by President Abraham Lincoln on March

30, 1863, in which President Lincoln called for national humility, fasting,

and prayer, and for other purposes.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

SEPTEMBER 27, 2000

Mrs. CHENOWETH-HAGE submitted the following resolution; which was

referred to the Committee on Government Reform

RESOLUTION

Reaffirming the proclamation signed by President Abraham

Lincoln on March 30, 1863, in which President Lincoln

called for national humility, fasting, and prayer, and

for other purposes.

Whereas in a proclamation dated March 30, 1863, President

Abraham Lincoln stated as follows:

‘‘[W]hereas it is the duty of nations, as well as of

men, to owe their dependence upon the overruling power

of God, to confess their sins and transgressions, in humble sorrow, yet with assured hope that genuine repentance will lead to mercy and pardon; and to recognize the

sublime truth, announced in the Holy Scriptures and

proven by all history, that those nations only are blessed

whose God is the Lord:
2

•HRES 597 IH

‘‘And, insomuch as we know that, by His divine law,

nations like individuals, are subjected to punishments

and chastisements in this world, may we justly fear that

the awful calamity of civil war, which now desolates the

land, may be but a punishment, inflicted upon us, for our

presumptuous sins, to the needful end of our national

reformation as a whole People? We have been the recipients of the choicest bounties of Heaven. We have been

preserved, these many years, in peace and prosperity. We

have grown in numbers, wealth, and power, as no other

nation has ever grown. But we have forgotten God. We

have forgotten the gracious hand which preserved us in

peace, and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us;

and we have vainly imagined, in the deceitfulness of our

hearts, that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own. Intoxicated with

unbroken success, we have become too self-sufficient to

feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace, too

proud to pray to the God that made us!

‘‘It behooves us then, to humble ourselves before the

offended Power, to confess our national sins, and to pray

for clemency and forgiveness.’’; and

Whereas although the United States is now at peace, civil unrest divides the Nation and its people: Now, therefore, be

it

1 Resolved, That—

2 (1) the House of Representatives reaffirms the

3 proclamation signed by President Abraham Lincoln

4 on March 30, 1863, in which President Lincoln

5 called for national humility, fasting, and prayer;
3

•HRES 597 IH

1 (2) it is the sense of the House of Representa2 tives that all normal business of the Congress should

3 be set aside on a Day of Repentance and Reconcili4 ation for the United States, so that Members of the

5 Congress may join with all Americans in a solemn

6 assembly—

7 (A) to humble themselves with prayer and

8 fasting;

9 (B) to repent individual and corporate

10 sins; and

11 (C) to seek God’s healing, reconciliation,

12 and favor for the Nation and its future; and

13 (3) the House of Representatives encourages

14 people of faith throughout the Nation to join in sol15 emn assembly for such a day.

Æ