A Christian Nation

Quotes From Our Founders

George Washington – first President of the United States of America

 “What students would learn in American schools above all is the religion of Jesus Christ.”
– George Washington

“It is impossible to rightly govern the world without God and the Bible.”
– George Washington

“It is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits, and humbly to implore His protection and favor.”
– George Washington

 “Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable.”
– George Washington We beseech [God] to pardon our national and other transgressions…
– George Washington, Thanksgiving Proclamation 1789

 “Oh, eternal and everlasting God, direct my thoughts, words and work.  Wash away my sins in the immaculate blood of the Lamb and purge my heart by Thy Holy Spirit. Daily, frame me more and more in the likeness of Thy son, Jesus Christ, that living in Thy fear, and dying in Thy favor, I may in thy appointed time obtain the resurrection of the justified unto eternal life. Bless, O Lord, the whole race of mankind and let the world be filled with the knowledge of Thee and Thy son, Jesus Christ.”
– George Washington, Prayer

 “True religion affords to government its surest support.”
– George Washington

Samuel Adams, Signer of the Declaration of Independence

“I … [rely] upon the merits of Jesus Christ for a pardon of all my sins.” – Samuel Adams

 “We have this day [Fourth of July] restored the Sovereign to whom all men ought to be obedient. He reigns in Heaven, and from the rising to the setting of the sun, let His Kingdom come.”
– Samuel Adams

“The name of the Lord (says the Scripture) is a strong tower; thither the righteous flee and are safe (Proverbs 18:10). Let us secure His favor and He will lead us through the journey of this life and at length receive us to a better.”
– Samuel Adams

United States Congressional Endorsement of the Bible and God

Congress printed a Bible for America and said:
“The United States in Congress assembled … recommend this edition of the Bible to the inhabitants of the United States … a neat edition of the Holy Scriptures for the use of schools.”
– United States Congress 1782

“Congress passed this resolution: “The Congress of the United States recommends and approves the Holy Bible for use in all schools.”
– United States Congress 1782

 “By Law the United States Congress adds to US coinage:”
“In God We Trust”– United States Congress 1864  

John Adams, President of the United States of America, First Vice President, Signer of the Declaration of Independence, Signer of the Bill of Rights, and Signer of First Amendment

“We recognize no sovereign but God, and no King but Jesus.”
– John Adams and John Hancock

 “The Declaration of Independence laid the cornerstone of human government upon the first precepts of Christianity.” – John Adams

 

“The general principles on which the fathers achieved independence were the general principles of Christianity. I will avow that I then believed, and now believe, that those general principles of Christianity are as eternal and immutable as the existence and attributes of God.”
– John Adams

“The highest glory of the American Revolution was this: it connected, in one indissoluble bond, the principles of civil government with the principles of Christianity.”
– John Adams

 “Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.”

– John Adams

“I have examined all religions, and the result is that the Bible is the best book in the world.” – John Adams

 

“The Christian religion is, above all the religions that ever prevailed or existed in ancient or modern times, the religion of wisdom, virtue, equity and humanity.”

– John Adams

“[The Fourth of July] ought to be commemorated as the day of deliverance by solemn acts of devotion to God Almighty.” – John Adams

 “As the safety and prosperity of nations ultimately and essentially depend on the protection and the blessing of Almighty God, and the national acknowledgment of this truth is not only an indispensable duty which the people owe to Him.” – John Adams

Abigail Adams, Wife of John Adams

“The Scriptures tell us righteousness exalteth a Nation.”
– Abigail Adams

Patrick Henry, Early America Leader

 There is a book [the Bible] worth all the other books ever printed.– Patrick Henry

 It cannot be emphasized too strongly or too often that this great Nation was founded not by religionists, but by Christians; not on religions, but on the Gospel of Jesus Christ.– Patrick Henry

John Jay, First Chief-Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court  

Providence has given to our people the choice of their rulers, and it is their duty – as well as privilege and interest – of our Christian nation to select and prefer Christians for their rulers.
– John Jay

The Bible is the best of all books, for it is the word of God and teaches us the way to be happy in this world and in the next. Continue therefore to read it and to regulate your life by its precepts.
– John Jay

John Hancock, Signer of the Declaration of Independence

We recognize no sovereign but God, and no King but Jesus.
– John Adams and John Hancock

Benjamin Rush, Signer of the Declaration of Independence

“The only foundation for . . . a republic is to be laid in Religion. Without this there can be no virtue, and without virtue there can be no liberty, and liberty is the object and life of all republican governments.”
– Benjamin Rush

John Witherspoon, Continental Congress

“He is the best friend to American liberty, who is most sincere and active in promoting true and undefiled religion, and who sets himself with the greatest firmness to bear down on profanity and immorality of every kind. Whoever is an avowed enemy of God, I scruple not to call him an enemy to his country.”
– John Witherspoon

John Dickinson, Signer Constitution of the USA, Continental Congress

“The rights essential to happiness. . . . We claim them from a higher source — from the King of kings and Lord of all the earth.”
– John Dickinson

Benjamin Franklin

“Rebellion to tyrants is obedience to God.”
– Benjamin Franklin

Thomas Jefferson, President

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.
– Thomas Jefferson, Jefferson Memorial

The Christian religion is the best religion that has ever been given to man
– Thomas Jefferson, Jefferson Memorial

Daniel Webster, Early American Politician

Education is useless without the Bible.
– Daniel Webster

Noah Webster, American Schoolmaster

Education is useless without the Bible. The Bible was America’s basic text book in all fields. God’s Word, contained in the Bible, has furnished all necessary rules to direct our conduct.
– Noah Webster

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.
– Noah Webster, Preface Noah Webster Dictionary, 1828

Supreme Court Justice Joseph Story

“I verily believe Christianity necessary to the support of civil society. One of the beautiful boasts of our municipal jurisprudence is that Christianity is a part of the Common Law … There never has been a period in which the Common Law did not recognize Christianity as lying its foundations.”
– Supreme Court Justice Joseph Story, Harvard Speech, 1829

National Anthem of the United States of America, Francis Scott Key

“And this be our motto, ‘In God is our trust’” – USA National Anthem, Third Verse

Andrew Jackson, President of the United States of America

“[The Bible] is the rock on which our Republic rests.”
– Andrew Jackson

Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States of America

“In regards to this great Book [the Bible], I have but to say it is the best gift God has given to man. All the good the Savior gave to the world was communicated through this Book. But for it we could not know right from wrong. All things most desirable for man’s welfare, here and hereafter, are found portrayed in it.”
– Abraham Lincoln

“I am busily engaged in study of the Bible.” – Abraham Lincoln

“I have been driven many times to my knees by the overwhelming conviction that I had absolutely no other place to go.” – Abraham Lincoln

“This nation under God”
– Abraham Lincoln, Gettysberg Address and inscribed on Lincoln Memorial

“And whereas it is the duty of nations as well as of men, to own their dependence upon the overruling power of God … 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.”
– Abraham Lincoln

“We the people are the rightful masters of both Congress and the courts, not to overthrow the Constitution but to overthrow the men who pervert the Constitution.”
– Abraham Lincoln, Lincoln Memorial

“Whereas, the Senate of the United States, devoutly recognizing the Supreme Authority and just Government of Almighty God, in all the affairs of men and of nations, has, by a resolution, requested the President to designate and set apart a day for National prayer and humiliation…”
– Abraham Lincoln

United States Supreme Court

“This is a Christian nation”

– United States Supreme Court Decision in Church of the Holy Trinity v. United States, 1892 

“Our laws and our institutions must necessarily be based upon and embody the teachings of The Redeemer of mankind. It is impossible that it should be otherwise; and in this sense and to this extent our civilization and our institutions are emphatically Christian…This is a Christian nation”
– United States Supreme Court Decision in Church of the Holy Trinity v. United States, 1892

Washington Monument

“Holiness to the Lord” (Exodus 28:26, 30:30, Isaiah 23:18, Zechariah 14:20)

– Washington Monument

“Search the Scriptures” (John 5:39)

– Washington Monument

“The memory of the just is blessed” (Proverbs 10:7)

– Washington Monument

“May Heaven to this Union continue its beneficence”

– Washington Monument

“In God We Trust”

– Washington Monument

“Praise be to God” (engraved on the monument’s capstone in Latin as “Laus Deo”)

– Washington Monument

James Madison, A Primary Author of the Constitution of the United States of America

“We have staked the whole future of our new nation, not upon the power of government; far from it. We have staked the future of all our political constitutions upon the capacity of each of ourselves to govern ourselves according to the moral principles of the Ten Commandments.”
– James Madison

“Religion [is] the basis and foundation of Government”
– James Madison
“Cursed be all that learning that is contrary to the cross of Christ.”
– James Madison

Calvin Coolidge, President of the United States of America

“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.”

– Calvin Coolidge