One Nation, Under God
"The man must be bad indeed who can look upon the events of the American
Revolution without feeling the warmest gratitude toward the great Author of the
Universe whose divine interposition was so frequently manifested in our behalf.
And it is my earnest prayer that we may so conduct ourselves as to merit a
continuance of those blessings with which we have hitherto been favored."
- George Washington
"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or
prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of
the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the
Government for a redress of grievances."
- U.S. Constitution
1st Amendment
"I have lived sir, a long time, and the longer I live, the more
convincing proofs I see of this truth, that God governs in the affairs of men.
And, if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without his notice is it probable
that an empire can rise without his aid? We have been assured, sir, in the
sacred writings, that ‘except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain
that build it.;
"I firmly believe this; and I also believe, that, without his concurring
aid, we shall succeed in this political building no better than the builders of
Babel;...
"I therefore beg leave to move, that henceforth prayers, imploring the
assistance of heaven, and its blessings on our deliberations, be held in this
assembly every morning before we proceed to business: and that one or more of
the clergy of this city be requested to officiate in that service."
(Benjamin Franklin as quoted by Jared Sparks, The Works of Benjamin Franklin,
1837, pp. 155-56)
Separation of Church and State
"I support the doctrine of separation of
church and state as traditionally interpreted to prohibit the establishment of
an official national religion. But this does not mean that we should divorce
government from any formal recognition of God. To do so strikes a potentially
fatal blow at the concept of the divine origin of our rights, and unlocks the
door for an easy entry of future tyranny. If Americans should ever come to
believe that their rights and freedoms are instituted among men by politicians
and bureaucrats, they will no longer carry the proud inheritance of their
forefathers, but will grovel before their masters seeking favors and
dispensations -- a throwback to the feudal system of the Dark Ages." (Ezra
Taft Benson, "Freedom Is Our Heritage," 10 Nov. 1970)
"When the great work was done and published, I
was...struck with amazement. Nothing less than that superintending hand of
Providence, that so miraculously carried us through the war... could have
brought it about so complete, upon the whole." (Charles Pinckney speaking
of the U.S. Constitution, P.L. Ford, ed., Essays on the Constitution,
1892, p. 412)
"Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity,
religion and morality are indispensable supports... Reason and experience both
forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious
principles."
- George Washington, Farewell
address
John Jay, the first Chief Justice of the Supreme
Court and one of the three men most responsible for the U.S. Constitution
stated, ''Providence has given to our people the choice of their rulers, and it
is the duty - as well as the privilege and interest - of our Christian nation to
select and prefer Christians for their rulers.''
''Why is it that next to the birthday of the Savior of the world, your most
venerated festival returns on this day? Is it not that in the chain of human
events, the birthday of the nation is indissolubly linked with the birthday of
the Savior? That it forms a leading event in the progress of the gospel
dispensation? Is it not that the Declaration of Independence first organized the
social compact on the foundation of the Redeemer's mission upon the earth? That
it laid the cornerstone of human government upon the first precepts of
Christianity?''
- John Quincy Adams, July
4, 1837 Address
"God rules this world. It is the duty of nations as well as men to owe
their dependence upon the overruling power of God, to confess their sins and
transgressions in humble sorrow... and to recognize the sublime truths that
those nations only are blessed whose God is the Lord."
-
Abraham Lincoln
"As nations cannot be rewarded or punished in the next world, so they
must be in this. By an inevitable chain of causes and effects, Providence
punishes national sins by national calamities."
-
George Mason, Father of the Bill of Rights
"The success, which has hitherto attended our
united efforts, we owe to the gracious interposition of heaven, and to that
interposition let us gratefully ascribe the praise of victory, and the blessings
of peace." (George Washington, To the Executives of New Hampshire, November
3, 1789)
"Just think for a moment of George Washington, of Franklin, of Madison,
of the Adamses, of Patrick Henry, Thomas Jefferson and their associates who
signed the Declaration of Independence or participated in the Constitutional
Convention. Where in all the world today can even one or two such men be found,
let alone the great aggregation who participated in the birth of America?
"Can anyone deny that they were raised up unto this very purpose, that
working together they brought forth on this continent an independent nation, at
the risk of their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor?
"It is my conviction that while we have had a few great leaders since
then, there has not been before or since so large a group of talented, able and
dedicated men as those whom we call the founding fathers of our nation.
"For as long as they lived, they acknowledged the hand of the Almighty
in the affairs of this republic." (Gordon B. Hinckley, The Spirit of
America, p. 153, Bookcraft, 1998)
"It is impossible for the man of pious
reflection not to perceive in it [the Constitution] a finger of that Almighty
hand which has been so frequently and signally extended to our relief in the
critical stages of the revolution." (James Madison, The Federalist,
No. 37)
"I now make it my earnest prayer, that God 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,...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 characteristics 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
In the nineteenth century a young Frenchman, Alexis de Tocqueville, came to
the United States to observe this nation. Afterwards he wrote:
"I sought for the greatness and genius of America in her commodious
harbors and her ample rivers, and it was not there; in her fertile fields and
boundless prairies, and it was not there; in her rich mines and her vast world
commerce, and it was not there. Not until I went to the churches of America and
heard her pulpits aflame with righteousness did I understand the secret of her
genius and power. America is great because she is good, and if America ever
ceases to be good, America will cease to be great." (Quoted in The
Spirit of America, p32, Bookcraft 1998)
"We have staked the whole future of American civilization not upon the
power of government -- far from it. We have staked the future of all of our
political institutions upon the capacity of each and all of us to govern
ourselves according to the Ten Commandments of God." (James Madison, Russ
Walton, Biblical Principles of Importance to Godly Christians [New
Hampshire: Plymouth Foundation, 1984], p. 361)
Abraham Lincoln was asked which side God was on in the Civil War. He
responded: "I am not at all concerned about that, for I know that the Lord
is always on the side of right. But it is my constant anxiety and prayer that I
and this nation should be on the Lord’s side." (Abraham Lincoln’s
Stories and Speeches, J.B. McClure, ed. [Chicago: Rhodes and McClure Publishing
Co., 1896], pp. 185-86)
"Our constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is
wholly inadequate to the government of any other." (John Adams, In John R.
Howe, Jr.’s, The Changing Political Thought of John Adams [Princeton:
Princeton University Press, 1966], p. 185)
"God, who gave us life, gave us liberty. Can the liberties of a nation
be secure when we have removed a conviction that these liberties are a gift of
God?" (Thomas Jefferson, In Love with Eloquence, p. 30)
"We have grown in numbers, wealth and power as no other nation has ever
grown. But we have forgotten God. We have forgotten the gracious hand which
preserved us in peace and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us; and we
have vainly imagined, in the deceitfulness of our hearts, that all these
blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own.
Intoxicated with unbroken success, we have become too self-sufficient to feel
the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace, too proud to pray to the God
that made us!" (Abraham Lincoln, A Proclamation "to designate and
set apart a day for National prayer and humiliation.")
"America, under the smiles of a Divine Providence, the protection of a
good government, and the cultivation of manners, morals, and piety, cannot fail
of attaining an uncommon degree of eminence, in literature, commerce,
agriculture, improvements at home and respectability abroad."
-
George Washington
"I thank God that I have lived to see my
country independent and free. She may long enjoy her independence and freedom if
she will. It depends upon her virtue." (Samuel Adams, Wells, The Life of
Samuel Adams, 3:175)
