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
Jan 3, 2025 9:29 PM

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
Bill McKibben, Climate-Change Opportunists, and the Pope’s Encyclical
I recently enjoyed a brief back-and-forth with 350.org co-founder Bill McKibben in which he claimed that I accused him of lacking religious faith. That most assuredly was not the case. I told him so, but also stood by my initial assertion that he and other environmental activists are cherry-picking Pope Francis’ Laudato Si for religious and moral firepower on climate-change while ignoring those elements that are core Roman Catholic teachings with which they disagree. Let’s look at Mr. McKibben’s religious...
Court: Nuns Must Comply with ObamaCare’s Contraceptive Mandate
Earlier today,the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit ruled that the Little Sisters ply with the government’s mandate to providecontraceptives for employees.The district courtruled the Little Sisters cannot receive a full exemption from the law’s contraception rules because they“do not substantially burden plaintiffs’ religious exercise or violate the plaintiffs’ First Amendment rights.” The nuns disagree. “As Little Sisters of the Poor, we simply cannot choose between our care for the elderly poor and our faith,” saysSr. Loraine Marie...
Life in Exile: Why Christians Have Never Been ‘At Home’ in America
In the various discussions surrounding the Acton Institute’s film series, For the Life of the World: Letters to the Exiles, mon response has been to call into question the basic notion of Christians existing in a state of “exile.” The plaint is that it’s somehowhyperbolic, given the privileged position of the modern West in the scope of human history. From here, things typically descend into detailed historical debates about the realities of America vs. the Middle East vs. the Roman...
Islamic State Wages War on Religious Freedom
With each passing day, the news is inundated with images of murder from the Islamic State. Anyone they target suffers not only death, but often a horrifically slow and tortuous one. What President Obama considered to be a “JV” team proves to consist of professionally petent warriors bent on annihilating their foes. These terrorists attack any opponent who stands in their way, but reserve particular hatred and brutality for Christians. The war they wage is as much of a military...
An Economics Ode to Joy
In the weeks since the June 18 release of Laudato Si, the discussion has bifurcated into the realms of prosaic, progressive pantheistic pronouncements that Earth requires tender ministrations post haste on one hand. On the other hand, there are those who assert the encyclical gets it right on the value of protecting human life but miserably wrong when Pope Francis identifies free-market economics as greed’s handmaiden intent on destroying the planet for a quick buck. Never mind whether you ascribe...
Katie Steinle and the Morality of Sanctuary Cities
The moral obligation of society regarding illegal immigrants remains at the center of the political debate on immigration. Numerous questions surround the proper “status” for illegal immigrants, how the state should respond, and the responsibility of American citizens over various humanitarian concerns. Article I, Section 8 of the bined with numerous Supreme Court rulings, has established that the federal government has “plenary power” over immigration and is solely entitled to make laws in accordance with this authority. These laws establish...
Pope Francis Meets Comrade Mr. President
During his encounter with President Morales of Bolivia last week, Pope Francis was given a munist cross.” In this week’s Acton Commentary Jorge Velarde Rosso explains why the gift was not so harmless. Of course Morales had an agenda with that gift. It wasn’t an innocent gesture. Designed by the same Jesuit priest who had been honored by Francis a few minutes earlier, the pope’s “that is not OK” represented a correction to Morales. The fact, however, that Morales gave...
What are Sanctuary Cities?
Yesterday Zack Pruitt explained why when “sanctuary cities” disregard the rule of law on immigration, humanitarian issues e clouded and morality is challenged. But what exactly are sanctuary cities? This short video byThe Daily Signal explains what they are and why they’ve e so controversial. ...
Addis Ababa: The Next Discussion on Poverty and Development
A new stage is set for an old conversation. This week marks the Third International Conference on Financing for Development (FFD3) held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Bringing in representatives of almost 200 countries, it has drawn attention from the anti-poverty crowd across the globe. Whether they are members of NGOs, churches, celebrities, or politicians, many concerned about the developing world have their ears turned to Ethiopia. FFD3 isn’t the first conference of its kind. The original summit took place in...
Radio Free Acton: John Horvat on Order; Samuel Gregg on Chaos
In this edition of Radio Free Acton, we speak with John Horvat, author of Return to Order: From a Frenzied Economy to an Organic Christian Society, about what’s gone wrong with our economyandculture and how to fix it. John’s book was featured this year at Acton University (you can pick up a copy for yourself at the link above), and he writes about his AU experience in this post on his blog: …the students really cared. It was hard not...
Related Classification
Copyright 2023-2025 - www.mreligion.com All Rights Reserved