• "It is impossible to rightly govern the world without God and the Bible.
--George Washington
(1st President of the United States)
[Attributed -- Walker P. Whitman, A Christian History of the American Republic: A Textbook for Secondary Schools, (Boston: Green Leaf Press, 1939,1948),42.; Henry Halley, Halley's Bible Handbook (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1927, 1965), p.18; Gary DeMar, America's Christian History: The Untold Story (Atlanta, GA: American Vision, Publishers, Inc., 1993), p.58.]

• "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 would 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 man, ought to respect and cherish them."
-- George Washington
[Farewell Address to the Nation, September 19, 1796]

• "Let it simply be asked where is the security for prosperity, for reputation, for life; if the sense of religious obligation desert the oaths, which are the instruments of investigation in the Courts of Justice? And let us with caution indulge the supposition, that morality can be maintained without religion"
-- George Washington
[Farewell Address to the Nation, September 19, 1796]

• "The hand Providence has been so conspicuous in all this (the course of the war) that he must be worse than an infidel that lacks faith, and more wicked that has not gratitude to acknowledge his obligation."
--George Washington
[On August 20, 1778, General George Washington wrote this to his friend, Brigadier General Thomas Nelson in Virginia]

• "While we are zealously performing the duties of good citizens and soldiers, we certainly ought not to be inattentive to the higher duties of religion. To the distinguished character of Patriot, it should be our highest Glory to laud the more distinguished Character of Christian. The signal instances of Providential goodness which we have experienced and which have now almost crowned our labors with complete success demand from us a peculiar manner the warmest returns of gratitude and piety to the Supreme Author of all good."
-- George Washington
(General of the Continental Army at this time)
[Orders issued on May 2, 1778 by George Washington to his troops at Valley Forge]

• "Our constitution was made only for a moral and religious people, it is wholly inadequate for the governing of any other."
--John Adams
(2nd President of the United States)
[Address to the military on October 11, 1798]

• "God who gave us life gave us liberty. And can the liberties of a nation be thought secure when we have removed their only firm basis, a conviction in the minds of the people that these liberties are of the Gift of God?"
-- Thomas Jefferson
(3rd President of the United States)
[Stated in 1781 in Query XVIII of his Notes on the State of Virginia, Excerpts engraved on the Jefferson Memorial in Washington, D.C.]

• "Resistance to tyrants is obedience to God."
-- Thomas Jefferson
[Used as the motto on his official seal]

• "We have staked the whole future of American civilization, not upon the power of government, far from it. We have staked the future of all of our political institutions upon the capacity of mankind for self-government; upon the capacity of each and all of us to govern ourselves, to control ourselves, to sustain ourselves according to the Ten Commandments of God."
-- James Madison
(Chief Architect of the US Constitution, 4th President of the U.S.)
[Attributed (1778) -- Gary DeMar, God and Government - A Biblical and Historical Study (Atlanta, GA: American Vision Press, 1982); Benjamin Hart, Faith & Freedom - The Christian Roots of American Liberty (Dallas, TX: Lewis and Stanley, 1988), p. 18; David Barton, The Myth of Separation (Aledo, TX: Wallbuilder Press, 1991), p. 120]

• "It is the duty of every man to render to the Creator such homage...Before any man can be considered as a member of Civil Society, he must be considered as a subject of the Governor of the Universe."
-- James Madison
[In a 1785 session of the General Assembly of the State of Virginia, explaining his "Religious Freedom, A Memorial Remonstrance"]

• "[The] principles of morality and religion... are the best foundation of national happiness."
-- James Madison
[In a message to Congress on February 24, 1813]

• "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. For this very reason peoples of other faiths have been afforded asylum, prosperity, and freedom of worship here."
-- Patrick Henry
(Member of the Continental Congress, Five-time Governor of Virginia)
[Attributed -- Steve C. Dawson, God's Providence in America's History (Rancho Cordova, CA: Steve C. Dawson, 1988), Vol. I, p. 5.; David Barton, The Myth of Separation (Aledo, TX: Wallbuilder Press, 1991), pp. 25, 158. M. E. Bradford, The Trumpet Voice of Freedom: Patrick Henry of Virginia (Marlborough, NH: Plymouth Rock Foundation, 1991), p. iii.]

• "The great pillars of all government and of social life [are] virtue, morality, and religion. This is the armor, my friend, and this alone that renders us invincible. These are the tactics we should study. If we lose these, we are conquered, fallen indeed...so long as our manners and principles remain sound, there is no danger."
-- Patrick Henry
[A letter to Archibald Blair on January 8, 1789; Moses Coit Tyler, Patrick Henry ( New York: Houghton Mifflin Co; 1897), p.409.]

• "Is life so dear or peace so sweet as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God, I know not what course others may take, but give me liberty or give me death!"
-- Patrick Henry
[At the Second Virginia Convention on March 23, 1775 this fiery patriotic oration was given]

• "The Bible is worth all other books which have ever been printed."
-- Patrick Henry
[Once interrupted while engaging in reading Scriptures, he held up the Bible and said this]

• "Whoever shall introduce into public affairs the principals of primitive Christianity will change the face of the world."
-- Benjamin Franklin
(Signer of the Declaration of Independence, the Articles of Confederation, and the Constitution; Governor of Pennsylvania; author, scientist, diplomat)
[A letter to the French ministry, March 1778]

• "No free government, or the blessings of liberty, can be preserved to any people, but by a firm adherence to justice, moderation, temperance, frugality and virtue, and by frequent recurrence to fundamental principles."
-- George Mason
(Considered by many the "Father of the Bill of Rights" as he insisted that Congress add them to the Constitution, Author of the Virginia Constitution and Virginia Bill of Rights, Member of the Constitutional Convention, lawyer, judge, political philosopher, and planter)
[part of the Virginia Declaration of Rights, of which George Mason was author]


UNITED STATES MOTTO
• "One Nation Under God"
-- United States Motto, adopted in 1956




All quotes are resourced and supplemented in:
America's God and Country: Encyclopedia of Quotations
by William J. Federer
(Fame Publishing, 1999)