Coolidge Thanksgiving Messages

http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=72450&st=&st1=      1924

http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=72451 1925

http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=72452&st=&st1= 1926

http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=72453&st=&st1= 1927

http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=72454&st=&st1=  1928

Thanksgiving—1925 By the President of the United States of America—A Proclamation

Proclamation 1753
Thanksgiving—1925
By the President of the United States of America—A Proclamation 

The season approaches when, in accordance with a long established and respected custom, a day is set apart to give thanks to Almighty God for the manifold blessings which His gracious and benevolent providence has bestowed upon us as a nation and as individuals.

We have been brought with safety and honor through another year, and, through the generosity of nature, He has blessed us with resources whose potentiality in wealth is almost incalculable; we are at peace at home and abroad; the public health is good; we have been undisturbed by pestilences or great catastrophes; our harvests and our industries have been rich in productivity; our commerce spreads over the whole world, and Labor has been well rewarded for its remunerative service.

As we have grown and prospered in material things, so also should we progress in moral and spiritual things. We are a God-fearing people who should set ourselves against evil and strive for righteousness in living, and in observing the Golden Rule we should from our abundance help and serve those less fortunately placed. We should bow in gratitude to God for His many favors.

Now, therefore, I, Calvin Coolidge, President of the United States, do hereby set apart Thursday, the twenty-sixth day of November next as a day of general thanksgiving and prayer, and I recommend that on that day the people shall cease from their daily work, and in their homes or in their accustomed places of worship, devoutly give thanks to the Almighty for the many and great blessings they have received, and to seek His guidance that they may deserve a continuance of His favor.

In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed.

Done at the City of Washington this 26^th day of October, in the year of our Lord, one thousand nine hundred and twenty-five, and of the Independence of the United States of America the one hundred and fiftieth.
—Calvin Coolidge

In my opinion, presidents of contemporary times have lost much of their eloquence when giving their Thanksgiving Day proclamations. With this in mind, I have presented the Thanksgiving Proclamation of President Calvin Coolidge, which he made in October of 1925.
Coolidge Proclamation Courtesy of Pilgrim Hall Museum.

Our faith in man and God is the justification for the belief in our continuing success.

In closing this Email I do so in the same manner and with the same words used by President Coolidge in his Sixth Annual Message of December 4, 1928:


Our faith in man and God is the justification for the belief in our continuing success.

Coolidge - Excerpts from comments on immgration policy

Calvin Coolidge on Immigration, Tariffs and Protection of the Wage Earner:

"This has been adopted by this administration chiefly for the purpose of maintaining American standards. It undoubtedly has a very great economic effect. We want the people who live in America, no matter what their origin, to be able to continue in the enjoyment of their present unprecedented advantages. This opportunity would certainly be destroyed by the tremendous influx of foreign peoples, if immigration were not restricted. Unemployment would become a menace, and there would follow an almost certain reduction of wages, with all the attendant distress and despair which is now offered in so many parts of Europe. Our first duty is to our own people. The second important factor is that of a tariff for protection. I have already given you some examples of the wages paid in Europe. Such a scale means goods can be produced much cheaper there than they here. If our policy of protection is to be abandoned, the goods which are now made by the wage earners of  America will be made by the wage earners of Europe. Our own people will be out of  employment.Our entire business system will be thrown into confusion with the want and misery which always accompany the hard times of attempted economic readjustment. Under free trade the only way we could meet European competition would be by approaching the European standard of wages. I want to see the American standard of living maintained."

"Our country has one cardinal principle to maintain in its foreign policy. It is an American principle. It must be an American policy. We attend to our own affairs, conserve our own strength, and protect the interests of our own citizens; but we recognize thoroughly our obligation to help others, reserving to the decision of our own Judgment the time, the place, and the method. We realize the common bond of humanity. We know the inescapable law of service."

"We have been, and propose to be, more and more American. We believe that we can best serve our own country and most successfully discharge our obligations to humanity by continuing to be openly and candidly, intensely and scrupulously, American. If we have any heritage, it has been that. If we have any destiny, we have found it in that direction."

"While our country numbers among its best citizens many of those of foreign birth, yet those who now enter in violation of our laws by that very act thereby place themselves in a class of undesirables.... We ought to have no prejudice against an alien because he is an alien. The standard which we apply to our inhabitants is that of manhood, not place of birth. Restrictive immigration is to a large degree for economic purposes. It is applied in order that we may not have a larger annual increment of good people within our borders than we can weave into our economic fabric in such a way as to supply their needs without undue injury to ourselves."

"American institutions rest solely on good citizenship. They were created by people who had a background of self-government. New arrivals should be limited to our capacity to absorb them into the ranks of good citizenship. America must be kept American. For this  purpose, it is necessary to continue a policy of restricted immigration. It would be well to make such immigration of a selective nature with some inspection at the source, and based either on a prior census or upon the record of naturalization. Either method would insure the admission of those with the largest capacity and best intention of becoming citizens. I am convinced that our present economic and social conditions warrant a limitation of those to be admitted. We should find additional safety in a law requiring the immediate registration of all aliens. Those' who do not want to be partakers of the American spirit ought not to settle in America." - Presidential Message of December 6, 1923

 

"Two very important policies have been adopted by this country which, while extending their benefits also in other directions, have been of the utmost importance to the wage earners. One of these is the protective tariff, which enables our people to live according to a better standard and receive a better rate of compensation than any people, any time, anywhere on earth, ever enjoyed. This saves the American market for the products of the American workmen. The other is a policy of more recent origin and seeks to shield our wage earners from the disastrous competition of a great influx of foreign peoples. This has been done by the restrictive immigration law. This saves the American job for the American workmen. I should like to see the administrative features of this law rendered a little more humane for the purpose of permitting those already here a greater latitude in securing admission of members of their own families. But I believe this law in principle is necessary and sound, and destined to increase greatly the public welfare. We must maintain our own economic position, we must defend our own national integrity."  
 
"It is gratifying to report that the progress of industry, the enormous increase in individual productivity through labor-saving devices, and the high rate of wages have all combined to furnish our people in general with such an abundance not only of the necessaries but of the conveniences of life that we are by a natural evolution solving our problems of economic and social justice." - From Second Annual Message of December 3, 1924

"All artificial distinctions of lineage and rank are cast aside. We all rejoice in the title of Americans. But this is not done by discarding the teachings and beliefs or the character which have contributed to the strength and progress of the peoples from which our various strains derived their origin, but rather from the acceptance of all their good qualities and their adaptation to the requirements of our institutions. None of those who come here are required to leave any good qualities behind, but they are rather required to strengthen and fortify them and supplement them with such additional good qualities as they find among us. While it is eminently proper for us to glory in our origin and to cherish with pride the contributions which our race has made to the common progress of humanity, we can not put too much emphasis on the fact that in this country we are all bound together in a common destiny. We must all be united as one people.This principle works both ways. As we do not recognize any inferior races, so we do not recognize any superior races. We all stand on an equality of rights and of opportunity, each deriving just honor from his own worth and accomplishments."

Calvin Coolidge Comments: "We All Rejoice in the Title of Americans.... We Are All Bound Together in a Common Destiny. We Must All Be United as One People."

""But when once our feet have touched this soil, when once we have made this land our home, wherever our place of birth, whatever our race, we are all blended in one common country. All artificial distinctions of lineage and rank are cast aside. We all rejoice in the title of Americans. But this is not done by discarding the teachings and beliefs or the character which have contributed to the strength and progress of the peoples from which our various strains derived their origin, but rather from the acceptance of all their good qualities and their adaptation to the requirements of our institutions. None of those who come here are required to leave any good qualities behind, but they are rather required to strengthen and fortify them and supplement them with such additional good qualities as they find among us.
 
While it is eminently proper for us to glory in our origin and to cherish with pride the contributions which our race has made to the common progress of humanity, we can not put too much emphasis on the fact that in this country we are all bound together in a common destiny. We must all be united as one people. This principle works both ways. As we do not recognize any inferior races, so we do not recognize any superior races. We all stand on an equality of rights and of opportunity, each deriving just honor from his own worth and accomplishments." 
- From President Coolidge's Book "Foundations of the Republic"
 p 415 - 416

Calvin Coolidge Comments: On States Rights and National Unity

 
"No method of procedure has ever been devised by which liberty could be divorced from local self-government. No plan of centralization has ever been adopted which did not result in bureaucracy, tyranny, inflexibility, reaction, and decline." 

"While we ought to glory in the Union and remember that it is the source from which the States derive their chief title to fame, we must also recognize that the national administration is not and can not be adjusted to the needs of local government. It is too far away to be informed of local needs, too inaccessible to be responsive to
local conditions. The States should not be induced by coercion or by favor to surrender the management of their own affairs. The Federal Government ought to resist the tendency to be loaded up with duties which the States should perform. It does not follow that because some-
thing ought to be done the National Government ought to do it. But, on the other hand, when the great body of public opinion of the Nation requires action the States ought to understand that unless they are responsive to such sentiment the national authority will be compelled to intervene. The doctrine of State rights is not a privilege to
continue in wrong-doing but a privilege to be free from interference in well-doing. This Nation is bent on progress. It has determined on the policy of meting out justice between man and man. It has decided to extend the blessing of an enlightened humanity. Unless the States meet these
requirements, the National Government reluctantly will be crowded into the position of enlarging its own authority at their expense. I want to see the policy adopted by the States of discharging their public functions so faithfully instead of an extension on the part of the Federal Government there can be a contraction.
These principles of independence, of the integrity
the Union, and of local self-government have not diminished in their importance since they were so clearly recognized and faithfully declared in the Virginia convention 150 years ago. We may wonder at their need of constant restatement, reiteration, and defense. But the fact is that the principles of government have the same need to fortified, reinforced, and supported that characterize the
principles of religion. After enumerating many of the spiritual ideals, the Scriptures enjoin us to "think on these things." If we are to maintain the ideals of government it is likewise necessary that we "think on these things.""

Calvin Coolidge Comments: On the Importance of the Family

"We hear much talk of the decline in the influence of religion, of the loosening of the home ties, of the lack of discipline—all tending to break down reverence and respect for the laws of God and of man. Such thought as I have been able to give to the subject and such observations as have come within my experience have convinced me that there is no substitute for the influences of the home and of religion. These take hold of the innermost nature of the individual and play a very dominant part in the formation of personality and character. This most necessary and most valuable service has to be performed by the parents, or it is not performed at all. It is the root of the family life. Nothing else can ever take its place. These duties can be performed by foster parents with partial success, but any attempt on the part of the Government to function in these directions breaks down almost entirely."

Page 393 Foundations of the Republic

Calvin Coolidge Comments: "If you at times grow weary of the constant stress put on economy, you will see that something more is involved than can be measured in dollars."

"If you at times grow weary of the constant
stress put on economy, you will see that something more is involved than can be measured in dollars and cents. The spirit of real constructive economy is something higher and nobler. It does not imply so much a limitation as an attempt to be free from limitation. It does not contemplate curtailing ample supplies for worthy purposes and real needs, but it is the enemy of waste and the ally of orderlyprocedure. It is an attempt to increase and enlarge the scope of the individual and the life of the nation." - Calvin Coolidge

Calvin Coolidge Comments: On Constructive Economy

XXXI CONSTRUCTIVE ECONOMY
It is not through selfishness or wastefulness or
arrogance, but through self-denial, conservation,
and service, that we shall build up the American
spirit. This is the true constructive economy,
the true faith on which our institutions rest.
As would be the practice in any well-managed concern,
the executive heads of the various departments and bureaus
of the United States Government meet twice a year for
receiving a report of the results of their efforts to make
the business of the Government more successful. This is
primarily a meeting to consider the Federal financial opera-
tions. But it approaches that problem not from the side
of the finding and the raising of revenue but from the oppo-
site side of the conservation and the expenditure of revenue.
It is an eternal challenge to which we respond, of how to
secure a more efficient government with a smaller expendi-
ture of money. It is a great test of engineering skill in
the constant elimination of waste, in the making of every
dollar count, and in the conserving of national energy. On
the success with which we meet these requirements depends
the welfare of the Government and the prosperity and
happiness of the American people.
It is for these reasons that the greatest emphasis should
be placed on constructive economy. Merely to reduce the
expenses of the Government might not in itself be bene-
ficial. Such action might be only the discontinuance of a
wholly necessary activity. No civilized community would
close its schools, abolish its courts, disband its police force,
or discontinue its fire department. Such action could not
be counted as gain, but as irreparable loss. The underlying
spirit of economy is to secure better education, wider ad-
miniistration of justice, more public order, and greater se-
At the Tenth Regular Meeting of the Business Organization of the Gov-
ernment, Memorial Continental Hall, January 30, 1926.
356 FOUNDATIONS OF THE REPUBLIC
curity from conflagration, all through a superior organization
which will decrease the unit of cost. It is all reducible to
a question of national efficiency.
Each one of you may sometimes feel that you are per-
forming a small and ineffective part and that the expendi-
tures in your department will make so little difference that
it is not worth while to put forth much effort. Pausing
long enough to remind you that in the first place the char-
acter of the manhood and womanhood which you develop
will depend entirely on the amount of effort that you put
forth, I pass over that consideration to the fact that though
each of you may contribute a comparatively small share
to the general result, yet in a concern so vast as the Govern-
ment of the United States the aggregate is very large. I
want to see the public service of my country make a large
contribution to the character of those who are employed in
it and become the most efficient instrument of organized
government in the world. Before you admit that your own
part is small and ineffective you should remember that
the whole is equal to the sum of all the parts and take a
survey of the broad plan which is gradually being framed
in accordance with the system of constructive economy for
the conduct of the Federal business.
It happens that this is the tenth Budget meeting. If
you will look back at the situation which existed in June,
1921, only four and one-half years ago, when your first
meeting was held, you will be able better to understand
the tremendous results of a policy of constructive economy.
At that time 5,000,000 of our people were without employ-
ment, trade and commerce were despondent, transportation
was unable to finance itself, the loss of buying power on
the part of the wage earner depressed the price of all agri-
cultural products, our foreign relations were in an uncertain
state, we were threatened with an inundation of alien goods
and alien peoples, about $7,000,000,000 of unfunded public
CONSTRUCTIVE ECONOMY 357
debt was shortly to mature. It was almost impossible to
secure private credit. The burden of taxation was over-
whelming.
The action of the Government was prompt and effective.
It is for us to see that it remains sustained. The flood of
immigration and importations was checked by legislation.
Our own people began to find work. Our own goods began
to find a market. Taxes were enormously reduced. Federal
expenditures, which then amounted to $5,538,000,000 for
that fiscal year, it is now estimated will be cut down to
$3,619,000,000 for this fiscal year. That is a saving of
$1,919,000,000. Our short-term obligations were so skill-
fully funded that instead of embarrassing business the
operation actually stimulated it. The public debt then
was $23,997,000,000. At the end of this fiscal year it is
estimated it will be less than $20,000,000,000. This is a
payment of about $4,000,000,000 and represents a yearly
saving in interest of $179,000,000. Credit was extended to
agriculture and transportation through the War Finance
Corporation.
With the return of employment and high wages the con-
sumption of agricultural products increased 18 per cent.
Our foreign relations were adjusted in a manner which
added to the peace and stability of the world. The enor-
mous debts due to us from abroad have been steadily ad-
justed until but one of large importance remains. The
system of foreign loans has increased foreign purchasing
powers. Economies in production have decreased our do-
mestic costs. Our exports and imports for the last year
were about $9,000,000,000, the highest mark ever reached in
time of peace. With our assistance the economic condition
°f the whole world has been very greatly improved.
To eliminate competition in armaments and prevent the
friction and suspicion which inevitably arises from that
Practice, the Washington Conference provided treaties
Practice, the Washington Conference provided treaties
358 FOUNDATIONS OF THE REPUBLIC
which not only afford great financial relief but are very
effective in the promotion of international good will and
confidence. Before us is the prospect of another conference
which holds the promise of further advance in this most
attractive field. These accomplishments mean interna-
tional peace, economic prosperity, and financial stability.
In your own peculiar field the most impressive action was
the adoption of the Budget system. With the cooperation
of the Congress, with your loyal support, and under the
forceful leadership of General Dawes, it was put into opera-
tion. In a little over two years it became apparent that
largely because of its efficient continuance under General
Lord it was possible again to reduce taxes. Such a bill was
enacted by the Congress which convened in December,
1923. Due to the same moving factors, we have been en-
abled to propose another reduction in taxes, which is now
pending before the Congress and promises to be speedily
enacted. This is your record. It is due to your individual
action. Measured in its entirety, it is not small or inconse-
quential, but tremendous in its results and of overwhelming
significance in its implications. It has been a large con-
tributing factor to prosperity at home, and to peace, repara-
tion, and restoration abroad.
It is my belief that we should supplement these achieve-
ments, round out these accomplishments and reinforce this
same general policy of constructive economy, enlarged pros-
perity, and peace, by adhering to the Permanent Court of
International Justice. When accompanied with proper res-
ervations I can see in such action no diminution of our
sovereignty, no increase in our national peril, but rather an
instrument which will add more securities to human rights
and more guaranties to international tranquility. We
have not reached these domestic results without struggle
and sacrifice and the encountering of opposition. We shall
not be able to do much good to ourselves or make much
CONSTRUCTIVE ECONOMY 359
contribution to the welfare of the world, unless we continue
the same struggle and make increasing sacrifices.
To me, all these proposals for conservation and economy
do not seem either selfish or provincial, but rather they
reveal a spirit dedicated to the service of humanity. If
these things are not important, then there are no earthly
considerations that are important.
Although these accomplishments are past history and
ought to be known of all men, yet it is well that they be
recalled and reiterated, in order that we may better under-
stand the general plan which not only all the people in the
Government but all the people in the country are engaged
in putting into effect. The penalty for achievement is al-
ways a demand for even greater achievement. In this
effort for retrenchment you have not disappointed the peo-
ple or the President, and it is my firm conviction that you
never will. If you at times grow weary of the constant
stress put on economy, you will see that something more is
involved than can be measured in dollars and cents. The
spirit of real constructive economy is something higher and
nobler. It does not imply so much a limitation as an at-
tempt to be free from limitation. It does not contemplate
curtailing ample supplies for worthy purposes and real
needs, but it is the enemy of waste and the ally of orderly
procedure. It is an attempt to increase and enlarge the
scope of the individual and the life of the nation.
How great a need exists to emphasize the homely funda-
mental virtue of government economy is seen when we
contemplate the mounting tide of expenditure and indebted-
ness of municipal and State governments. This tendency
is one of great concern. The very fact that the Federal
Government has been able to cut down its expenditures,
decrease its indebtedness, and reduce its taxes indicates
how great is the accomplishment which you have made in
of the people of the Nation. These results are all
360 FOUNDATIONS OF THE REPUBLIC
monuments to you and to the Congress. It has been your
work and your cooperation that has brought forth these
fortunate conclusions.
Heretofore I have expressed the opinion that we can not
look for further reductions in the cost of the actual trans-
acting of the business of the Government. It is only natu-
ral that the normal growth of the Nation would produce
some expansion. But constant scrutiny is necessary to pre-
vent fossilization and decay. Careful oversight of person-
nel is always required. The pay roll represents the largest
single item in the business of the Government. During the
past calendar year this has been reduced locally by more
than 5,000 names—an annual saving of $8,000,000—al-
though when persons are dropped from one department
they are always taken care of in another wherever possible.
Past experience has shown that a reduction of taxes has
been followed by increased prosperity. As the volume of
business increases the Federal revenue increases. If we
are moderate in our expenditures, the natural increase in
profits ought within the next few years to furnish us again
with a surplus revenue which will permit a further tax
reduction.
We were the first nation in recent years to adopt a plan
to reduce our debt and put the plan into operation. We
are maintaining our sinking fund and applying the pay-
ments made on our foreign loans to the retirement of our
debt. As a result this Nation has to-day the best credit
in the world. We have lowered our interest costs not only
by reducing our debt, but by so improving our credit that
we can borrow at lower rates. Since interest is 22^ per
cent of our total Federal expenditures, a reduction in inter-
est is a most fruitful field for permanent saving. If we
continued this plan during the post-war depression, there
is certainly little reason for changing it in these day* of
prosperity.
CONSTRUCTIVE ECONOMY 361
Very soon you will have your appropriations for the next
fiscal year. It would be wise early to lay out a carefully
prepared program in making the apportionment over the
several periods of the year, as is required by the law. If
all our expenditures are wisely planned and wisely made,
retrenchment will take care of itself. You should not for-
get to lay aside an emergency fund. Something unexpected
usually happens, but if it does not a real saving is made.
The reserve set up in this way for the last fiscal year has
an unexpended balance of $24,000,000. It is of the utmost
importance to remember that constructive economy means
preparation for the future. Our country is in need of in-
ternal improvements and developments. A new building
bill is under way, and our great interior should be pro-
vided with river and waterway facilities. These two proj-
ects represent a capital investment on which the returns
will undoubtedly justify the costs. But we should beware
of increased permanent commitments.
When the Government rents privately owned buildings
it pays a high rate of interest, all the taxes, and some profit.
When it occupies its own buildings the interest represented
is very low, and taxes and profits are eliminated. The open-
ing up of waterways means the development of commerce,
less cost for freight on raw materials, and a large saving
to our agricultural regions. The extent to which these
projects can be undertaken in the immediate future awaits
the outcome of the pending tax bill.
What all these efforts mean would be greatly underesti-
mated if it be thought that they begin and end with the
saving of money. Considered hi their entirety, they play
an important part in the wonderful American experiment
for the advancement of human welfare. It is not only the
Method by which we have built railroads, developed agri-
culture, created commerce, and established industry, not
the method by which we have made nearly 18,000,000
362 FOUNDATIONS OF THE REPUBLIC
automobiles and put a telephone and a radio in so large a
proportion of our homes, but it is also the method by which
we have founded schools, endowed hospitals, and erected
places of religious worship. It is the material groundwork on
which the whole fabric of society rests. It has given to the
average American a breadth of outlook, a variety of experi-
ence, and a richness of life that in former generations was
entirely beyond the reach of even the most powerful princes.
All of this effort represents not merely the keeping of
our money but the keeping of our faith. One of the chief
dangers to the success of popular government is that it will
throw away self-restraint and self-control and adopt laws
which, being without sound economic foundation, bring on
such a financial distress as to result in want, misery, dis-
order, and the dissolution of society. America has demon-
strated that self-government can be so administered as
fairly to protect each individual in all his rights, whether
they affect his person or his property. Under constitutional
authority we tax everything, but we confiscate nothing. It
is not through selfishness or wastefulness or arrogance, but
through self-denial, conservation, and service, that we shall
build up the American spirit. This is the true constructive
economy, the true faith on which our institutions rest.
Our chief of staff in the direction of all this work is
General Lord. It is because of his continuing efforts and
your constant cooperation that our Government service
to-day is a greatly improved service. It is more efficient
and better able to function. The day of administration
without coordination has passed. Our country has adopted
a system of ordered finance. While much of the inspiration
for this great achievement is furnished by the words of
General Lord, the action has been furnished by yourselves.
I present him to you not as your opponent or your critic,
but as your most loyal friend and your most sympathetic
defender.

Calvin Coolidge Comments: "It is not through selfishness or wastefulness or arrogance, but through self-denial, conservation, and service, that we shall build up the American spirit."

"It is not through selfishness or wastefulness or
arrogance, but through self-denial, conservation,
and service, that we shall build up the American
spirit. This is the true constructive economy,
the true faith on which our institutions rest." - Calvin Coolidge

Calvin Coolidge Comments: "The whole system of American Government rests on the ballot box."

"The whole system of American Government rests on the ballot box. Unless citizens perform their duties there, such a system of government is doomed to failure."

Calvin Coolidge Comments: On Journalism in the New World

"Truth dissipates misunderstanding and misconception. It is the function of a free press not only to make the truth available to everyone within its sphere, but to cherish and develop a
public sentiment for all that is loyal to the truth. A free and enlightened press, by this means, becomes one of the safeguards of liberty." - From President Coolidge's book "Foundations of the Republic" p 363

Calvin Coolidge Comments: On Constructive Economy

"It is not through selfishness or wastefulness or
arrogance, but through self-denial, conservation,
and service, that we shall build up the American
spirit. This is the true constructive economy,
the true faith on which our institutions rest."

Speech on the 150th Anniversary of the Declaration of Independence Calvin Coolidge July 5, 1926

Speech on the 150th Anniversary of the Declaration of Independence

Calvin Coolidge

July 5, 1926

Show summary 

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

We meet to celebrate the birthday of America. The coming of a new life always excites our interest. Although we know in the case of the individual that it has been an infinite repetition reaching back beyond our vision, that only makes it the more wonderful. But how our interest and wonder increase when we behold the miracle of the birth of a new nation. It is to pay our tribute of reverence and respect to those who participated in such a mighty event that we annually observe the fourth day of July. Whatever may have been the impression created by the news which went out from this city on that summer day in 1776, there can be no doubt as to the estimate which is now placed upon it. At the end of 150 years the four corners of the earth unite in coming to Philadelphia as to a holy shrine in grateful acknowledgement of a service so great, which a few inspired men here rendered to humanity, that it is still the preeminent support of free government throughout the world.

Although a century and a half measured in comparison with the length of human experience is but a short time, yet measured in the life of governments and nations it ranks as a very respectable period. Certainly enough time has elapsed to demonstrate with a great deal of thoroughness the value of our institutions and their dependability as rules for the regulation of human conduct and the advancement of civilization. They have been in existence long enough to become very well seasoned. They have met, and met successfully, the test of experience.

It is not so much, then, for the purpose of undertaking to proclaim new theories and principles that this annual celebration is maintained, but rather to reaffirm and reestablish those old theories and principles which time and the unerring logic of events have demonstrated to be sound. Amid all the clash of conflicting interests, amid all the welter of partisan politics, every American can turn for solace and consolation to the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States with the assurance and confidence that those two great charters of freedom and justice remain firm and unshaken. Whatever perils appear, whatever dangers threaten, the Nation remains secure in the knowledge that the ultimate application of the law of the land will provide an adequate defense and protection.

It is little wonder that people at home and abroad consider Independence Hall as hallowed ground and revere the Liberty Bell as a sacred relic. That pile of bricks and mortar, that mass of metal, might appear to the uninstructed as only the outgrown meeting place and the shattered bell of a former time, useless now because of more modern conveniences, but to those who know they have become consecrated by the use which men have made of them. They have long been identified with a great cause. They are the framework of a spiritual event. The world looks upon them, because of their associations of one hundred and fifty years ago, as it looks upon the Holy Land because of what took place there nineteen hundred years ago. Through use for a righteous purpose they have become sanctified.

It is not here necessary to examine in detail the causes which led to the American Revolution. In their immediate occasion they were largely economic. The colonists objected to the navigation laws which interfered with their trade, they denied the power of Parliament to impose taxes which they were obliged to pay, and they therefore resisted the royal governors and the royal forces which were sent to secure obedience to these laws. But the conviction is inescapable that a new civilization had come, a new spirit had arisen on this side of the Atlantic more advanced and more developed in its regard for the rights of the individual than that which characterized the Old World. Life in a new and open country had aspirations which could not be realized in any subordinate position. A separate establishment was ultimately inevitable. It had been decreed by the very laws of human nature. Man everywhere has an unconquerable desire to be the master of his own destiny.

We are obliged to conclude that the Declaration of Independence represented the movement of a people. It was not, of course, a movement from the top. Revolutions do not come from that direction. It was not without the support of many of the most respectable people in the Colonies, who were entitled to all the consideration that is given to breeding, education, and possessions. It had the support of another element of great significance and importance to which I shall later refer. But the preponderance of all those who occupied a position which took on the aspect of aristocracy did not approve of the Revolution and held toward it an attitude either of neutrality or open hostility. It was in no sense a rising of the oppressed and downtrodden. It brought no scum to the surface, for the reason that colonial society had developed no scum. The great body of the people were accustomed to privations, but they were free from depravity. If they had poverty, it was not of the hopeless kind that afflicts great cities, but the inspiring kind that marks the spirit of the pioneer. The American Revolution represented the informed and mature convictions of a great mass of independent, liberty-loving, God-fearing people who knew their rights, and possessed the courage to dare to maintain them.

The Continental Congress was not only composed of great men, but it represented a great people. While its Members did not fail to exercise a remarkable leadership, they were equally observant of their representative capacity. They were industrious in encouraging their constituents to instruct them to support independence. But until such instructions were given they were inclined to withhold action.

While North Carolina has the honor of first authorizing its delegates to concur with other Colonies in declaring independence, it was quickly followed by South Carolina and Georgia, which also gave general instructions broad enough to include such action. But the first instructions which unconditionally directed its delegates to declare for independence came from the great Commonwealth of Virginia. These were immediately followed by Rhode Island and Massachusetts, while the other Colonies, with the exception of New York, soon adopted a like course.

This obedience of the delegates to the wishes of their constituents, which in some cases caused them to modify their previous positions, is a matter of great significance. It reveals an orderly process of government in the first place; but more than that, it demonstrates that the Declaration of Independence was the result of the seasoned and deliberate thought of the dominant portion of the people of the Colonies. Adopted after long discussion and as the result of the duly authorized expression of the preponderance of public opinion, it did not partake of dark intrigue or hidden conspiracy. It was well advised. It had about it nothing of the lawless and disordered nature of a riotous insurrection. It was maintained on a plane which rises above the ordinary conception of rebellion. It was in no sense a radical movement but took on the dignity of a resistance to illegal usurpations. It was conservative and represented the action of the colonists to maintain their constitutional rights which from time immemorial had been guaranteed to them under the law of the land.

When we come to examine the action of the Continental Congress in adopting the Declaration of Independence in the light of what was set out in that great document and in the light of succeeding events, we can not escape the conclusion that it had a much broader and deeper significance than a mere secession of territory and the establishment of a new nation. Events of that nature have been taking place since the dawn of history. One empire after another has arisen, only to crumble away as its constituent parts separated from each other and set up independent governments of their own. Such actions long ago became commonplace. They have occurred too often to hold the attention of the world and command the admiration and reverence of humanity. There is something beyond the establishment of a new nation, great as that event would be, in the Declaration of Independence which has ever since caused it to be regarded as one of the great charters that not only was to liberate America but was everywhere to ennoble humanity.

It was not because it was proposed to establish a new nation, but because it was proposed to establish a nation on new principles, that July 4, 1776, has come to be regarded as one of the greatest days in history. Great ideas do not burst upon the world unannounced. They are reached by a gradual development over a length of time usually proportionate to their importance. This is especially true of the principles laid down in the Declaration of Independence. Three very definite propositions were set out in its preamble regarding the nature of mankind and therefore of government. These were the doctrine that all men are created equal, that they are endowed with certain inalienable rights, and that therefore the source of the just powers of government must be derived from the consent of the governed.

If no one is to be accounted as born into a superior station, if there is to be no ruling class, and if all possess rights which can neither be bartered away nor taken from them by any earthly power, it follows as a matter of course that the practical authority of the Government has to rest on the consent of the governed. While these principles were not altogether new in political action, and were very far from new in political speculation, they had never been assembled before and declared in such a combination. But remarkable as this may be, it is not the chief distinction of the Declaration of Independence. The importance of political speculation is not to be underestimated, as I shall presently disclose. Until the idea is developed and the plan made there can be no action.

It was the fact that our Declaration of Independence containing these immortal truths was the political action of a duly authorized and constituted representative public body in its sovereign capacity, supported by the force of general opinion and by the armies of Washington already in the field, which makes it the most important civil document in the world. It was not only the principles declared, but the fact that therewith a new nation was born which was to be founded upon those principles and which from that time forth in its development has actually maintained those principles, that makes this pronouncement an incomparable event in the history of government. It was an assertion that a people had arisen determined to make every necessary sacrifice for the support of these truths and by their practical application bring the War of Independence to a successful conclusion and adopt the Constitution of the United States with all that it has meant to civilization.

The idea that the people have a right to choose their own rulers was not new in political history. It was the foundation of every popular attempt to depose an undesirable king. This right was set out with a good deal of detail by the Dutch when as early as July 26, 1581, they declared their independence of Philip of Spain. In their long struggle with the Stuarts the British people asserted the same principles, which finally culminated in the Bill of Rights deposing the last of that house and placing William and Mary on the throne. In each of these cases sovereignty through divine right was displaced by sovereignty through the consent of the people. Running through the same documents, though expressed in different terms, is the clear inference of inalienable rights. But we should search these charters in vain for an assertion of the doctrine of equality. This principle had not before appeared as an official political declaration of any nation. It was profoundly revolutionary. It is one of the corner stones of American institutions.

But if these truths to which the Declaration refers have not before been adopted in their combined entirety by national authority, it is a fact that they had been long pondered and often expressed in political speculation. It is generally assumed that French thought had some effect upon our public mind during Revolutionary days. This may have been true. But the principles of our Declaration had been under discussion in the Colonies for nearly two generations before the advent of the French political philosophy that characterized the middle of the eighteenth century. In fact, they come from an earlier date. A very positive echo of what the Dutch had done in 1581, and what the English were preparing to do, appears in the assertion of the Rev. Thomas Hooker, of Connecticut, as early as 1638, when he said in a sermon before the General Court that—

“The foundation of authority is laid in the free consent of the people.”

“The choice of public magistrates belongs unto the people by God’s own allowance.”

This doctrine found wide acceptance among the nonconformist clergy who later made up the Congregational Church. The great apostle of this movement was the Rev. John Wise, of Massachusetts. He was one of the leaders of the revolt against the royal governor Andros in 1687, for which he suffered imprisonment. He was a liberal in ecclesiastical controversies. He appears to have been familiar with the writings of the political scientist, Samuel Pufendorf, who was born in Saxony in 1632. Wise published a treatise, entitled “The Church’s Quarrel Espoused,” in 1710, which was amplified in another publication in 1717. In it he dealt with the principles of civil government. His works were reprinted in 1772 and have been declared to have been nothing less than a textbook of liberty for our Revolutionary fathers.

While the written word was the foundation, it is apparent that the spoken word was the vehicle for convincing the people. This came with great force and wide range from the successors of Hooker and Wise. It was carried on with a missionary spirit which did not fail to reach the Scotch-Irish of North Carolina, showing its influence by significantly making that Colony the first to give instructions to its delegates looking to independence. This preaching reached the neighborhood of Thomas Jefferson, who acknowledged that his “best ideas of democracy” had been secured at church meetings.

That these ideas were prevalent in Virginia is further revealed by the Declaration of Rights, which was prepared by George Mason and presented to the general assembly on May 27, 1776. This document asserted popular sovereignty and inherent natural rights, but confined the doctrine of equality to the assertion that “All men are created equally free and independent.” It can scarcely be imagined that Jefferson was unacquainted with what had been done in his own Commonwealth of Virginia when he took up the task of drafting the Declaration of Independence. But these thoughts can very largely be traced back to what John Wise was writing in 1710. He said, “Every man must be acknowledged equal to every man.” Again, “The end of all good government is to cultivate humanity and promote the happiness of all and the good of every man in all his rights, his life, liberty, estate, honor, and so forth. …” And again, “For as they have a power every man in his natural state, so upon combination they can and do bequeath this power to others and settle it according as their united discretion shall determine.” And still again, “Democracy is Christ’s government in church and state.” Here was the doctrine of equality, popular sovereignty, and the substance of the theory of inalienable rights clearly asserted by Wise at the opening of the eighteenth century, just as we have the principle of the consent of the governed stated by Hooker as early as 1638.

When we take all these circumstances into consideration, it is but natural that the first paragraph of the Declaration of Independence should open with a reference to Nature’s God and should close in the final paragraphs with an appeal to the Supreme Judge of the world and an assertion of a firm reliance on Divine Providence. Coming from these sources, having as it did this background, it is no wonder that Samuel Adams could say “The people seem to recognize this resolution as though it were a decree promulgated from heaven.”

No one can examine this record and escape the conclusion that in the great outline of its principles the Declaration was the result of the religious teachings of the preceding period. The profound philosophy which Jonathan Edwards applied to theology, the popular preaching of George Whitefield, had aroused the thought and stirred the people of the Colonies in preparation for this great event. No doubt the speculations which had been going on in England, and especially on the Continent, lent their influence to the general sentiment of the times. Of course, the world is always influenced by all the experience and all the thought of the past. But when we come to a contemplation of the immediate conception of the principles of human relationship which went into the Declaration of Independence we are not required to extend our search beyond our own shores. They are found in the texts, the sermons, and the writings of the early colonial clergy who were earnestly undertaking to instruct their congregations in the great mystery of how to live. They preached equality because they believed in the fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man. They justified freedom by the text that we are all created in the divine image, all partakers of the divine spirit.

Placing every man on a plane where he acknowledged no superiors, where no one possessed any right to rule over him, he must inevitably choose his own rulers through a system of self-government. This was their theory of democracy. In those days such doctrines would scarcely have been permitted to flourish and spread in any other country. This was the purpose which the fathers cherished. In order that they might have freedom to express these thoughts and opportunity to put them into action, whole congregations with their pastors had migrated to the Colonies. These great truths were in the air that our people breathed. Whatever else we may say of it, the Declaration of Independence was profoundly American.

If this apprehension of the facts be correct, and the documentary evidence would appear to verify it, then certain conclusions are bound to follow. A spring will cease to flow if its source be dried up; a tree will wither if its roots be destroyed. In its main features the Declaration of Independence is a great spiritual document. It is a declaration not of material but of spiritual conceptions. Equality, liberty, popular sovereignty, the rights of man — these are not elements which we can see and touch. They are ideals. They have their source and their roots in the religious convictions. They belong to the unseen world. Unless the faith of the American people in these religious convictions is to endure, the principles of our Declaration will perish. We can not continue to enjoy the result if we neglect and abandon the cause.

We are too prone to overlook another conclusion. Governments do not make ideals, but ideals make governments. This is both historically and logically true. Of course the government can help to sustain ideals and can create institutions through which they can be the better observed, but their source by their very nature is in the people. The people have to bear their own responsibilities. There is no method by which that burden can be shifted to the government. It is not the enactment, but the observance of laws, that creates the character of a nation.

About the Declaration there is a finality that is exceedingly restful. It is often asserted that the world has made a great deal of progress since 1776, that we have had new thoughts and new experiences which have given us a great advance over the people of that day, and that we may therefore very well discard their conclusions for something more modern. But that reasoning can not be applied to this great charter. If all men are created equal, that is final. If they are endowed with inalienable rights, that is final. If governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed, that is final. No advance, no progress can be made beyond these propositions. If anyone wishes to deny their truth or their soundness, the only direction in which he can proceed historically is not forward, but backward toward the time when there was no equality, no rights of the individual, no rule of the people. Those who wish to proceed in that direction can not lay claim to progress. They are reactionary. Their ideas are not more modern, but more ancient, than those of the Revolutionary fathers.

In the development of its institutions America can fairly claim that it has remained true to the principles which were declared 150 years ago. In all the essentials we have achieved an equality which was never possessed by any other people. Even in the less important matter of material possessions we have secured a wider and wider distribution of wealth. The rights of the individual are held sacred and protected by constitutional guaranties, which even the Government itself is bound not to violate. If there is any one thing among us that is established beyond question, it is self-government — the right of the people to rule. If there is any failure in respect to any of these principles, it is because there is a failure on the part of individuals to observe them. We hold that the duly authorized expression of the will of the people has a divine sanction. But even in that we come back to the theory of John Wise that “Democracy is Christ’s government.” The ultimate sanction of law rests on the righteous authority of the Almighty.

On an occasion like this a great temptation exists to present evidence of the practical success of our form of democratic republic at home and the ever-broadening acceptance it is securing abroad. Although these things are well known, their frequent consideration is an encouragement and an inspiration. But it is not results and effects so much as sources and causes that I believe it is even more necessary constantly to contemplate. Ours is a government of the people. It represents their will. Its officers may sometimes go astray, but that is not a reason for criticizing the principles of our institutions. The real heart of the American Government depends upon the heart of the people. It is from that source that we must look for all genuine reform. It is to that cause that we must ascribe all our results.

It was in the contemplation of these truths that the fathers made their declaration and adopted their Constitution. It was to establish a free government, which must not be permitted to degenerate into the unrestrained authority of a mere majority or the unbridled weight of a mere influential few. They undertook the balance these interests against each other and provide the three separate independent branches, the executive, the legislative, and the judicial departments of the Government, with checks against each other in order that neither one might encroach upon the other. These are our guaranties of liberty. As a result of these methods enterprise has been duly protected from confiscation, the people have been free from oppression, and there has been an ever-broadening and deepening of the humanities of life.

Under a system of popular government there will always be those who will seek for political preferment by clamoring for reform. While there is very little of this which is not sincere, there is a large portion that is not well informed. In my opinion very little of just criticism can attach to the theories and principles of our institutions. There is far more danger of harm than there is hope of good in any radical changes. We do need a better understanding and comprehension of them and a better knowledge of the foundations of government in general. Our forefathers came to certain conclusions and decided upon certain courses of action which have been a great blessing to the world. Before we can understand their conclusions we must go back and review the course which they followed. We must think the thoughts which they thought. Their intellectual life centered around the meeting-house. They were intent upon religious worship. While there were always among them men of deep learning, and later those who had comparatively large possessions, the mind of the people was not so much engrossed in how much they knew, or how much they had, as in how they were going to live. While scantily provided with other literature, there was a wide acquaintance with the Scriptures. Over a period as great as that which measures the existence of our independence they were subject to this discipline not only in their religious life and educational training, but also in their political thought. They were a people who came under the influence of a great spiritual development and acquired a great moral power.

No other theory is adequate to explain or comprehend the Declaration of Independence. It is the product of the spiritual insight of the people. We live in an age of science and of abounding accumulation of material things. These did not create our Declaration. Our Declaration created them. The things of the spirit come first. Unless we cling to that, all our material prosperity, overwhelming though it may appear, will turn to a barren sceptre in our grasp. If we are to maintain the great heritage which has been bequeathed to us, we must be like-minded as the fathers who created it. We must not sink into a pagan materialism. We must cultivate the reverence which they had for the things that are holy. We must follow the spiritual and moral leadership which they showed. We must keep replenished, that they may glow with a more compelling flame, the altar fires before which they worshiped.

 http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=408

Excerpts- Speech on the 150th Anniversary of the Declaration of Independence Calvin Coolidge July 5, 1926

“Governments do not make ideals, but ideals make governments. This is both historically and logically true. Of course the government can help to sustain ideals and can create institutions through which they can be the better observed, but their source by their very nature is in the people. The people have to bear their own responsibilities. There is no method by which that burden can be shifted to the government. It is not the enactment, but the observance of laws, that creates the character of a nation.”

 “It is little wonder that people at home and abroad consider Independence Hall as hallowed ground and revere the Liberty Bell as a sacred relic. That pile of bricks and mortar, that mass of metal, might appear to the uninstructed as only the outgrown meeting place and the shattered bell of a former time, useless now because of more modern conveniences, but to those who know they have become consecrated by the use which men have made of them. They have long been identified with a great cause. They are the framework of a spiritual event. The world looks upon them, because of their associations of one hundred and fifty years ago, as it looks upon the Holy Land because of what took place there nineteen hundred years ago. Through use for a righteous purpose they have become sanctified.”

 

“ But the conviction is inescapable that a new civilization had come, a new spirit had arisen on this side of the Atlantic more advanced and more developed in its regard for the rights of the individual than that which characterized the Old World. Life in a new and open country had aspirations which could not be realized in any subordinate position. A separate establishment was ultimately inevitable. It had been decreed by the very laws of human nature. Man everywhere has an unconquerable desire to be the master of his own destiny.”

 

“When we take all these circumstances into consideration, it is but natural that the first paragraph of the Declaration of Independence should open with a reference to Nature’s God and should close in the final paragraphs with an appeal to the Supreme Judge of the world and an assertion of a firm reliance on Divine Providence. Coming from these sources, having as it did this background, it is no wonder that Samuel Adams could say “The people seem to recognize this resolution as though it were a decree promulgated from heaven.”

 "If this apprehension of the facts be correct, and the documentary evidence would appear to verify it, then certain conclusions are bound to follow. A spring will cease to flow if its source be dried up; a tree will wither if its roots be destroyed. In its main features the Declaration of Independence is a great spiritual document. It is a declaration not of material but of spiritual conceptions. Equality, liberty, popular sovereignty, the rights of man — these are not elements which we can see and touch. They are ideals. They have their source and their roots in the religious convictions. They belong to the unseen world. Unless the faith of the American people in these religious convictions is to endure, the principles of our Declaration will perish. We can not continue to enjoy the result if we neglect and abandon the cause.”

  “If all men are created equal, that is final. If they are endowed with inalienable rights, that is final. If governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed, that is final. No advance, no progress can be made beyond these propositions. If anyone wishes to deny their truth or their soundness, the only direction in which he can proceed historically is not forward, but backward toward the time when there was no equality, no rights of the individual, no rule of the people. Those who wish to proceed in that direction can not lay claim to progress.” 

 

“No other theory is adequate to explain or comprehend the Declaration of Independence. It is the product of the spiritual insight of the people. We live in an age of science and of abounding accumulation of material things. These did not create our Declaration. Our Declaration created them. The things of the spirit come first. Unless we cling to that, all our material prosperity, overwhelming though it may appear, will turn to a barren sceptre in our grasp. If we are to maintain the great heritage which has been bequeathed to us, we must be like-minded as the fathers who created it. We must not sink into a pagan materialism. We must cultivate the reverence which they had for the things that are holy. We must follow the spiritual and moral leadership which they showed. We must keep replenished, that they may glow with a more compelling flame, the altar fires before which they worshiped.”

  – Calvin  Coolidge – Speech on the 150^th Anniversary of the Declaration of Independence