American Quotations by William J. Federer 2024

New York State Legislature (1838) stated: <In all countries, some kind of religion or other has existed in all ages. No people on the face of the globe are without a prevailing national religion.... With us it is wisely ordered that no one religion shall be established by law, but that all persons shall be left free in their choice and in their mode of worship. Still, this is a Christian nation. Ninety-nine hundredths, if not a larger proportion, of our whole population, believe in the general doctrines of the Christian religion. Our Government depends for its being on the virtue of...

Massachusetts Supreme Court (1838) heard the case of Commonwealth v. Abner Kneeland, 37 Mass. (20 Pick) 206, 216-217 1838, which involved a Universalist who claimed the right of "freedom of the press" as a defense for publishing libelous and defamatory remarks about Christianity and God. The Court delivered its decision, stating that "freedom of press" was not a license to print without restraint, otherwise: <According to the argument...every act, however injurious or criminal, which can be committed by the use of language may be committed...if such language is printed. Not only therefore would the article in question become a general...

David Josiah Brewer (June 20, 1837-March 28, 1910) was a Justice of the United State Supreme Court, 1889-1910. He had been appointed by President Chester A. Arthur as a circuit court judge, 1884; and served as Justice of the Kansas Supreme Court, 1870-84. His uncle was Supreme Court Justice Stephen J. Field, with whom he serve 9 years on the bench. Justice David Josiah Brewer gave the court's opinion in the 1892 case of Church of the Holy Trinity v. United States, (143 U.S. 457-458, 465-471, 36 L ed 226): <No purpose of action against religion can be imputed to...

William Dean Howells (March 1, 1837-May 11, 1920) was a poet, novelist, editor and literary critic. He was one of America's first realistic fiction writers. He was the U.S. Consul in Venice; a writer for the New York Tribune and the Nation; assistant editor of the Atlantic Monthly; and, in 1886, joined the staff of Harper's Monthly. Elected the first president of the American Academy of Arts and Letters, William Dean Howells was a friend of Mark Twain, James Russell Lowell, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Nathaniel Hawthorne and Walt Whitman. His works include: A Boy's Town; Their Wedding Journey; A...

Dwight Lyman Moody (February 5, 1837-December 22, 1899) was an American evangelist. He held crusades in the United States and Great Britain, with the hymn writer Ira D. Sankey. He founded the Moody Bible Institute in Chicago, 1899, and several other schools.  D.L. Moody began his ministry in 1858 as a traveling shoe salesman who started a Sunday School mission for underprivileged children in Chicago. Classes were taught in an abandoned saloon.  D.L. Moody stated: <It is a masterpiece of the devil to make us believe that children cannot understand religion. Would Christ have made a child the standard of faith...