"Do not let any one claim to be a true
American if they ever attempt to remove religion from politics."
George Washington
"Of all the dispositions and habits, which
lead to political prosperity, Religion and Morality are
indispensable supports. In vain would that man claim the tribute of
Patriotism, who should labor to subvert these great pillars of human
happiness, these firmest props of the duties of Men and Citizens.
The mere Politician, equally with the pious man, ought to respect
and to cherish them. A volume could not trace all their connexions
with private and public felicity. Let it simply be asked, Where is
the security for property, for reputation, for life, if the sense of
religious obligation desert the oaths, which are the instruments of
investigation in Courts of Justice? And let us with caution indulge
the supposition, that morality can be maintained without religion.
Whatever may be conceded to the influence of refined education on
minds of peculiar structure, reason and experience both forbid us to
expect, that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious
principle."
George Washington's Farewell Address, Sept.
17, 1796
The Prayer at Valley Forge
"I was riding with Mr. Potts near to the
Valley Forge where the army lay during the war of ye Revolution,
when Mr. Potts said, 'Do you see that woods & that plain? There laid
the army of Washington. It was a most distressing time of ye war,
and all were for giving up the Ship but that great and good man. In
that woods (pointing to a close in view) I heard a plaintive sound
as of a man at prayer. I tied my horse to a sapling & went quietly
into the woods. To my astonishment I saw the great George Washington
on his knees alone, with his sword on one side and his cocked hat on
the other. He was at Prayer to the God of the Armies, beseeching to
interpose with his Divine aid, as it was ye Crisis & the cause of
the country, of humanity & of the world. Such a prayer I never heard
from the lips of man. I left him alone praying. I went home & told
my wife. We never thought a man could be a soldier & a Christian,
but if there is one in the world, it is Washington. We thought it
was the cause of God & America could prevail."
Source: Eyewitness testimony of Isaac
Potts, a Valley Forge resident who shared the following story with
the Rev. Nathaniel Randolph Snowden (1770-1851), who then recorded
it in his "Diary and Remembrances."
