Famous Speeches of American Independence - Calvin Coolidge
"In the early days, This land was dedicated to the Rights of Free Men, by a handful who loved their God and loved freedom more than they feared the most powerful nation of the time! WHEN THAT OCCURRED, RECORDS WERE MADE AT THE INNER LEVEL, OF THE DESIRE OF A CERTAIN PROPORTION OF THE MANKIND OF THIS WORLD; FOR THAT WHICH WAS THE ETERNAL GIFT OF LIFE!"
Beloved Saint Germain - The Voice of the "I AM" 1950:11:7
Born on Independence Day, he was Massachusetts 48th governor. His response to the Boston police strike of 1919 thrust him into the national spotlight as a man of decisive action. The next year, he was elected the country's 29th vice president and succeeded to the presidency upon President Warren G. Harding's sudden death in1923.
Calvin Coolidge
“Speech on the 150th Anniversary of the Declaration of Independence”
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.
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.
Calvin Coolidge
“Speech on the 150th Anniversary of the Declaration of Independence"
BACKGROUND
Calvin Coolidge became the 30th president of the United States after being sworn in after President Harding’s sudden and unexpected death. Harding’s administration had been steeped in scandal. Coolidge is known for restoring integrity to the executive branch by rooting out corruption and being a model of integrity.
His great task was to restore the dignity and prestige of the Presidency when it had reached the lowest ebb in our history in a time of extravagance and waste.
Coolidge gave his 1926 Fourth of July Speech in Philadelphia, the birthplace of our nation. There he pointed to the Liberty Bell as a great American symbol. and stated, "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."
HIS MOTIVATION
In reaffirming the public's trust in the Presidency and our Founding documents he said,
"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."
THEME OF HIS SPEECH
Coolidge sought to reawaken the people to the unique spiritual status held by the American experiment in self governance.
"The Declaration of Independence 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."
KEY FACTS STATED IN HIS SPEECH
Coolidge succinctly details not only the immediate causes but the convictions and aspirations of the Patriots that inevitably led to the signing of the Declaration. "The causes which led to the American Revolution in their immediate occasion 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."
July 5, 1926