"No people can be bound to acknowledge and adore the Invisible Hand which conducts the affairs of men more than those of the United States. Every step by which they have advanced to the character of an independent nation seems to have been distinguished by some token of providential agency; and in the important revolution just accomplished in the system of their united government the tranquil deliberation and voluntary consent of so many distinct communities from which the event has resulted can not be compared with the means by which most governments have been established without some return of pious gratitude, along with and humble anticipation of the future blessings which the past seems to presage."

-George Washington 

First Inaugural Address 

"The chief duty of governments, in so far as they are coercive, is to restrain those who would interfere with the inalienable rights of the individual, among which are the right to life, the right to liberty, the right to the pursuit of happiness, and the right to worship God according to the dictates of one's conscience." 

-William Jennings Bryan 

"I am constrained to express my adoration of the Author of my existence for His forgiving mercy revealed to the world through Jesus Christ, through whom I hope for never ending happiness in a future state." 

- Robert Treat Paine

"Our fates are in the hands of An Almighty God, to whom I can with pleasure confide my own; He can can save us or destroy us; His Councils are fixed and cannot be disappointed, and all His designs will be accomplished."

-Abraham Clark