Quote:

Originally Posted by Richard J Try these on for starters: When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation. We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor. In establishing their authority as free men and creating a self governing civil authority independent of the King of England, the Founding Fathers most certainly were cognizant of religion. It was their religion upon which they drew the moral authority to declare independence. It is only recently that it has become chic to deny the role of religion in our system of democracy. This notion of being among the intellectual avant guard shall pass and America can (and will) return to a philosophy of humility in government. RJ

The [U. S. House of Representatives] Committee [on the Post-offices and Post-Roads, to whom had been referred memorials from inhabitants of various parts of the United States, praying for a repeal of so much of the post-office law as authorizes the mail to be transported and opened on Sunday] might here rest the argument, upon the ground that the question [what part of time, or whether any, has been set apart by the Almighty for religious exercises] referred to them does not come within the cognizance of Congress...

Source of Information: "21st Congress, 1st Session, House Report on Sunday Mails, Communicated to the House of representatives, March 4-5, 1830," American State Papers, Class VII, pp 229. American State Papers Bearing On Sunday Legislation, Revised and Enlarged Edition, Compiled and Annotated by William Addison Blakely, Revised Edition Edited by Willard Allen Colcord, The Religious Liberty Association, Washington D.C. 1911, pp 244-268.