God, religion & morals – Government sources
1. “Men must be governed by God or they will be ruled by tyrants.” — William Penn
2. ” . . . we have all been encouraged to feel in the guardianship and guidance of that Almighty Being whose power regulates the destiny of nations, whose blessings have been so conspicuously dispensed to this rising Republic, and to whom we are bound to address our devout gratitude for the past, as well as our fervent supplications and best hopes for the future.” – James Madison, First Inaugural Address, 1809
3. “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.” – Third Panel of the Jefferson Memorial (context was about slavery, but pertains to all of our rights)
4. “The Laws of Nature are the Laws of God, Whose authority can be superseded by no power on earth. A legislature must not obstruct our obedience to Him from whose punishment they cannot protect us.” — George Mason
5. “The cause of America is in a great measure the cause of all mankind. (In Introduction) Where, say some, is the king of America? I’ll tell you my friend, He reigns above.” (page 18) – from the booklet Common Sense by Thomas Paine
6. “A nation of well-informed men who have been taught to know and prize the rights which God has given them cannot be enslaved. It is in the region of ignorance that tyranny begins.” – Ben Franklin
7. “Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.” — John Adams, letter to Massachusetts Militia, 11 October 1798
8. “If to please the people, we offer what we ourselves disapprove, how can we afterward defend our work? Let us raise a standard to which the wise and the honest can repair; the event is in the Hand of God.” — George Washington, commenting about the Constitutional Convention
9. “Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion, and morality are indispensable supports. In vain would that [person] 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. The mere politician, equally with the pious [person], ought to respect and to cherish them. A volume could not trace all their connections with private and public felicity. Let it simply be asked, “Where is the security for property, for reputation, for life, if the sense of religious obligation desert the oaths which are the instruments of investigation in courts of justice?” And let us with caution indulge the supposition that morality can be maintained without religion. Whatever may be conceded to the influence of refined education on minds of peculiar structure, reason and experience both forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle. “ – George Washington, Farewell Address, 1796
10. “[A] true patriot must be a religious man. I have been led to think from a late defection, that he who neglects his duty to his Maker may well be expected to be deficient and insincere in his duty towards the public. Even suppose him to possess a large share of what is called honor and public spirit, yet do not these men, by their bad example, by a loose, immoral conduct, corrupt the minds of youth and vitiate the morals of the age, and thus injure the public more than they can compensate by intrepidity, generosity, and honor? Let revenge or ambition, pride, lust, or profit, tempt these men to a base and vile action, you may as well hope to bind up a hungry tiger with a cobweb, as to hold such debauched patriots in the visionary chains of decency, or to charm them with the intellectual beauty of truth and reason. – Abigail Adams to her husband John, November 5, 1775
11. On the east side of the aluminum pyramid at the top of the Washington Monument is the phrase: “Laus Deo,” Latin for “Praise be to God.”
