Washington’s Prayer for America

“Let us raise a standard to which the wise and the honest can repair. The event is in the hand of God.” George Washington Advice to the Constitutional Convention September 17, 1787 Independence Hall, Philadelphia

UPDATE, September 25, 2007: Since writing this post, I have learned of another text which is commonly called “Washington’s Prayer for America.” It is taken from a letter Washington wrote to the governors of the thirteen states in 1783, which he closed with this blessing:

I now make it my earnest prayer, that God would have you, and the State over which you preside, in his holy protection, that he would incline the hearts of the Citizens to cultivate a spirit of subordination and obedience to Government, to entertain a brotherly affection and love for one another, for their fellow Citizens of the United States at large, and particularly for their brethren who have served in the Field, and finally, that he would most graciously be pleased to dispose us all, to do Justice, to love mercy, and to demean ourselves with that Charity, humility and pacific temper of mind, which were the Characteristicks of the Divine Author of our blessed Religion, and without an humble imitation of whose example in these things, we can never hope to be a happy Nation.

George Washington
June 11, 1783