In Honor of President’s Day
I thought you might enjoy these quotes from past presidents.
George Washington:
“It is the DUTY of all nations to acknowledge the Providence of Almighty God, to OBEY His will, to be GRATEFUL for His benefits, and humbly to IMPLORE His protection and favor.” – October 3, 1789
President Washington began the practice of delivering annual messages to Congress on the state of the Union in 1790. In 1796 in his final address to Congress he made the following statement: "Of all the habits that lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports. In vain would men claim the tributes of patriotism who would work to destroy these great pillars of human happiness."
“The blessed Religion revealed in the word of God will remain an eternal and awful monument to prove that the best Institution may be abused by human depravity; and that they may even, in some instances be made subservient to the vilest purposes. Should, hereafter, those incited by the lust of power and prompted by the Supineness or venality of their Constituents, overleap the known barriers of this Constitution and violate the unalienable rights of humanity: it will only serve to shew, that no compact among men (however provident in its construction and sacred in its ratification) can be pronounced everlasting an inviolable, and if I may so express myself, that no Wall of words, that no mound of parchment can be so formed as to stand against the sweeping torrent of boundless ambition on the side, aided by the sapping current of corrupted morals on the other.” – 1789
“Government is not reason; it is not eloquent; it is force. Like fire, it is a dangerous servant and a fearful master."
“... [A] good moral character is the first essential in a man, and that the habits contracted [early in life] are generally indelible, and your conduct here may stamp your character through life. It is therefore highly important that you should endeavor not only to be learned but virtuous... The foundations of our national policy will be laid in the pure and immutable principles of private morality, and the preeminence of free government be exemplified by all the attributes which can win the affections of its citizens, and command the respect of the world...[W]here is the security for property, for reputation, for life, if the sense of religious obligation deserts the oaths...? Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, Religion and morality are indispensable supports. In vain would that man claim the tribute of Patriotism who should labor to subvert these great Pillars of human happiness – these firmest props of the duties of men and citizens.”
“We are either a United people, or we are not. If the former, let us, in all matters of general concern act as a nation, which have national objects to promote, and a national character to support.” – Fragments of a Draft of the First Inaugural Address, April 1789
“A good moral character is the first essential in a man, and that the habits contracted at your age are generally indelible, and your conduct here may stamp your character through life. It is therefore highly important that you should endeavor not only to be learned but virtuous.” – letter to Steptoe Washington, 1790
“It is impossible to govern a nation without God and the Bible.”
John Adams:
"It must be felt that there is no national security but in the nation's humble acknowledged dependence upon God and his overruling Providence."
“Our CONSTITUTION was made only for a MORAL and RELIGIOUS people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.” – October 11, 1798
“I have examined all religions, as well as my narrow sphere, my straightened means, and my busy life, would allow; and the result is that the Bible is the best Book in the world. It contains more philosophy than all the libraries I have seen.”
– in a letter to Thomas Jefferson, December 25, 1813
Thomas Jefferson:
“... can the LIBERTIES of the nation be thought secure when we have removed their only firm basis, a CONVICTION in the minds of the people that these liberties are the GIFT OF GOD? That they are not to be violated but with His wrath?” – 1781
"I consider the government of the United States as interdicted by the Constitution from intermeddling with religious institutions, their doctrines, discipline, or exercises." – Letter to Samuel Miller, 1808
"Indeed, I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just; that His justice cannot sleep forever."
”Government big enough to supply everything you need is big enough to take everything you have .... The course of history shows that as a government grows, liberty decreases."
“A wise and frugal government, which shall restrain men from injuring one another, which shall leave them otherwise free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of the laborer the bread he has earned. This is the sum of good government.”
“If we wish to make democracy permanent in this country let us abide by the fundamental principles laid down in the Constitution. Let us see that the state is the servant of its people and that the people are not the servants of the state.”
"Honor, justice, and humanity, forbid us tamely to surrender that freedom which we received from our gallant ancestors, and which our innocent posterity have a right to receive from us.”
"When the people fear the government, there is tyranny. When the government fears the people, there is liberty.... My reading of history convinces me that most bad government results from too much government."
"The care of human life and happiness, and not their destruction, is the first and only legitimate object of good government."
"I hold the precepts of Jesus as delivered by Himself, to be the most pure, benevolent and sublime which have ever been preached to man."
James Madison:
"Since the general civilization of mankind, I believe there are more instances of the abridgment of the freedom of the people by gradual and silent encroachments of those in power than by violent and sudden usurpation." – 1788
“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, to control ourselves, to sustain ourselves according to the Ten Commandments of God.”
“The foundations of our society and our government rest so much on the teachings of the Bible that it would be difficult to support them if faith in these teachings would cease to be practically universal in our country.” – The Federalist Papers, 1788
“The BELIEF in a God All Powerful wise and good, is so ESSENTIAL to the moral order of the World and to the HAPPINESS of man, that arguments which ENFORCE it cannot be drawn from too many sources...” – November 20, 1825
John Quincy Adams:
"Posterity – you will never know how much it has cost my generation to preserve your freedom. I hope you will make good use of it."
"The highest, the transcendent glory of the American Revolution was this: it connected in one indissoluble bond the principles of civil government with the principles of Christianity.
Abraham Lincoln:
“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!” – March 30, 1863
Andrew Johnson:
"Let us look forward to the time when we can take the flag of our country and nail it below the Cross, and there let it wave as it waved in the older times, and let us gather around it and inscribed for our motto: 'Liberty and Union, one and inseparable, now and forever,' and exclaim, Christ first, our country next!"
James A. Garfield:
(An ordained minister of the Gospel – the only President to be so ordained):
“Now, more than ever before, the people are responsible for the character of their Congress. If that body be ignorant, reckless, and corrupt, it is because the people tolerate ignorance, recklessness, and corruption. If that body be intelligent, brave, and pure, it is because the people demand these high qualities to represent them in the national legislature. If the next centennial does not find us a great nation, it will be because those who represent the enterprise, the culture, and the morality of the nation do not aid in controlling the political forces.”
William McKinley, Inaugural Address, March 4, 1897:
“Our faith teaches that there is no safer reliance than upon the God of our fathers, who has so singularly favored the American people in every national trial, and who will not forsake us so long as we obey His commandments and walk humbly in His footsteps.”
Harry Truman:
“The fundamental basis of this nation’s laws was given to Moses on the Mount. The fundamental basis of our Bill of Rights comes from (biblical) teachings …. If we don’t have the proper fundamental moral background, we will finally wind up with a totalitarian government which does not believe in rights for anybody except the state.”
Dwight D. Eisenhower:
“The purpose of a devout and united people was set forth in the pages of the Bible... (1) To live in freedom; (2) to work in a prosperous land; ... and (3) to obey the commandments of God. ... This Biblical story of the Promised Land inspired the founders of America. It continues to inspire us.”
"A people that values its privileges above its principles soon loses both."
“Without God, there could be no form of government nor American way of life. Recognition of the Supreme Being is the first – and most basic – expression of Americanism.”
Ronald Reagan:
"Evil is powerless if the good are unafraid."
“To those who would crush religious freedom, our message is plain; you may jail your believers. You may close their churches, confiscate their Bibles, and harass their rabbis and priests, but you will never destroy the love of God and freedom that burns in their hearts. They will triumph over you.”
"We will always remember. We will always be proud. We will always be prepared, so we may always be free."
"Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn't pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same, or one day we will spend our sunset years telling our children and our children's children what is was once like in the United States where men were free."
“Freedom prospers when religion is vibrant and the rule of law under God is acknowledged.”
“For the West, for America, the time has come to dare to show the world that our civilized ideas, our traditions, our values, are not – like the ideology of and war machine of totalitarian societies – just a façade of strength. It is time for the world to know that our intellectual and spiritual values are rooted in the source of all strength, a belief in a Supreme Being, and a law higher than our own.”
"America is too great for small dreams."
A Prayer of Thomas Jefferson:
"Almighty God; We make our earnest prayer that Thou wilt keep the United States in Thy holy protection; that Thou wilt incline the hearts of the citizens to cultivate a spirit of subordination and obedience to government; and entertain a brotherly affection and love for one another and for their fellow citizens of the United States at large. And finally that Thou wilt 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 a humble imitation of whose example in these things we can never hope to be a happy nation. Grant our supplication, we beseech Thee, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen."