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Celebrating the Things of the Spirit: Coolidge on the Declaration of Independence

Celebrating the Things of the Spirit: Coolidge on the Declaration of Independence

Last updated on: July 1, 2016 at 4:01 pm by Acton Institute

Celebrating the Things of the Spirit: Coolidge on the Declaration of Independence 2016-07-01T16:01:20-04:00 Acton Institute

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By Joseph Sunde

Calvin_Coolidge Each Independence Day, I make a point of re-reading President Calvin Coolidge’s speech given on the 150th anniversary Declaration of Independence, and I’d encourage you to do the same.

Coolidge had a deep understanding of American history, and after contemplating what led the founders to write what they wrote, and what inclined Americans to follow their lead, he ultimately concludes that it was their spiritual inclinations, and the moral and spiritual orientation of the American people, that played the most important role:

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 [the founders’] 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.

Some Christians have exhibited an unfortunate tendency to oversimplify and overamplify the impacts of particular religious beliefs on the American founding, but in the scope of human history, Coolidge’s point stands pretty solidly.

It was not only by the economic wisdom of Hamilton or the intellectual prowess of Jefferson or the pen of Madison or the military leadership of Washington that our country became what it is today. Something deeper and more profound was going on, something spiritual in its basic orientation and aim.

If we fail to recognize it, and seek to exemplify that same spirit ourselves, we’ll be left with little more than the muck of materialism and the arbitrary arrogance of man:

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.

Happy Fourth of July, and here’s to celebrating, above all, the Things of the Spirit.

Originally published at the Acton PowerBlog

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