God / United States of America Saying

[Ken Hirsch]

I have now found this attributed to someone else entirely and much earlier.

http://books.google.com/books?id=m3oDAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA4&dq=correa+%22special+providence%22
1849
State trials of the United States during the administrations of
Washington and Adams
Francis Wharton
what Correa called "the special providence over the United States and little
children,"

This is José Francisco Correia da Serra.
Correia may also be spelled Corrêa or Correa, and "da" is often replaced by
"de".
Plus, he's often referred to as "Abbé Correa".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jos%C3%A9_Correia_da_Serra

This attribution is given a few more times:

http://books.google.com/books?q=correa%20%22special%20providence%22%20%28Americans%20OR%20America%20OR%20%22united%20states%22%29

It might be possible to verify this, as there are some published letters
from him (that are not yet in GBS).

http://www.worldcat.org/search?q=au%3A%22Correia+da+Serra%2C+Jose%CC%81+Francisco%22

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