07/05/2026
Our 2nd President, John Adams, has been referred to quite a lot over the last few weeks - primarily because of a letter he wrote to his wife on July 3, 1776, the day after the Continental Congress voted for independence.
That letter played a major role in the tradition of celebrating American independence with fireworks. In that letter he predicted how future generations would commemorate the occasion. He said, “I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated by succeeding generations, as the great anniversary Festival. It ought to be commemorated, as the Day of Deliverance by solemn Acts of Devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized (celebrated) with pomp and parade, with shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires and Illuminations from one end of this continent to the other from this time forward forever more." Fireworks!
Noah Webster:
"The brief exposition of the constitution of the United States, will unfold to young persons the principles of republican government; and it is the sincere desire of the writer that our citizens should early understand that the genuine source of correct republican principles is the Bible, particularly the New Testament or the Christian religion. "
The moral principles and precepts contained in the Scripture ought to form the basis of all our civil constitutions and laws.
All the miseries and evils which men suffer from vice, crime, ambition, injustice, oppression, slavery and war, proceed from their despising or neglecting the precepts contained in the Bible.
The principles of all genuine liberty, and of wise laws and administrations are to be drawn from the Bible and sustained by its authority. The man therefore who weakens or destroys the divine authority of that book may be accessory to all the public disorders which society is doomed to suffer.
Thomas Jefferson:
We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
"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 the gift of God? Indeed I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just, that his justice cannot sleep forever.
George Washington:
"You do well to wish to learn our arts and ways of life, and above all, the religion of Jesus Christ. These will make you a greater and happier people than you are."
Let us with caution indulge the supposition that morality can be maintained without religion. Reason and experience both forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle.
John Quincy Adams (our 6th President and the son of John Adams our 2nd President:
"The general principles, on which the Fathers achieved independence, were the only principles in which, that beautiful assembly of young gentlemen could unite, and these principles only could be intended by them in their address... And what were these general principles? I answer, the general principles of Christianity..."
Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.
Roger Sherman:
"I believe that there is one only living and true God, existing in three persons, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, the same in substance equal in power and glory. That the scriptures of the old and new testaments are a revelation from God, and a complete rule to direct us how we may glorify and enjoy him."
“Let us live no more to ourselves, but to Him who loved us, and gave Himself to die for us.”
Sherman was the only person to sign all four founding documents - 1) the Declaration of Independence, 2) the Constitution, 3) the Bill of Rights, and 4) the Federalist/Anti-Federalist Papers.
Benjamin Rush:
"I do not believe that the Constitution was the offspring of inspiration, but I am as satisfied that it is as much the work of a Divine Providence as any of the miracles recorded in the Old and New Testament."
Andrew Jackson:
[The Bible] is the rock on which our Republic rests.
Benjamin Franklin:
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 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 blessing on our deliberations, be held in this Assembly every morning.
Samuel Adams:
A general dissolution of principles and manners will more surely overthrow the liberties of America than the whole force of the common enemy.
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.
Woodrow Wilson:
America was born to exemplify that devotion to the elements of righteousness which are derived from the revelations of the Holy Scripture.
Calvin Coolidge:
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.
Ronald Reagan:
If we ever forget that we are One Nation Under God, then we will be a nation gone under.
Even our current President has made many statements in support of Christianity and the Bible and many of us believe our nation is receiving a 2nd chance to “turn from our wicked ways by praying, humbling ourselves and seeking God’s face.”
Not everyone quoted was necessarily a born again Christian but, still, they were very confident that the God of the Bible had led them and protected them and this nation. And they had a great respect that what God said in His Word should be what would continue to lead this nation.
