America Acknowledges God

Every week in “America Acknowledges God” the Foundation for Moral Law highlights examples throughout the nation's history in which government and its officials acknowledge God to be the cornerstone of our laws, liberty, and government.

 Congress inserted Under God in the Pledge of Allegiance in 1954 in order to combat the rise of atheistic communism and reaffirm that "America was 'founded on a belief in God.'"

In God We Trust was first inscribed on U.S. coins in 1864 under President Lincoln, and in 1956 Congress made it the national motto of the United States.

Since at least the 1820's, the U.S. Supreme Court has opened its court sessions with the prayer of "God save the United States and this Honorable Court."
Since George Washington first added "so help me God" to his inaugural oath, every president since has likewise asked for God's assistance at his inauguration.
Since the Supreme Court's building was constructed in the 1930's, a marble frieze on the south wall of the courtroom has featured Moses with the two tablets of the Decalogue.
Since its first meeting in 1774, Congress has opened its sessions with prayer, usually given by its official chaplains in both houses.
When our nation was attacked on September 11, 2001, the members of Congress spontaneously sang "God Bless America" on the steps of the Capitol building.
Since 1775, with the introduction of the chaplaincy into the Army and Navy, every branch of the U.S. armed forces has provided chaplains to facilitate the worship of God in our military.
On September 25, 1789, Congress approved the final language of the Bill of Rights—including the First Amendment—and then the next day agreed to ask Pres. Washington to declare a day of thanksgiving and prayer acknowledging “the many signal favors of Almighty God.”
On October 3, 1789, recognizing “the duty of all Nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God,” Pres. Washington declared a national day of thanksgiving and prayer thanking God for His "many signal favors," including the Constitution.
Our first federal judiciary was established by the Judiciary Act of 1789, which required federal judges to end their oath of office with “So help me God.”
From 1795 until the 1860's, Christian church services were held on Sundays in the Capitol building in Washington, D.C., attended by such presidents as Jefferson, Madison, John Quincy Adams, and Lincoln, and many other government officials. (At left, the Capitol in 1800.)
  A statue of Moses holding the Ten Commandments is featured in the rotunda of the Library of Congress.
  The Ten Commandments are symbolized in the floor of the National Archives Building in Washington , D.C.
  In front of the Ronald Reagan Building in Washington, D.C. is a sculpted figure leaning on the Ten Commandments. An inscription reads, “Our liberty of worship is not a concession nor a privilege but an inherent right.”
  A cross and the Ten Commandments are sculpted on a large trylon (3-sided column) in front of the E. Barrett Prettyman Federal Courthouse in Washington, D.C.
Based on the Thanksgiving tradition started by the Pilgrims and recognized by other Presidents like George Washington, President Abraham Lincoln declared the last Thursday in November, 1863, as "a day of thanksgiving and prayer to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the heavens." All Presidents since then have annually called on the nation to thank God in the Thanksgiving season.
The Jefferson Memorial quotes from our third President's Virginia Statute Establishing Religious Freedom: "Almighty God hath created the mind free. All attempts to influence it by temporal punishments or burthens . . . are a departure from the plan of the Holy Author of our religion."
Dixie County, Florida, recently installed at its county courthouse a black granite Ten Commandments monument with the phrase "Love God and Keep His Commandments" etched in the base, but without other "secular" documents surrounding it.
Since 1923, the National Christmas Tree in Washington, D.C. has been lit at Christmas-time to celebrate the birth of Christ, a story that, as President Bush noted this year, "has carried the message that God is with us and He offers His love to every man, woman, and child."
On public grounds throughout the country, the Nativity Scene is a popular and traditional reminder that the baby in the manger is the true reason for the Christmas season. Merry Christmas!
With a longhand version of dating rarely used today, the Constitution was signed on "the Seventeenth Day of September in the Year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and Eighty seven."
The famous Liberty Bell of Philadelphia is inscribed with the message of freedom found in Leviticus 25:10, "Proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof."
In his famous 1963 Letter from Birmingham Jail, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. wrote, "A just law is a man-made code that squares with the moral law or the law of God. . . . [And, to] put it in the terms of St. Thomas Aquinas: An unjust law is a human law that is not rooted in eternal law and natural law."
The Declaration of Independence holds as "self-evident" that "all men are created equal" and "endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness."
The aluminum capstone that crowns the Washington Monument is inscribed on the east face with "LAUS DEO," Latin for "Praise be to God."
The Preamble to the Alabama Constitution of 1901 declares that the people of Alabama ordained and established their Constitution and form of government "invoking the favor and guidance of Almighty God."
In the founding era, the word "religion" as used in the First Amendment was defined in the 1776 (and current) Virginia Constitution, by James Madison in his Memorial and Remon-strance, and in other sources as: "the duty which we owe to our Creator and the manner of discharging it."
In his first Inaugural Address on April 30, 1789, George Washington repeatedly talked about God's blessings upon America, saying, "No people can be bound to acknowledge and adore the Invisible Hand which conducts the affairs of men more than the people of the United States."
The Judiciary Act of 1789 and current law require Supreme Court justices and lower court judges to swear or affirm to "faithfully and impartially discharge and perform all the duties" of office, "according to the best of my abilities and understanding, agreeably to the constitution, and laws of the United States. So help me God."

Alaska Constitution Preamble: "We the people of Alaska, grateful to God and to those who founded our nation and pioneered this great land, in order to secure and transmit to succeeding generations our heritage of political, civil, and religious liberty within the Union of States, do ordain and establish this constitution for the State of Alaska."
The preamble to Arizona's Constitution simply states, "We the people of the State of Arizona, grateful to Almighty God for our liberties, do ordain this Constitution."
In 1776, the signers of the Declaration of Independence boldly proclaimed the United States free of Great Britain, "appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions."
On January, 14, 1639, delegates from towns in the colony signed the Fundamental Orders of Connecticut —the first ever written constitution that created a government—which proclaimed that “the word of God requires that to mayntayne the peace and union of such a people there should be an orderly and decent Government established according to God . . . .”
Last year our President, like many presidents before him, recognized the Easter season as a time "to celebrate the Resurrection of Jesus Christ and the triumph of love over death. This is a season of renewal, a time for giving thanks and praise and for remembering that hope overcomes despair."
In the U.S. Senate Chamber, an inscription over the south entrance reads "In God we Trust," and an inscription over the east doorway reads "Annuit coeptis" ("God has favored our undertakings").

In the Main Reading Room of the Library of Congress, a statue representing Religion features this inscription: WHAT DOTH THE LORD REQUIRE OF THEE, BUT TO DO JUSTLY, AND TO LOVE MERCY, AND TO WALK HUMBLY WITH THY GOD? Holy Bible, Micah 6:8. Another statue representing Science has this inscription: "THE HEAVENS DECLARE THE GLORY OF GOD; AND THE FIRMAMENT SHEWETH HIS HANDIWORK. Holy Bible, Psalms 19:1."
The Articles of Confederation, which initially governed the United States until the Constitution replaced it, referred to "the Great Governor of the World" and was signed "in the year of our Lord" 1778.
This week marks the 400th anniversary of the historic landing of the English settlers at Cape Henry, Virginia, where they erected a wooden cross and held a prayer service. Their first charter granted by King James I to settle Jamestown stated their reliance upon "the Providence of Almighty God" and their work in "propagating" the "Christian Religion" to the native people.

The first representative government in America, the House of Burgesses at Jamestown, first assembled in the church on July 30, 1619, where, as the secretary's notes state, "forasmuche as men's affaires doe little prosper where God's service is neglected, all the Burgesses tooke their place in the Quire till a prayer was said by Mr. Bucke, the Minister, that it would please God to guide and sanctifie all our proceedings, to His owne glory and the good of this plantation."

The baptism of one of Jamestown's first Christian converts, the Powhatan princess Pocahontas, is memorialized in a painting that has been displayed in the Rotunda of the U.S. Capitol Building since 1840.
In 1892 in the Church of the Holy Trinity v. United States case, after listing example after example of official acknowledgments of God and Christianity in America, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously held that "this is a Christian nation."
The Treaty of Paris, made with Great Britain to end the Revolutionary War and signed by John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, and John Jay on September 3, 1783, begins, "In the Name of the most Holy and undivided Trinity."

The inscription on the Tomb of the Unknowns at Arlington National Cemetery reads as follows:

HERE RESTS IN

HONORED GLORY

AN AMERICAN

SOLDIER

KNOWN BUT TO GOD

The fourth verse of our National Anthem, "The Star-Spangled Banner," ends as follows:

Blest with vict'ry and peace may the heav'n rescued land
praise the power that hath made and preserv'd us a nation!
Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,
And this be our motto 'In God Is Our Trust'
And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave.

The Preamble to the Arkansas Constitution reads,

"We, the People of the State of Arkansas, grateful to Almighty God for the privilege of choosing our own form of government; for our civil and religious liberty; and desiring to perpetuate its blessings, and secure the same to our selves and posterity; do ordain and establish this Constitution."

The Preamble to the California Constitution reads,

"We, the People of the State of California, grateful to Almighty God for our freedom, in order to secure and perpetuate its blessings, do establish this Constitution."

"The Declaration of Independence ... was a proclamation to the world ... that the United Colonies ... had bound themselves, before God, to a primitive social compact of union, freedom and independence." So said one-time President of the United States John Quincy Adams in an oration on July 4, 1831, commemorating the 55th anniversary of America's independence.
A picture of Jesus Christ is displayed in the City Court building of Slidell, Louisiana, with the words "To Know Peace, Obey These Laws" underneath.
On March 3, 1863, the U.S. Senate passed a resolution asking President Abraham Lincoln to designate a day "for national prayer and humiliation," stating that the Senate was "devoutly recognizing the supreme authority and just government of Almighty God in all the affairs of men and of nations, and sincerely believing that no people . . . can prosper without His favor," and encouraged by "His word to seek Him for succor according to His appointed way, through Jesus Christ."

In response to a U.S. Senate resolution, President Abraham Lincoln issued a proclamation designating April 30, 1863, as a day of "national humiliation, fasting and prayer," stating that "it is the duty of nations as well as of men to own their dependence upon the overruling power of God, to confess their sins and transgressions in humble sorrow, yet with assured hope that genuine repentance will lead to mercy and pardon, and to recognize the sublime truth, announced in the Holy Scriptures and proven by all history, that those nations only are blessed whose God is the Lord."
In March 1854, the U.S. House of Representatives' Judiciary Committee issued a report explaining why the chaplains and prayers in Congress were perfectly constitutional and, indeed, necessary: "If there be a God who hears prayer -- as we believe there is -- we submit, that there never was a deliberative body that so eminently needed the fervent prayers of righteous men as the Congress of the United States."

Benjamin Franklin called for daily prayers at the Constitutional Convention on June 28, 1787, reminding the delegates that their daily prayers "for Divine protection" during the Revolutionary War were heard and answered. "And have we now forgotten that powerful Friend? or do we imagine we no longer need His assistance? 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?"
During the War of 1812, as British ships advanced on Lake Champlain in New York, Commodore Thomas MacDonough of the U.S. Navy gathered his officers and uttered this prayer before successfully defending the lake: "Stir up thy strength, O Lord, and come and help us; for thou givest not always the battle to the strong, but canst save by many or by few."
At an Ecumenical Prayer Breakfast in Dallas, Texas, on August 23, 1984, President Ronald Reagan warned the country that "without God, democracy will not and cannot long endure. If we ever forget that we're one nation under God, then we will be a nation gone under."
The Preamble of the Colorado Constitution of 1876 states: "We, the people of Colorado, with profound reverence for the Supreme Ruler of the Universe, in order to form a more independent and perfect government; establish justice; insure tranquillity; provide for the common defense; promote the general welfare and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this constitution for the 'State of Colorado.'"
Immediately after George Washington was sworn in as our first president and gave his inaugural address in New York City, he, Vice President John Adams, and the entire Congress proceeded to St. Paul's Chapel to hear a divine service performed by the chaplain of Congress. That same little chapel, located one block from Ground Zero, survived 9-11 and served for months as relief headquarters for victims and workers in the aftermath.
On September 17, 220 years ago, the Constitution was signed. James Madison, considered the Architect of the Constitution, wrote in Federalist No. 37, "It is impossible for the man of pious reflection not to perceive in it [the Constitution] a finger of that Almighty hand which has been so frequently and signally extended to our relief in the critical stages of the revolution."
The language of the First Amendment was approved by Congress on September 25, 1789, only 4 months after George Washington summed up his ideas of religious liberty in a letter to Virginia Baptists, stating: “[E]very man, conducting himself as a good citizen, and being accountable to God alone for his religious opinions, ought to be protected in worshipping the Deity according to the dictates of his own conscience.”
In an address before the Attorney General's Conference, President Harry S. Truman clearly described the foundation for America's laws: "The fundamental basis of this Nation's law was given to Moses on the Mount. The fundamental basis of our Bill of Rights comes from the teachings which we get from Exodus and St. Matthew, from Isaiah and St. Paul. I don't think we emphasize that enough these days."
Admiral Christopher Columbus sailed the ocean blue in 1492, acknowledging it was "the Lord who put it in my mind (I could feel His hand upon me) the fact that it would be possible to sail from here to the Indies." Believing that "the Gospel must still be preached to so many lands in such a short time," Columbus sought new lands to "bring the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the heathens" and "the Word of God to unknown coastlands."
Alexander Hamilton knew exactly where the rights of all mankind came from, which he clearly described in a letter to "a Pennsylvania Farmer" (John Dickenson): "The sacred rights of mankind are not to be rummaged for, among old parchments, or musty records. They are written, as with a sun beam, in the whole volume of human nature, by the hand of the divinity itself; and can never be erased or obscured by mortal power."
In 1943, Herbert Hoover issued a joint statement with the widows of several former presidents, saying: "We must seek revival of our strength in the spiritual foundations which are the bedrock of our republic. Democracy is the outgrowth of the religious conviction of the sacredness of every human life. On the religious side, its highest embodiment is the Bible; on the political side, the Constitution."
  On November 1, 1800, John Adams became the first U.S. President to move into the White House. One day later, Adams composed a prayer that is now inscribed on the mantelpiece in the State Dining Room: "I pray Heaven to bestow the best of blessings on this house and all that shall hereafter inhabit it. May none but honest and wise men ever rule under this roof."
Charles Carroll, signer of the Constitution from Maryland, wrote on November 4, 1800: "Without morals a republic cannot subsist any length of time. . . . They therefore who are decrying the Christian religion, whose morality is so sublime and pure and which insures to the good eternal happiness, are undermining the solid foundation of morals, the best security for the duration of free governments.”
In 1620, Pilgrims who had sailed for Virginia on the Mayflower landed in Massachusetts instead. On November 11, they formed the first American written compact to govern themselves, which began: “In the name of God, Amen. We, whose names are underwritten, ... Having undertaken for the Glory of God, and Advancement of the Christian Faith, and the Honour of our King and Country, a voyage to plant the first colony in the northern parts of Virginia; do by these presents, solemnly and mutually in the Presence of God and one of another, covenant and combine ourselves together into a civil Body Politick...”
Recognizing that this country “was founded by men and women who realized their dependence on God and were humbled by His providence and grace,” President George W. Bush declared November 22, 2007, as a National Day of Thanksgiving. “Let us give thanks for all we have been given and ask God to continue to bless our families and our Nation.”
On November 26 in 1861, the State of West Virginia was created due to slavery disputes with the remainder of Virginia. The Constitutional Convention was started on this day, and the Preamble to the Constitution of West Virginia states, "Since through Divine Providence we enjoy the blessings of civil, political and religious liberty, we, the people of West Virginia reaffirm our faith in and constant reliance upon God [...]"
On December 7, 1941, Pearl Harbor was attacked by Japan. In his response before Congress, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt stated, "With confidence in our armed forces, with the unbounding determination of our people, we will gain the inevitable triumph — so help us God."
John Jay, first Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court, cautioned Americans with the following words on 12 October 1816: "Providence has given to our people the choice of their rulers, and it is the duty, as well as the privilege and interest of our Christian nation to select and prefer Christians for their rulers."
At the lighting of the National Christmas Tree on December 6, 2007, President George W. Bush said, “Christmas is a time of rejoicing and reflection. Each year at this time, we rejoice in the proclamation of good news, that in Bethlehem of Judea, a Savior was born. [...] We also reflect on the mystery of Christmas: the story of the Almighty, who entered history in the most vulnerable form possible—hidden in the weakness of a newborn child. And we reflect on the call of our Creator—who by taking this form, reminds us of our duty to protect and care for the weak and the vulnerable among us.”
On 1 January 1863, the Emancipation Proclamation came into effect after being issued by President Abraham Lincoln. President Lincoln declared that "all persons held as slaves within any State [...] shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free; and the Executive Government of the United States, including the military and naval authority thereof, will recognize and maintain the freedom of such persons, [...] And upon this act, sincerely believed to be an act of justice, warranted by the Constitution, upon military necessity, I invoke the considerate judgment of mankind, and the gracious favor of Almighty God."
On January 10, 1776, Thomas Paine published Common Sense, one of the most influential writings of the American Revolution, and asked therein, "But where says some is the king of America? I'll tell you Friend, he reigns above.... [L]et a day be solemnly set apart for proclaiming the charter; let it be brought forth placed on the divine law, the word of God; let a crown be placed thereon, by which the world may know, that so far as we approve of monarchy, that in America the law is king."
Justice William O. Douglas, in the 1952 case of Zorach v. Clauson, wrote for the Supreme Court, "We are a religious people whose institutions presuppose a Supreme Being." Douglas concluded that the Court could not "read into the Bill of Rights [] a philosophy of hostility to religion."
In A Summary View of the Rights of British America (1774), Thomas Jefferson wrote, “The God who gave us life, gave us liberty at the same time: the hand of force may destroy, but cannot disjoin them.”
President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, in his Statement on the Four Hundredth Anniversary of the Printing of the English Bible, on Oct. 6, 1935, said, "We cannot read the history of our rise and development as a nation, without reckoning with the place the Bible has occupied in shaping the advances of the Republic... Where we have been the truest and most consistent in obeying its precepts, we have attained the greatest measure of contentment and prosperity."
Escaped slave and fierce abolitionist Frederick Douglass said in his book My Bondage and My Freedom (1855), “The first work of slavery is to mar and deface those characteristics of its victims which distinguish men from things, and persons from property. Its first aim is to destroy all sense of high moral and religious responsibility. It reduces man to a mere machine. It cuts him off from his Maker, it hides him from the laws of God...”
In his Farewell Speech to the city of Springfield, Illinois, newly-elected President Abraham Lincoln said on February 11, 1861: "Without the assistance of the Divine Being who ever attended him, I cannot succeed. With that assistance I cannot fail. Trusting in Him who can go with me, and remain with you, and be everywhere for good, let us confidently hope that all will yet be well. To His care commending you, as I hope in your prayers you will commend me, I bid you an affectionate farewell."
On February 23, 1904, the U.S. bought the Panama Canal Zone, a decision President William H. Taft discussed in a congressional message eight years later: "[O]ur defense of the Panama Canal, together with our enormous world trade and our missionary outposts on the frontiers of civilization, require us to recognize our position as one of the foremost in the family of nations, and to clothe ourselves with sufficient naval power to give force to our reasonable demands, and to give weight to our influence in those directions of progress that a powerful Christian nation should advocate."
A U.S. Senator, Secretary of State, U.N. Ambassador, and namesake of Dulles Int'l Airport near Washington, D.C., John Foster Dulles once noted in a 1955 speech: "Our institutions reflect the belief of our founders that all men were endowed by their creator with unalienable rights and had duties prescribed by moral law. They believed that human institutions ought primarily to help men develop their God-given possibilities...."
After American Colonel Henry Knox stealthily moved 59 cannon from Ft. Ticonderoga, NY, to a strategic position overlooking, and forcing the retreat of, the British troops in Boston, General George Washington on March 6, 1776, ordered the next day to be "a day of fasting, prayer and humiliation, 'to implore the Lord and Giver of all victory to pardon our manifold sins and wickedness, and that it would please Him to bless the Continental army with His divine favor and protection,' all officers and soldiers are strictly enjoined to pay all due reverence on that day to the sacred duties of the Lord of hosts."
Truett Cathy, Founder and CEO of Chick-fil-A, was born of March 14, 1921. He believes that principles are to be placed above profit which is echoed in the Corporate Purpose of Chick-fil-A: "To glorify God by being a faithful steward of all that is entrusted to us. To have a positive influence on all who come in contact with Chick-fil-A."
On April 6, 2007, President George W. Bush issued his annual Easter message, beginning with “Rejoice!” from Matthew 28, and stating in part: “The Resurrection of Jesus Christ is the most important event of the Christian faith. Easter morning holds wonder and promise, and it is a chance for people everywhere to gather with family and friends to celebrate the power of love conquering death. In this season of renewal, we can rejoice in Christ's rising, draw strength and inspiration from His example, and remember that in the end, even death itself will be defeated. . . . On this powerful day, let us join together and give thanks to the Almighty for the glory of His grace.”
John Quincy Adams, our 6th President and the brilliant son of our 2d, once wrote to his own son in Sept. of 1811 that he personally “read through the Bible once every year,” and that “so great is my veneration for the Bible, and so strong my belief, that when duly read and meditated on, it is of all books in the world, that which contributes most to make men good, wise, and happy, that the earlier my children begin to read it...the more lively and confident will be my hopes that they will prove useful citizens to their country, respectable members of society, and a real blessing to their parents.”
James Wilson—signer of the Declaration, leading drafter of the Constitution, and original Supreme Court Justice—stated in his Lectures on Law the belief of many of the founders that law and religion were not to be separated: "Far from being rivals or enemies, religion and law are twin sisters, friends, and mutual assistants. Indeed, these two sciences run into each other. The divine law, as discovered by reason and the moral sense, forms an essential part of both."
During World War I, President Woodrow Wilson, citing “the reverent habit of the people of the United States to turn in humble appeal to Almighty God,” declared May 30, 1918, “a day of public humiliation, prayer and fasting,” exhorting “fellow-citizens ... to pray Almighty God that He may forgive our sins and shortcomings as a people and purify our hearts to see and love the truth, to accept and defend all things that are just and right ... beseeching Him that He will give victory to our armies as they fight for freedom...”
First published on April 14, 1828, Noah Webster's An American Dictionary of the English Language standardized American English and spelling and included Biblical definitions and examples throughout. In the preface to this 26-year project, Webster wrote, “In my view, the Christian religion is the most important and one of the first things in which all children, under a free government ought to be instructed ... No truth is more evident to my mind than that the Christian religion must be the basis of any government intended to secure the rights and privileges of a free people.”
Born on April 27, 1822, President Ulysses S. Grant marked America's Centennial with a national day of public thanksgiving: "The founders of the Government, at its birth and in its feebleness, invoked the blessings and the protection of a Divine Providence . . . It seems fitting that on the occurrence of the hundredth anniversary of our existence as a nation, a grateful acknowledgment should be made to Almighty God for the protection and the bounties which He has vouchsafed to our beloved country."
Keeping with presidential tradition, President George W. Bush proclaimed May 1, 2008, a National Day of Prayer, and observed that Americans “recognize our dependence on the Almighty, we thank Him for the many blessings He has bestowed upon us, and we put our country's future in His hands.”
During the Revolutionary War, just before dawn on May 10, 1775, Ethan Allen and his Green Mountain Boys seized Fort Ticonderoga, NY and demanded that the British immediately surrender. When asked by whose authority he demanded surrender, Allen proclaimed, "In the name of the Great Jehovah and the Continental Congress."
Before he was Abraham Lincoln's Secretary of State and the man responsible for America's purchase of the Alaska territory, New York Governor William H. Seward stated in an 1839 address to the American Bible Society: "I know not how long a republican government can flourish among a great people who have not the Bible; the experiment has never been tried; but this I do know: that the existing government of this country never could have had existence but for the Bible."
On May 20, 1775, the first declaration of independence in America was adopted. The citizens of Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, resolved that they were no longer under the allegiance of the British crown, but were instead "under the control of no power, other than that of our God and the General Government of the Congress."
In a 1923 Memorial Address, then-Vice-President Calvin Coolidge quoted John 15:13 to remind America of the price of freedom: "There can be no peace with the forces of evil. Peace comes only through the establishment of the supremacy of the forces of good. That way lies through sacrifice...'Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.'"
On June 6, 1944, the Allies stormed the beaches of Normandy. In his address to the American people, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt joined with the people in prayer: "Almighty God, our sons, pride of our Nation, this day have set upon a mighty endeavor, a struggle to preserve our Republic, our religion, and our civilization... They will need Thy blessings... Some will never return. Embrace these, Father, and receive them, Thy heroic servants, into Thy kingdom... Help us, Almighty God, to rededicate ourselves in renewed faith to Thee... Thy will be done, Almighty God. Amen."
On Flag Day, June 14, 1954, Pres. Dwight D. Eisenhower signed a joint resolution adding the phrase “One Nation Under God” to the Pledge of Allegiance and stated, “From this day forward, the millions of our school children will daily proclaim in every city and town, every village and rural school house, the dedication of our nation and our people to the Almighty... In this way we are reaffirming the transcendence of religious faith in America's heritage and future; in this way we shall constantly strengthen those spiritual weapons which forever will be our country's most powerful resource, in peace or in war.”
The father of the American space and rocket program, German-born scientist Wernher von Braun wrote in an 1963 American Weekly article that religion and science were not enemies but “sisters.” He said it was “difficult for me to understand a scientist who does not acknowledge the presence of a superior rationality behind the existence of the universe... [V]iewing the awesome reaches of space... should only confirm our belief in the certainty of its Creator.”

French Christian Huguenots founded the first European settlement in North America, Fort Caroline, at the St. Johns River near what is now Jacksonville, Florida. On June 30, 1564, their leader René de Laudonnipre recorded a day of thanksgiving and prayer to God: "We sang a psalm of Thanksgiving unto God, beseeching Him that it would please Him to continue His accustomed goodness towards us."

The day after signing the Declaration of Independence, John Adams predicted in a letter to his wife Abigail on July 3, 1776, that Independence Day would 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 with Pomp and Parade, with Shews, Games, Sports, Guns, Bells, Bonfires and Illuminations from one End of this Continent to the other from this Time forward forever more.”

John Adams and Thomas Jefferson both died on July 4, 1826, exactly 50 years after the Declaration of Independence was announced to the world, prompting President John Quincy Adams to issue an executive order July 11, 1826, stating, “A coincidence of circumstances so wonderful gives confidence to the belief that the patriotic efforts of these illustrious men were Heaven directed, and furnishes a new seal to the hope that the prosperity of these States is under the special protection of a kind Providence.”

Twenty years before the Revolutionary War, a young colonel named George Washington miraculously survived the Battle of Monongahela during the French and Indian War. Washington wrote to his brother on July 18, 1755, "But by the All-Powerful Dispensations of Providence, I have been protected beyond all human probability or expectation; for I had four bullets through my coat, and two horses shot under me, yet escaped unhurt, although death was leveling my companions on every side of me!"

The Constitution of the State of Connecticut (1965) begins with
"[t]he People of Connecticut acknowledging with gratitude, the good providence of God, in having permitted them to enjoy a free government...."

In his classic book Democracy in America (1835), Alexis de Tocqueville of France observed: "There is no country in the whole world in which the Christian religion retains a greater influence over the souls of men than in America; and there can be no greater proof of its utility, and of its conformity to human nature, than that its influence is most powerfully felt over the most enlightened and free nation of the earth."

On August 1, 1776, after the Declaration of Independence was signed, Samuel Adams said in a speech at the State House in Philadelphia, “We have this day restored the Sovereign to whom all alone men ought to be obedient. He reigns in Heaven, and with a propitious eye beholds his subjects assuming that freedom of thought, and dignity of self-direction which He bestowed on them. From the rising to the setting sun, may His kingdom come.”

Only a few weeks before the Declaration of Independence was announced to the world, the town of Malden, Massachusetts issued an official “instruction” on May 27, 1776, calling for independence and stating in part: “[W]e are confirmed in the opinion, that the present age would be deficient in their duty to God, their posterity and themselves, if they do not establish an American republic. This is the only form of government which we wish to see established; for we can never be willingly subject to any other King than he who, being possessed of infinite wisdom, goodness and rectitude, is alone fit to possess unlimited power.”

Judge Learned Hand, a well-respected NY federal judge, said in a speech at an "I Am an American Day" ceremony in 1944 during WWII: "What, then, is the spirit of liberty? . . . . [T]he spirit of liberty is the spirit of him who, near two thousand years ago, taught mankind that lesson it has never learned, but has never quite forgotten--that there may be a kingdom where the least shall be heard and considered side by side with the greatest."

During the Revolutionary War, American troops under George Washington were nearly surrounded on Long Island by British troops on Aug. 28, 1776, but they escaped across the East river by cover of darkness and an unusually thick daytime fog. Col. Benjamin Tallmadge later wrote of this "providential occurrence" -- "In the history of warfare, I do not recollect a more fortunate retreat. After all, the providential appearance of the fog saved a part of our army from being captured."

In the wake of Hurricane Katrina's devastation on the Gulf Coast, on September 8, 2005, Pres. George W. Bush declared a "National Day of Prayer and Remembrance for the Victims of Hurricane Katrina," calling upon "all Americans to pray to Almighty God and to perform acts of service."

(Photo: NOAA)
In his historic Farewell Address printed on Sept. 19, 1796, Pres. George Washington stated, "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.... [R]eason & experience both forbid us to expect that National morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle."
John Marshall, born Sept. 24, 1755, was the 4th Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court but its most influential member during his 34-year tenure. Marshall wrote to Jasper Adams on May 9, 1833: "The American population is entirely Christian, and with us Christianity and Religion are identified. It would be strange indeed, if with such a people, our institutions did not presuppose Christianity and did not often refer to it and exhibit relations with it."
Rev. John Peter Muhlenberg, born Oct. 1, 1746, preached a fiery sermon to his Virginia church based on Ecclesiastes 3 during the War for Independence, saying while he removed his cleric's robe to reveal a military officer's uniform underneath, "There is a time to preach and a time to fight, and now is the time to fight!" That day Muhlenberg, as a colonel, led about 300 men of his church into the battle and later served in the first U.S. Congress.
U.S. Speaker of the House Robert C. Winthrop, in an address to the Massachusetts Bible Society on May 28, 1849, spoke of the necessity of self-government: “All societies of men must be governed in some way or other. The less they may have of stringent State Government, the more they must have of individual self-government. The less they rely on public law or physical force, the more they must rely on private moral restraint. Men, in a word, must necessarily be controlled, either by the word of God, or by the strong arm of man; either by the Bible or by the bayonet.”
In the 1931 case of U.S. v. Macintosh, the U.S. Supreme Court majority opinion stated, "We are a Christian people . . . according to one another the equal right of religious freedom, and acknowledging with reverence the duty of obedience to the will of God." The dissenting opinion also recognized God, noting, "One cannot speak of religious liberty . . . without assuming the existence of a belief in supreme allegiance to the will of God."
On Feb. 9, 1774, the Provincial Congress of Massachusetts, with John Hancock presiding, issued a resolution "To the Inhabitants of Massachusetts Bay," stating that, when faced with tyranny, "resistance is so far from being criminal, that it becomes the Christian and social duty of each individual...We trust you will still continue steadfast...but with a proper sense of your dependence on God, nobly defend those rights which Heaven gave, and no man ought to take from us."
Samuel Adams, the Father of the American Revolution, wrote in 1781: " Let each citizen remember at the moment he is offering his vote that he is not making a present or a compliment to please an individual---or at least that he ought not so to do; but that he is executing one of the most solemn trusts in human society for which he is accountable to God and his country."
After World War I ended 90 years ago on November 11, 1918 (then Armistice Day, now Veteran's Day), President Woodrow Wilson--because of "our custom to turn in the autumn of the year in praise and thanksgiving to Almighty God for His many blessings and mercies to us as a nation" and because "God has in His good pleasure given us peace"--declared "a day of thanksgiving and prayer . . . to render thanks to God, the ruler of nations."
On November 19, 1863, Pres. Abraham Lincoln concluded his famous Gettysburg Address by stating, "we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain--that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom--and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth."

 

 
 
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