In the tense years before 1775, the American colonies simmered with resistance to British rule. Colonists rejected policies like the 1765 Stamp Act, denounced the imperial occupation of Boston in 1768, and reacted with fury to the tragic Boston Massacre of 1770. They protested through the Boston Tea Party in 1773 and enforced economic boycotts through the Continental Association in 1774. Yet not all resistance took the form of riots, speeches, or open rebellion. Some of the most powerful acts of defiance were spiritual: two national days of fasting and prayer declared by the Continental Congress that helped unite the colonies before independence was ever formally declared. For Native nations observing these upheavals, the fasting days signaled a colonial political awakening that would soon reshape the entire continent’s balance of power.
Religious Resistance in the Colonial Era
Days of prayer and fasting were a regular occurrence in the 13 colonies during the 18th century. As Kenneth Cohen, curator of early American history at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History explains, they were familiar holdovers from Great Britain, where the Church of England functioned as the established state church and authorities disseminated their perspective through its pulpits. This practice persisted in the colonies even though most did not recognize the Anglican Church as their official church.
“There was no concept of separation of church and state” in the colonies, Cohen notes. Colonial clergy routinely discussed political issues from the pulpit, and colonists were accustomed to receiving political information wrapped in religious language. These observances were called during moments of conflict and alliance with the crown—including the Seven Years’ War—and when colonial leaders believed God was punishing them for violating covenant promises. Most fasting-day sermons suggested that the sins of the community caused whatever tragedy was at issue, and that through collective prayer and fasting, those sins would be forgiven.
In 1747, the governor’s council in Pennsylvania declared its first day of fasting when Britain and France were at war. The council called on Benjamin Franklin to write the proclamation, which was printed in both English and German to reach the colony’s diverse population. This fusion of political messaging and religious observance established a template that would soon be turned against the crown itself.
First National Fast: June 12, 1775
On June 12, 1775, the Continental Congress declared the first national day of fasting and prayer. Unlike previous observances, this was not in defense of the British Crown—Congress invoked religion to unite the colonies against British rule. The resolution advised colonists to observe July 20, 1775, as a day of “public humiliation, fasting and prayer,” petitioning King George III “that a speedy end may be put to the civil discord between Great Britain and the American colonies, without farther effusion of blood.”
By the time the national fast was issued, fighting had already broken out in Massachusetts, and Patriot forces had captured Fort Ticonderoga. George Washington was days away from being named commander of the Continental Army, and the Battle of Bunker Hill loomed on the horizon. Governments in Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, and New Hampshire supported the fast, as did the Synod of New York and Philadelphia—the largest Presbyterian denomination in the colonies. It marked one of the first times before the Declaration of Independence that the colonies stood truly unified against Great Britain.
John Adams observed the fast in Philadelphia and wrote to his wife Abigail that “The Fast was observed here with a Decorum and solemnity, never before seen ever on a Sabbath. The Clergy of all Denominations, here preach Politicks and War in a manner that I never heard in N. England. They are a Flame of Fire.” Such moments of colonial solidarity, explored further in accounts of historical resistance movements, remind us that faith and politics have long been intertwined in American identity.
Second National Fast: May 17, 1776
By 1776, many colonists had grown disillusioned with Great Britain. After Thomas Paine published Common Sense, which argued for independence and denounced King George as a “tyrant,” a fire ignited for a revolution once thought impossible. Nearly all hope for reconciliation had faded. The second national day of fasting on May 17, 1776, was fundamentally different from the first. More than a day of unity, its purpose was to reinforce the idea that colonists belonged to a common political community separate from Great Britain.
In the proclamation he wrote calling for the fast day, Continental Congress delegate William Livingston of New Jersey asked God “to bless our civil rulers…to preserve and strengthen their union, to inspire them with an ardent, disinterested love of their country…and direct them to the most efficacious measures for establishing the rights of America on the most honorable and permanent basis.” The proclamation ended with “God Save This People” rather than “God Save the King,” and was printed in the Pennsylvania Gazette in March 1776—a rhetorical shift echoing the broader cultural transformations documented across Native American cultural resilience against assimilation in the same era.
The Road to Independence
How these two national days of fasting influenced colonists and furthered American independence is difficult to measure precisely. What is known is that they were widely supported and observed, which helped legitimize the Continental Congress. Within weeks of the second fast, momentum toward independence quickened. On July 2, 1776, delegates of the Continental Congress voted for independence from Great Britain. Two days later, they adopted the Declaration of Independence.
The Continental Congress declared 12 more days of fasting and thanksgiving during the Revolutionary War, which lasted until 1783. Over time, there was a shift in the religious language. Cohen observes that “These two proclamations include, more, not less specifically religious language than later proclamations during the war.” In the first seven, there are references to Christianity, Jesus Christ, the Holy Ghost, and the Savior, but in the final seven there are just two or three mentions combined.
Yet “religious fervor certainly helped fuel the Revolution,” Cohen says. “There can also be little question that for the majority of people fighting on the patriots’ side, that meant some version of Christianity.” These two days should be viewed, he adds, “as part of a long and ongoing series of acts that make politics palpable in religious practice.”
Historical Context & Key Cultural Takeaways
The fasting observances of 1775 and 1776 represent a critical intersection of faith, politics, and emerging American identity. Several key takeaways emerge:
- Religious observance as political action: The Continental Congress deliberately harnessed the familiarity of colonial religious practice to unify disparate colonies around a shared purpose, demonstrating that spiritual discipline could serve revolutionary ends.
- Continuity with British tradition: Fasting days were inherited from the Church of England but repurposed against the crown, showing how colonists transformed imperial customs into instruments of resistance.
- Shift in rhetorical framing: The move from “God Save the King” to “God Save This People” signaled the symbolic emergence of a distinct American political community before formal independence.
- Legitimization of the Continental Congress: Broad observation of the fasts lent moral and institutional credibility to a body that had no pre-existing legal authority.
- Waning explicitly Christian language: The decline in theological references across wartime proclamations foreshadowed debates over religious establishment that the First Amendment would later address.
For Indigenous nations, watching these colonies consolidate religious and political power, the Revolution was no abstract debate. The fall of New France in 1763 had already destabilized traditional alliances and territorial sovereignty, and the founding documents of Native Americans as the first owners of America would soon offer them little protection as colonial expansion accelerated westward.
Frequently Asked Questions
What was the purpose of the first national day of fasting in 1775?
The Continental Congress declared June 12, 1775, as the first national day of fasting and prayer. Unlike prior observances, it was not held in support of the British Crown but was designed to unite the colonies against British rule. Colonists observed July 20, 1775, as a day of “public humiliation, fasting and prayer,” and the resolution petitioned King George III for a speedy end to civil discord.
How did the second fast in May 1776 differ from the first?
The second national fast, declared for May 17, 1776, shifted purpose from unifying the colonies to establishing them as a distinct political community separate from Great Britain. The proclamation written by William Livingston ended with “God Save This People” instead of “God Save the King,” signaling a symbolic break with royal authority.
Why were days of fasting and prayer important in colonial society?
Fasting days were regular occurrences in the 18th-century colonies, inherited from British tradition where the Church of England served as the state church. Colonial clergy discussed political issues from the pulpit, and colonists were accustomed to receiving political information wrapped in religious language. These observances provided a familiar framework through which leaders could communicate political messages to the broader population.
How did John Adams describe the July 20, 1775 fast?
John Adams, observing the fast in Philadelphia, wrote to his wife Abigail that it was “observed here with a Decorum and solemnity, never before seen ever on a Sabbath.” He noted that clergy of all denominations preached “Politicks and War” with a fervor he had never witnessed in New England, describing them as “a Flame of Fire.”
Did the practice of national fasting continue after independence?
Yes. The Continental Congress declared 12 more days of fasting and thanksgiving during the Revolutionary War. After independence, several presidents—including John Adams, Zachary Taylor, and Abraham Lincoln—declared national days of prayer or thanksgiving, eventually giving way to the establishment of today’s national and federal holidays.
Concluding Synthesis: Faith, Politics, and the Legacy of Colonial Unity
The two national days of fasting in 1775 and 1776 illustrate how religious practice shaped the political culture of the American Revolution. By repurposing a familiar colonial tradition, the Continental Congress created moments of collective discipline and shared identity that transcended colony lines. The shift from petitioning for reconciliation to asserting a separate political community reflected changing assumptions about the British-American relationship in the years before the Declaration of Independence. These observances also foreshadowed the eventual separation of church and state embedded in the First Amendment. Yet as the colonies forged a new nation bound by shared spiritual and civic participation, Native nations faced an increasingly precarious future. Their resilience—documented in traditions, oral histories, and continued cultural practice—remains a vital counterpoint to the triumphalist narrative often told about the founding era. Understanding both histories requires careful attention to the voices and experiences of those whose sovereignty and land would be contested in the decades that followed.
