January 2

"Our Constitution is designed only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate for any other."

John Adams, 2nd President, 1797-1801-from a letter to the officers of the first brigade of the third division of the militia of the of Massachusetts, October 11, 1798. Adams, who was from Massachusetts, wrote in response to their letter which stated, in part..."We feel pride in the name and character of Americans. It is our glory to be the descendants of ancestors who purchased freedom and independence by their wisdom and valour...May we be inspired with firmness to imitate their virtues and maintain the inheritance purchased by their valour." (Campbell, Maria and Clarke, James Freeman, "Revolutionary Services and Civil Life Of General William Hull", p. 265, D. Appleton & Co, Philadelphia.) Adams replies,"...while our country remains untainted with the principles and manners which are now producing desolation in so many parts of the world; while she continues sincere, and incapable of insidious and impious policy, we shall have the strongest reason to rejoice in the local destination assigned us by Providence. But should the people of America once become capable of that deep simulation towards one another, and towards foreign nations, which assumes the language of justice and moderation while it is practicing iniquity and extravagance, and displays...charming pictures of candor, while it is rioting in rapine and insolence, this country will be the most miserable habitation in the world; because we have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion. Avarice, ambition, revenge, or gallantry would break the strongest cords of our Constitution as a whale goes through a net. Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people...That (oath) which you have taken, and so solemnly repeated on that venerable ground, is an ample pledge of your sincerity and devotion to your country and its government."