"About the Declaration there is a finality that is exceedingly restful. It is often asserted that the world has made a great deal of progress since 1776, that we have had new thoughts and new experiences which have given us a great advance over the people of that day, and that we may therefore very well discard their conclusions for something more modern. But that reasoning can not be applied to this great charter. If all men are created equal, that is final. If they are endowed with inalienable rights, that is final. If governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed, that is final. No advance, no progress can be made beyond these propositions. If anyone wishes to deny their truth or their soundness, the only direction in which he can proceed historically is not forward, but backward toward the time when there was no equality, no rights of the individual, no rule of the people. Those who wish to proceed in that direction can not lay claim to progress. They are reactionary. Their ideas are not more modern, but more ancient, than those of the Revolutionary fathers."
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Sources
Calvin Coolidge, address at the Celebration of the 150th Anniversary of the Declaration of Independence in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (5 July 1926)
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Founding_Fathers_of_the_United_States
Revision History
No revisions have been submitted for this quote.
Categories
Founding Fathers of the United States
19 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by Founding Fathers of the United States →
Related Quotes
"Being good gentlemen of the Enlightenment, the Founders thought that the demise of slavery would come about naturally…"
"The general principles on which the fathers achieved independence, were the general principles of Christianity, in wh…"
"What has suddenly happened is that the white race has lost its heroes. Worse, its heroes have been revealed as villai…"
"I am not wanting in respect for the fathers of this republic. The signers of the Declaration of Independence were bra…"
"[[Thomas Jefferson|[Thomas] Jefferson]] spoke for all the most prominent members of the revolutionary generation in u…"
"For the founders, the laws of nature and of nature’s God — accessible to all rational humans — supply the sufficient …"
"We can not overestimate the fervent love of liberty, the intelligent courage, and the sum of common sense with which …"
"Our founders were insightful students of human nature. They feared the abuse of power because they understood that ev…"
"Ironically, the founders of the republic have been hailed and lionized by left, right, and center for—in effect—creat…"
"There is something pathetic in seeing Americans almost daily besmirching unconsciously their ideals and their traditi…"