In his farewell address of September 17, 1796, George Washington said “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, these firmest props of the duties of men and citizens . . . And let us with caution indulge the supposition that morality can be maintained without religion . . . reason and experience both forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle.” The Will of the People: Readings in American Democracy (Chicago: Great Books Foundation, 2001), 38.
John Adams, signer of the Declaration of Independence, in a letter sent to Zabdiel Adams June 1776,
writes, “Statesmen, my dear Sir, may plan and speculate for liberty, but it is religion and morality alone which can establish the Principles upon which freedom can securely stand. We have no government armed in power capable of human passions unbridled by morality and religion . . . Our Constitution was made for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.” John Adams, “Letter to Zabdiel Adams, Philadelphia, 21, June 1776,” in The Works of John Adams - Second President of the United States, ed. Charles Francis Adams (Boston: Little, Brown & Co., 1854), 9:401
