Massachusetts Removed 'God Save the King' from its annual Thanksgiving Proclamation Starting in 1774

Thanksgiving Proclamation, 1773

A story in the November 24, 1897 edition of The Boston Globe traces the evolution of the Thanksgiving Day proclamation between the years 1773 and 1785. It reveals that the Thanksgiving proclamation issued by Governor Thomas Hutchinson in 1773 was the last year the phrase "God Save the King" was used in Massachusetts.

Hutchinson was replaced in 1774 by Royal Governor Thomas Gage, who continued to issue the phrase "God Save the King" in other proclamations, but that year the newly formed Massachusetts Provincial Congress issued its own Thanksgiving proclamation, signed by John Hancock, deliberately omitting the phrase. The language also called for "harmony and union to be restored between Great Britain and these colonies."

Thanksgiving Proclamation, 1774

Courtesy of Unitarian Universalist Harvard Square Library

In 1775 there was a notable incident where Reverend Daniel Rogers from Littleton MA insisted on using the words 'God Save the King' in place of 'God Save the People' in his sermon, and "his parishioners rose as one man and demanded that he retract," the Globe reported. "An armed squad went to his house and demanded that he come out of his house and declare his principles. When he hesitated, perhaps regarding it as beneath his dignity to comply with such an uncommon demand, a volley was fired into his front door."

Boston Globe illustration depicting Parson Rogers controversial use of 'God Save the King'

By 1780 the Thanksgiving Day proclamation "first presented the symbolic Indian in the coat-of-arms of the Commonwealth, now so familiar to us all," wrote the Globe. This was also the year the phrase 'God Save the People of the United States' was introduced.

Thanksgiving Proclamation, 1780

It was not until 1785 that the phrase 'God Save the Commonwealth of Massachusetts' "first rang forth from the state house and the pulpits," the Globe reported.

Learn more about Thanksgiving proclamations at the Massachusetts State Library.

Find more information about the American Revolution and the 2026 celebrations of American independence, visit America 250 and Revolution 250 Boston.

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