By His Excellency William Greene, Esquire, Governor ... of Rhode-Island and Providence Plantations ... A proclamation : Whereas the most honorable the Continental Congress did on the seventeenth day of November last, pass the following resolve ... I have therefore thought fit to issue this proclamation ... to observe the said thirtieth day of December, as a day of public thanksgiving ... Given under my hand, and the seal of the said state, this eighth day of December, in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and seventy-eight ...