Essential to Moral Order

"The belief in a God All Powerful wise and good, is so essential to the moral order of the world and to the happiness of man, that arguments which enforce it cannot be drawn from too many sources nor adapted with too much solicitude to the different characters and capacities to be impressed with it." ~ James Madison, Letter to Rev. Frederick Beasley (November 20, 1825)

Life and Liberty

"The God who gave us life, gave us liberty at the same time; the hand of force may destroy, but cannot disjoin them." ~Thomas Jefferson

The Price of Liberty

"While the great body of freeholders are acquainted with the duties which they owe to their God, to themselves, and to men, they will remain free. But if ignorance and depravity should prevail, they will inevitably lead to slavery and ruin." ~Samuel Huntington

The Sum of All

"The sum of all is, if we would most truly enjoy this gift of heaven, let us become a virtuous people. ~Samuel Adams

Last Refuge

"Our contest is not only whether we ourselves shall be free, but whether there shall be left to mankind an asylum on earth for civil and religious liberty." ~Samuel Adams

Wickedness Never Was Happiness

"It is not only vain but wicked in a legislator to frame laws in opposition to the laws of nature. . ." ~Thomas Jefferson; 1779

Making Excuses

“Ninety-nine percent of the failures come from people who have the habit of making excuses.” ~George Washington

Fervent Supplications

"Such being the impressions under which I have, in obedience to the public summons, repaired to the present station; it would be peculiarly improper to omit in this first official Act, my fervent supplications to that Almighty Being who rules over the Universe, who presides in the Councils of Nations, and whose providential aids can supply every human defect, that his benediction may consecrate to the liberties and happiness of the People of the United States, a Government instituted by themselves for these essential purposes: and may enable every instrument employed in its administration to execute with success, the functions allotted to his charge. In tendering this homage to the Great Author of every public and private good I assure myself that it expresses your sentiments not less than my own; nor those of my fellow-citizens at large, less than either. 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. Every step, by which they have advanced to the character of an independent nation, seems to have been distinguished by some token of providential agency." ~George Washington; First Inaugural Address, 1789

"The real wonder is, that so many difficulties should have been surmounted; and surmounted with a unanimity almost as unprecedented as it must have been unexpected. It is impossible for any man of candor to reflect on this circumstance, without partaking of the astonishment. It is impossible for the man of pious reflection not to perceive in it, a finger of that Almighty hand which has been so frequently and signally extended to our relief in the critical stages of the revolution." ~ James Madison, Federalist 37

Defending Liberty

"The General hopes and trusts that every officer and man will endeavor to live and act as becomes a Christian soldier defending the dearest rights and liberties of his country." ~George Washington