AS JERRY REYNOLDS SAS, MANY OF OUR YOUTH TODAY DO NOT REALIZE THE TRUE MEANING OF THE 4TH OF JULY

Independence Day Quotes From Our Founding Fathers

 

By: Jerry Reynolds 

 

CarPro

Jun 30, 2025

 

The Declaration of Independence, declaring the thirteen American colonies free from British rule, was adopted by the Continental Congress on July 4, 1776 in Philadelphia. The document was not actually signed until August 2, 1776.

Just my humble opinion, but many of our youth today do not realize the true meaning of the 4th of July.  It is, after all, our Independence Day.   Holidays are always fun and a great time to get together with family and friends, but freedom isn’t free, and never will be.  Men and women of America have laid down their lives so we could enjoy living in the greatest nation on earth.

I hope you’ll pause, give thanks, and remember those who died before us, and are still dying today, to preserve these United States of America.  Below are some thoughts from our founding fathers and others.  I hope you enjoy.

Quotes from Our Founding Fathers

George Washington, 1st U.S. President

“While we are zealously performing the duties of good citizens and soldiers, we certainly ought not to be inattentive to the higher duties of religion. To the distinguished character of Patriot, it should be our highest glory to add the more distinguished character of Christian.” 

–The Writings of Washington, pp. 342-343.

John Adams, 2nd U.S. President and Signer of the Declaration of Independence

“Suppose a nation in some distant Region should take the Bible for their only law Book, and every member should regulate his conduct by the precepts there exhibited! Every member would be obliged in conscience, to temperance, frugality, and industry; to justice, kindness, and charity towards his fellow men; and to piety, love, and reverence toward Almighty God … What a Eutopia, what a Paradise would this region be.” 

–Diary and Autobiography of John Adams, Vol. III, p. 9.

Thomas Jefferson, 3rd U.S. President, Drafter and Signer of the Declaration of Independence

“God who gave us life gave us liberty. And can the liberties of a nation be thought secure when we have removed their only firm basis, a conviction in the minds of the people that these liberties are of the Gift of God? That they are not to be violated but with His wrath? Indeed, I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just; that His justice cannot sleep forever; That a revolution of the wheel of fortune, a change of situation, is among possible events; that it may become probable by Supernatural influence! The Almighty has no attribute which can take side with us in that event.”

–Notes on the State of Virginia, Query XVIII, p. 237.

John Hancock, 1st Signer of the Declaration of Independence

“Resistance to tyranny becomes the Christian and social duty of each individual. … Continue steadfast and, with a proper sense of your dependence on God, nobly defend those rights which heaven gave, and no man ought to take from us.” 

–History of the United States of America, Vol. II, p. 229.

Benjamin Franklin, Signer of the Declaration of Independence and United States Constitution

“Here is my Creed. I believe in one God, the Creator of the Universe. That He governs it by His Providence. That He ought to be worshipped.

“That the most acceptable service we render to him is in doing good to his other children. That the soul of man is immortal, and will be treated with justice in another life respecting its conduct in this. These I take to be the fundamental points in all sound religion, and I regard them as you do in whatever sect I meet with them.

“As to Jesus of Nazareth, my opinion of whom you particularly desire, I think the system of morals and his religion, as he left them to us, is the best the world ever saw, or is likely to see;

“But I apprehend it has received various corrupting changes, and I have, with most of the present dissenters in England, some doubts as to his divinity; though it is a question I do not dogmatize upon, having never studied it, and think it needless to busy myself with it now, when I expect soon an opportunity of knowing the truth with less trouble. I see no harm, however, in its being believed, if that belief has the good consequence, as probably it has, of making his doctrines more respected and more observed; especially as I do not perceive, that the Supreme takes it amiss, by distinguishing the unbelievers in his government of the world with any peculiar marks of his displeasure.” 

–Benjamin Franklin wrote this in a letter to Ezra Stiles, President of Yale University on March 9, 1790.