Presidents - Our Lost Founding Archives

Constitution, Founding Documents, Founding Fathers, Presidents, The Common Thread of Our Lost Founding

James Madison and a Pious Presidential Proclamation

On this day in 1751, James Madison is born in Conway, Virginia.

He was a key drafter of the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, as well the recorder of the Constitutional Convention. Accordingly, Madison is known as the “Father of the Constitution.”
Furthermore, he was a key author of the Federalist Papers. Finally, Madison served two terms as the fourth President of the United States, from 1809 to 1817.

For all these towering achievements, James Madison stood at just 5′4″. I like him even more.

Divine Destiny

Here are portions of his Proclamation 20 – Recommending a Day of Public Thanksgiving for Peace from March 4, 1815:

“No people ought to feel greater obligations to celebrate the goodness of the Great Disposer of Events and of the Destiny of Nations than the people of the United States.”

“And to the same Divine Author of Every Good and Perfect Gift we are indebted for all those privileges and advantages, religious as well as civil, which are so richly enjoyed in this favored land.”

March 16, 2021/0 Comments/by Our Lost Founding

Founding Fathers, Presidents, The Common Thread of Our Lost Founding, Thomas Jefferson

Thomas Jefferson : The third president on “the sum of good government”

On this day in 1801, Vice President Thomas Jefferson is elected the third president of the United States. His running mate and eventual opponent was the infamous Aaron Burr. A tie vote in the Electoral College and 35 indecisive ballot votes in the House of Representatives preceded Jefferson’s election.

“With all these blessings”

Thus, Thomas Jefferson shared this at his first inaugural address on March 4, 1801

“Let us, then, with courage and confidence pursue our own Federal and Republican principles, our attachment to union and representative government. Kindly separated by nature and a wide ocean from the exterminating havoc of one quarter of the globe; too high-minded to endure the degradations of the others; possessing a chosen country, with room enough for our descendants to the thousandth and thousandth generation; entertaining a due sense of our equal right to the use of our own faculties, to the acquisitions of our own industry, to honor and confidence from our fellow-citizens, resulting not from birth, but from our actions and their sense of them; enlightened by a benign religion, professed, indeed, and practiced in various forms, yet all of them inculcating honesty, truth, temperance, gratitude, and the love of man; acknowledging and adoring an overruling Providence, which by all its dispensations proves that it delights in the happiness of man here and his greater happiness hereafter — with all these blessings, what more is necessary to make us a happy and a prosperous people? Still one thing more, fellow-citizens — a wise and frugal Government, which shall restrain men from injuring one another, shall leave them otherwise free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned. This is the sum of good government, and this is necessary to close the circle of our felicities.”

February 17, 2021/0 Comments/by Our Lost Founding

Abraham Lincoln, Presidents, The Common Thread of Our Lost Founding

Abraham Lincoln born on February 12th

On this day in 1809, Abraham Lincoln is born in Hodgenville, Kentucky.

Despite growing up a member of a poor family in Kentucky and Indiana, Lincoln became one of America’s most admired presidents.

“A new birth”

Regarding another form of birth, you have likely heard this quote from Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address:

“this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom — and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”

February 12, 2021/0 Comments/by Our Lost Founding

Abraham Lincoln, Presidents, The Common Thread of Our Lost Founding

The Abraham Lincoln Bible, “this great book”

On this day in 1861, President-elect Abraham Lincoln leaves his home in Springfield, Illinois bound for Washington, D.C.

Unfortunately, his belongings, including his Bible, did not arrive in time for his inauguration.

So, William Thomas Carroll, the clerk of the U.S. Supreme Court, provided a bible that he kept for official use, which went on to become what we know as the “Lincoln Bible,” and the design inspiration for one of Our t-shirts.

Find yours here:

Abraham Lincoln Bible “…This Great Book…”

February 11, 2021/0 Comments/by Our Lost Founding

Presidents, The Common Thread of Our Lost Founding

Ronald Reagan and “the shining city upon a hill”

On this day in 1989, President Ronald Reagan gives his Farewell Address to the Nation. In doing so, he defined his vision of “the shining city upon a hill.”

“[I]n my mind it was a tall, proud city built on rocks stronger than oceans, windswept, God-blessed, and teeming with people of all kinds living in harmony and peace; a city with free ports that hummed with commerce and creativity. And if there had to be city walls, the walls had doors and the doors were open to anyone with the will and the heart to get here.”

Reagan built on the phrase preached by Puritan pilgrim John Winthrop in perhaps the earliest example of the idea of American exceptionalism. In 1630, while still aboard a ship bound for Massachusetts Bay, Winthrop delivered his sermon “A Model of Christian Charity.”

He said, “For we must consider that we shall be as a city upon a hill. The eyes of all people are upon us. So that if we shall deal falsely with our God in this work we have undertaken, and so cause Him to withdraw His present help from us, we shall be made a story and a by-word through the world.”

Of course, the origin of the phrase is found in Matthew 5: 14-16
14 You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. 16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.

Therefore, this is the ultimate aim of American exceptionalism.

Earlier in his address, Reagan acknowledged “The Great Communicator” nickname.
“I wasn’t a great communicator, but I communicated great things, and they didn’t spring full bloom from my brow, they came from the heart of a great nation—from our experience, our wisdom, and our belief in the principles that have guided us for two centuries. …[F]or me it always seemed more like the great rediscovery… of our values and our common sense.”

Patriotism, Pilgrims, and Freedom

Then, he asked “are we doing a good enough job teaching our children what America is and what she represents in the long history of the world?”

He continued by outlining the fracture that continues to plague our nation:
“We were taught, very directly, what it means to be an American. And we absorbed, almost in the air, a love of country and an appreciation of its institutions. If you didn’t get these things from your family you got them from the neighborhood… .Or you could get a sense of patriotism from school. And if all else failed you could get a sense of patriotism from the popular culture.”

Then, he charged us all with doing “a better job of getting across that America is freedom-freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom of enterprise. And freedom is special and rare. It’s fragile; it needs protection.

Bringing this post full circle, he added that “we’ve got to teach history based not on what’s in fashion but what’s important – why the Pilgrims came here...”

Before concluding by saying “goodbye, God bless you, and God bless the United States of America” Reagan offered “lesson number one about America: All great change in America begins at the dinner table. So, tomorrow night in the kitchen I hope the talking begins. And children, if your parents haven’t been teaching you what it means to be an American, let ’em know and nail ’em on it. That would be a very American thing to do.”

Great Rediscovery

Of course, the purpose of Our Lost Founding is to help us rediscover “the principles that have guided us for two centuries.”

But why is that important? Ronald Reagan answered that question in his farewell address:
“[A]s long as we remember our first principles and believe in ourselves, the future will always be ours….”

January 11, 2021/2 Comments/by Our Lost Founding

George Washington first State of the Union address

American Icons, American Revolution, Founding Documents, George Washington, Presidents

The first State of the Union address: “patriotism, firmness, and wisdom”

On this day in 1790, President George Washington delivers the first State of the Union address. Washington delivered the speech to Congress at Federal Hall on Wall Street in New York City.

As was fitting for the new nation, Washington’s brief address stands as the shortest State of the Union address ever. What follows are a few excerpts from to his “Fellow-Citizens of the Senate and House of Representatives.”

Within our reach

“Still further to realize [your constituents’] expectations and to secure the blessings which a gracious Providence has placed within our reach will in the course of the present important session call for the cool and deliberate exertion of your patriotism, firmness, and wisdom.

Among the many interesting objects which will engage your attention that of providing for the common defense will merit particular regard. To be prepared for war is one of the most effectual means of preserving peace.

A free people ought not only to be armed, but disciplined;”

Sure and secure

“Knowledge is in every country the surest basis of public happiness. …To the security of a free constitution it contributes in various ways… by teaching the people themselves to know and to value their own rights;… to discriminate the spirit of liberty from that of licentiousness – cherishing the first, avoiding the last… .

Whether this desirable object will be best promoted by affording aids to seminaries of learning already established, by the institution of a national university, or by any other expedients will be well worthy of a place in the deliberations of the legislature.”

Today, as during our founding, may we again seek the blessings of Providence through “exertion of [our] patriotism, firmness, and wisdom.”

January 8, 2021/0 Comments/by Our Lost Founding

George Washington Invisible Hand t-shirt

American Revolution, Founding Fathers, George Washington, Presidents, The Common Thread of Our Lost Founding

George Washington: First and Fervent

On this day in 1789, George Washington wins America’s first presidential election and would be sworn in on April 30.

Of course, Our first president is known as the Father of Our Country. Furthermore, he is remembered as “first in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of his countrymen.”

First Official Act

In his April 30 Inaugural Address, Washington acknowledged his “anxieties” and “conflict of emotions.”
Then, he made his “first official Act” as President of the United States:

“Such being the impressions under which I have, in obedience to the public summons, repaired to the present station; it would be peculiarly improper to omit in this first official Act, my fervent supplications to that Almighty Being who rules over the Universe, who presides in the Councils of Nations, and whose providential aids can supply every human defect, that his benediction may consecrate to the liberties and happiness of the People of the United States, a Government instituted by themselves…”

A few sentences later came the quote that inspired Our George Washington “Invisible Hand” t-shirt:

“No people can be bound to acknowledge and adore the invisible hand which conducts the affairs of men more than the People of the United States.”

George Washington “Invisible Hand”

January 7, 2021/0 Comments/by Our Lost Founding

Presidents, The Common Thread of Our Lost Founding

Harry Truman’s Fair Deal Speech

On this day in 1949, President Harry S. Truman delivers the State of the Union address that became known as his Fair Deal speech.

“Every segment of our population and every individual has a right to expect from our Government a fair deal.”

Then, he recalled a Scripture reference from his first State of the Union address:

“In 1945, when I came down before the Congress for the first time on April 16, I quoted to you King Solomon’s prayer that he wanted wisdom and the ability to govern his people as they should be governed. I explained to you at that time that the task before me was one of the greatest in the history of the world, and that it was necessary to have the complete cooperation of the Congress and the people of the United States.”

“Our National Life”

Finally, Truman concludes his Fair Deal Speech with these powerful words:

“Now, I am confident that the Divine Power which has guided us to this time of fateful responsibility and glorious opportunity will not desert us now.

With that help from Almighty God which we have humbly acknowledged at every turning point in our national life, we shall be able to perform the great tasks which He now sets before us.”

January 5, 2021/0 Comments/by Our Lost Founding

The Resignation of General George Washington December 23 1783

American Revolution, Founding Fathers, George Washington, Presidents, The Common Thread of Our Lost Founding

George Washington Resigns: Diffidence and Providence

On this day in 1783, George Washington “claims the indulgence of retiring” by resigning as Commander-in-Chief of the Continental Army.

He delivered his Resignation Speech at the Maryland State House in Annapolis. Here are a few excerpts:

“Happy in the confirmation of our independence and sovereignty, and pleased with the opportunity afforded the United States, of becoming a respectable Nation, I resign with satisfaction the appointment I accepted with diffidence — a diffidence in my abilities to accomplish so arduous a task, which however was superseded by a confidence in the rectitude of our Cause, the support of the supreme Power of the Union, and the patronage of Heaven.

The successful termination of the War has verified the most sanguine expectations- and my gratitude for the interposition of Providence, and the assistance I have received from my Countrymen, increases with every review of the momentous Contest.

Last act?

“I consider it an indispensable duty to close this last solemn act of my Official life, by commending the Interests of our dearest Country to the protection of Almighty God, and those who have the superintendance of them, to his holy keeping.”

The next morning, George Washington departed for Mount Vernon, his Virginia home. He became a private citizen on Christmas Eve.

Of course, his retirement “from the great theatre of action” lasted just a few years. In 1788, the people unanimously elect the Father of Our Country to be first President of the United States.

December 23, 2020/0 Comments/by Our Lost Founding

Presidents, The Common Thread of Our Lost Founding, World War II

Pearl Harbor : So Help us God

On this day in 1941, at 7:55 a.m. Hawaii time, a swarm of over 360 Japanese warplanes unleash a devastating surprise attack on the U.S. naval base at Pearl Harbor.

This war crime pulled our country in to World War II.

Mercifully, it was Sunday morning, so many personnel had passes to attend church off base.

Still, over 2,400 Americans were killed and nearly 1,200 were wounded. Most of the Pacific fleet was damaged or destroyed.

So Help us God

The next day, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt addressed the nation about the attack at Pearl Harbor.

Of course, most of us are familiar with his opening statement:
“Yesterday, December 7th, 1941 — a date which will live in infamy — the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan.”

He went on:
“No matter how long it may take us to overcome this premeditated invasion, the American people in their righteous might will win through to absolute victory.
…
With confidence in our armed forces, with the unbounding determination of our people, we will gain the inevitable triumph — so help us God.”

‘Laus Deo’, we did.

Finally, some may take issue with this phrase as sworn in Our public oaths, despite the greater degree of intent and obligation it imparts, especially in contrast to a personal affirmation.

After all, let us echo the sentiment of George Washington from his farewell address:
Let it simply be asked: Where is the security for property, for reputation, for life, if the sense of religious obligation desert the oaths…? And let us with caution indulge the supposition that morality can be maintained without religion.”

December 7, 2020/0 Comments/by Our Lost Founding

Presidents, The Common Thread of Our Lost Founding, World War I

Veterans Day : “revive memories and renew ideals”

Veterans Day originated as Armistice Day on November 11, 1919, the first anniversary of the end of World War I.

In 1926, Congress passed a resolution that the “anniversary… should be commemorated with thanksgiving and prayer and exercises designed to perpetuate peace through good will and mutual understanding between nations… .”

So, at a dedication ceremony for a liberty memorial on Armistice Day in 1926, President Calvin Coolidge remarked that “[i]n each recurring year this day will be set aside to revive memories and renew ideals.” [emphasis added]

Next, he concluded his remarks this way:
“If the American spirit fails, what hope has the world? In the hour of our triumph and power we can not escape the need for sober thought and consecrated action. These dead whom we here commemorate have placed their trust in us. Their living comrades have made their sacrifice in the belief that we would not fail. In the consciousness of that trust and that belief this memorial stands as our pledge to their faith, a holy testament that our country will continue to do its duty under the guidance of a Divine Providence.”

“Let us Remember…”

Years later, in 1954, President Dwight D. Eisenhower legally changed the name of the federal holiday with his Veterans Day Proclamation. Here is an excerpt:

“On [November 11] let us solemnly remember the sacrifices of all those who fought so valiantly, on the seas, in the air, and on foreign shores, to preserve our heritage of freedom, and let us reconsecrate ourselves to the task of promoting an enduring peace so that their efforts shall not have been in vain.”

Finally, the national ceremony commences with a wreath laying at the Tomb of the Unknowns at Arlington National Cemetery. The Tomb was dedicated on this day in 1921.

November 11, 2020/0 Comments/by Our Lost Founding