Home
/
RELIGION & LIBERTY ONLINE
/
6 Quotes: Calvin Coolidge on religion and the Declaration of Independence
6 Quotes: Calvin Coolidge on religion and the Declaration of Independence
Apr 7, 2026 9:26 AM

Tomorrow, for the 243rd anniversary celebration of Independence Day, President Trump will give a speech on the National Mall. As with all such addresses in the modern age, Trump’s remarks will pared to the presidential gold standard for Fourth of July speeches—Calvin Coolidge’s speech on the 150th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence.

Coolidge was so famous for his taciturnity that he earned the nickname “Silent Cal.” But when he did speak he could be moving and profound. Such was the case in his speech in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on July 5, 1926. Here are six quotes you should know from the speech about God, religion, and the Declaration.

1. “The American Revolution represented the informed and mature convictions of a great mass of independent, liberty-loving, God-fearing people who knew their rights, and possessed the courage to dare to maintain them.”

2. “While the written word was the foundation, it is apparent that the spoken word was the vehicle for convincing the people. This came with great force and wide range from the successors of Hooker and Wise. It was carried on with a missionary spirit which did not fail to reach the Scotch-Irish of North Carolina, showing its influence by significantly making that Colony the first to give instructions to its delegates looking to independence. This preaching reached the neighborhood of Thomas Jefferson, who acknowledged that his “best ideas of democracy” had been secured at church meetings.”

3. “When we take all these circumstances into consideration, it is but natural that the first paragraph of the Declaration of Independence should open with a reference to Nature’s God and should close in the final paragraphs with an appeal to the Supreme Judge of the world and an assertion of a firm reliance on Divine Providence. Coming from these sources, having as it did this background, it is no wonder that Samuel Adams could say, ‘The people seem to recognize this resolution as though it were a decree promulgated from heaven.’”

4. “No one can examine this record and escape the conclusion that in the great outline of its principles the Declaration was the result of the religious teachings of the preceding period. The profound philosophy which Jonathan Edwards applied to theology, the popular preaching of George Whitefield, had aroused the thought and stirred the people of the Colonies in preparation for this great event. No doubt the speculations which had been going on in England, and especially on the Continent, lent their influence to the general sentiment of the times. Of course, the world is always influenced by all the experience and all the thought of the past. But when e to a contemplation of the immediate conception of the principles of human relationship which went into the Declaration of Independence we are not required to extend our search beyond our own shores. They are found in the texts, the sermons, and the writings of the early colonial clergy who were earnestly undertaking to instruct their congregations in the great mystery of how to live. They preached equality because they believed in the fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man. They justified freedom by the text that we are all created in the divine image, all partakers of the divine spirit.”

5. “Equality, liberty, popular sovereignty, the rights of man — these are not elements which we can see and touch. They are ideals. They have their source and their roots in the religious convictions. They belong to the unseen world. Unless the faith of the American people in these religious convictions is to endure, the principles of our Declaration will perish. We can not continue to enjoy the result if we neglect and abandon the cause.”

6. “Our forefathers came to certain conclusions and decided upon certain courses of action which have been a great blessing to the world. Before we can understand their conclusions we must go back and review the course which they followed. We must think the thoughts which they thought. Their intellectual life centered around the meeting-house. They were intent upon religious worship. While there were always among them men of deep learning, and later those who paratively large possessions, the mind of the people was not so much engrossed in how much they knew, or how much they had, as in how they were going to live. While scantily provided with other literature, there was a wide acquaintance with the Scriptures. Over a period as great as that which measures the existence of our independence they were subject to this discipline not only in their religious life and educational training, but also in their political thought. They were a people who came under the influence of a great spiritual development and acquired a great moral power. No other theory is adequate to explain prehend the Declaration of Independence. It is the product of the spiritual insight of the people.”

Comments
Welcome to mreligion comments! Please keep conversations courteous and on-topic. To fosterproductive and respectful conversations, you may see comments from our Community Managers.
Sign up to post
Sort by
Show More Comments
RELIGION & LIBERTY ONLINE
Alejandro Chafuen in Forbes: the universality of the Nativity scene
Some weeks ago I met with a priest named Fr. Mike at his office in the local Curia. He is a well-trained lawyer who is now in charge of civil legal affairs for one of the largest Catholic dioceses in Europe. His work deals with donations, inheritances, real estate, and the like. Several ideas from that conversation are still fresh in my mind. One of aspect of our conversation dealt with Fr. Mike’s workload. When I saw the pile of...
Acton Line podcast: Behind China’s drive for global domination
During Christmastime in China in 2015, 1,700 churches were torn down or vandalized, a result of the Chinese government growing increasingly hostile to Christianity. In 2018, The Chinese government raided and shut down churches ahead of Christmas and detained pastors and members caught celebrating. From reports of labor camps in the country to growing surveillance through technology, China is increasingly cracking down on freedom. This is all laid out in a new book, titled Deceiving the Sky: Inside Communist China’s...
The state of human freedom in 2019
Did liberty increase or decrease in each nation, and globally, in 2019? How has the last decade impacted freedom around the world? The Cato Institute measures the freedom of each nation in the world and publishes the results. “The Human Freedom Index 2019,” written by Ian Vásquez and Tanja Porčnik, ranked 162 countries – and the results are mixed. “The jurisdictions that took the top 10 places, in order, were New Zealand, Switzerland, Hong Kong, Canada, Australia, Denmark and Luxembourg...
Star Wars and self-interest
Recent installments in the Star Wars universe directly raise the theme of self-interest, and specifically the formation or deformation of the self. These instances help us ask the important question, “Who puts the ‘self’ in self-interest?” [Mild spoilers: If you are not current on The Mandalorian or haven’t seen The Rise of Skywalker, you may want to flag this post e back later.] In the season finale of The Mandalorian, we get a pretty full introduction to Moff Gideon, the...
Gertrude Himmelfarb (1922-2019): The historian of moral revolution
I just heard some devastating news. Gertrude Himmelfarb, historian, moralist, wife, and mother, has passed. David Brooks has written a touching obituary detailing the life and legacy of this fascinating woman: Economists measure economic change and journalists describe political change, but who captures moral change? Who captures the shifts in manners, values, and mores, how each era defines what is admirable and what is disgraceful? Gertrude Himmelfarb, who died at 97 last night, made this her central concern. She was...
The government funds U.S. farmers – and their competitors
When government es sufficiently large, its impact on private citizens is not just harmful; it’s self-contradictory. U.S. policy toward dairy farmers offers a poignant example. Joseph Sunde recently explored one aspect of U.S. agricultural policy: The Food and Agriculture Act of 1977, signed by new President Jimmy Carter, intended to artificially raised the price for dairy products (and led to a 500-million-pound stockpile of “government cheese”). Government intervention in the market, which inevitably confuses price signals, forced U.S. consumers to...
The gift of the Incarnation
All of life is God’s gracious gift. This graciousness applies not only to ourselves and our neighbors, each of whom is made in His image and likeness, but applies as well to the whole of creation which was entrusted to the human family’s care and cultivation (Gen. 1:26-31). This gracious gift, both of ourselves and the creation, was marred by our own disobedience, born of ingratitude, and resulted in our separation from that gracious Giver. Sin and death are the...
Clarence Thomas on the harmony of faith and reason
In the Christmas season, the secular West begrudgingly nods toward its faithful past. Yet amidst the darkness, Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas joined with one the nation’s most distinguished colleges to highlight patibility of faith and reason. Justice Thomas spoke at the dedication of Hillsdale College’s Christ Chapel on October 3, 2019. Thomas told the students that a university chapel joins two of the institutions on which liberty relies: Christ Chapel reflects the College’s conviction that a vibrant intellectual environment...
10 economic lessons from ‘Emmett Otter’s Jugband Christmas’
Jim Henson’s beloved Emmett Otter’s Jugband Christmas first entered the hearts of Canadian children in December 1977 and made its U.S. debut on HBO one year later. The musical Muppet adventure tells the story of widow Alice Otter and her tenderhearted son, Emmett, who decide the only way they can afford Christmas presents this year is to win a petition – with an exacting entrance fee. Aside from its entertainment value – including a posed by songwriter Paul Williams –...
Did Domino’s exploit you by selling $30 pizzas on New Year’s Eve in Times Square?
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio began 2020, the year he intended to e president, by asserting that Domino’s Pizza “exploited” New Year’s Eve revelers in Times Square by selling pizzas for $30 apiece. But was the mayor’s hot take on the extra dough fresh? In his first original tweet of the year, Mayor de Blasio referred to a New York Post story about this franchise’s 15-year-old tradition of delivering pizzas to the crowd. “Jacking up your prices on...
Related Classification
Copyright 2023-2026 - www.mreligion.com All Rights Reserved