Calvin Coolidge on the Founders

Reflections on the American Revolution & The Founding Fathers

In these pages Silent Cal Coolidge focuses his famed terse eloquence on the nation's founders, not merely on George Washington's indispensable figure but also on: 

• The Declaration of Independence and the Constitution
• Alexander Hamilton
• Washington's fellow Virginia patriots
• The Battles of Bunker Hill, Princeton, and Trenton
• Ethan Allen's Green Mountain Boys
• Boston's Old North Church
• Methodist Episcopal Bishop Francis Asbury
• The pivotal role Jewish Americans played in winning of our freedoms.

No modern president has spoken so much--or so well--of America's providential genesis.

Coolidge turns mere history into a history lesson.

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Table of Contents

• Introduction
• "The Principles Fought For in the American Revolution," Sons of the American Revolution Essay Contest, Amherst College, Composed Starting in November 1894; Submitted by April 1, 1895; Awarded National Gold Medal December 13, 1895
• Independence Day Address, The Home of Daniel Webster, Marshfield, Massachusetts, July 4, 1916
• Banquet on the Occasion of the Dedication of a Statue of Lafayette, Club Calumet, Fall River, Massachusetts, September 4, 1916
• Bunker Hill Day, Roxbury Historical Society, Roxbury, Massachusetts, June 17, 1918
• Flag Day Proclamation, Boston, Massachusetts, May 26, 1919
• Commencement Address, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, June 19, 1919
• "General William Shepherd," Westfield, Massachusetts, September 3, 1919
• "Our Heritage from Hamilton," The Hamilton Club, Chicago, Illinois, January 11, 1922
• "Great Virginians," Fredericksburg, Virginia, July 6, 1922
• Excerpts from "The Foundation of our Institutions," The New York State Convention of the Y. M. C. A., Albany, New York, April 13, 1923
• "The Old North Church," Delivered on the Occasion of the 200th Anniversary of the Establishment of Christ Church, known as the Old North Church, Boston, Massachusetts, April 18, 1923
• "The Green Mountains," Delivered on the Occasion of the 150th Anniversary of the Settlement of the City of Burlington, Burlington, Vermont, June 12, 1923
• On the 150th Anniversary of the First Continental Congress, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, September 25, 1924
• Address at the Dedication of a Monument to Lafayette, Mount Vernon Place, Baltimore, Maryland, September 6, 1924
• Address at the Unveiling of the Equestrian Statue of Bishop Francis Asbury, Meridian Hill Park, Washington, D.C., October 15, 1924
• Washington's Birthday Radio Address, The White House, Washington, DC., February 22, 1925
• "The Spiritual Unification of America," Address on the Dedication of the Jewish Community Centre, Washington, D.C., May 3, 1925
• Address at the Celebration of the 150th Anniversary of George Washington Taking Command of the Continental Army, Cambridge, Massachusetts, July 3, 1925
• Address to the National Education Association, The Washington Auditorium, Washington, D.C., February 22, 1926
• Address on the Occasion of the 150th Anniversary of Virginia's Resolution Calling for a Declaration of Independence, The College of William & Mary, Williamsburg, Virginia, May 15, 1926
• "The Inspiration of the Declaration of Independence," Sesquicentennial Stadium, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, July 5, 1926
• Address at the 150th Anniversary of the Battles of Trenton and Princeton, The Trenton Historical Society, Trenton, New Jersey, December 29, 1926
• "The Birth of George Washington," Address to a Joint Session of Congress, The Capitol, Washington, D.C., February 22, 1927
• Address Before the Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution, Washington, D.C., April 16, 1928
• Mid-Winter Convocation Address, George Washington University, Washington, D.C., February 22, 1929
• "The Constitution," The Autobiography of Calvin Coolidge, November 1929
• "Calvin Coolidge Says," Syndicated Newspaper Column, Northampton, Massachusetts, February 20, 1931