“Our political institutions, resting on the firm foundation of the people have not been shaken. They have been assailed and will be assailed both by the unthinking and the vicious…But how be free, how come into the greatest liberty? Not by casting aside all restraint, but by the observance of all law, not by lack of self-control but by an intense discipline, and finally never by ignorance but ever by a larger knowledge of the truth. There may be an involuntary servitude but never an involuntary liberty. It is ever purchased with a great price. It is not given or bestowed, it is acquired. The American people in their sovereignty must forever remember that to set free a King requires the ransom of a King…

“In the midst of the Revolutionary conflict the colonists were everywhere setting up constitutions declaratory of human rights but always secured by imposing civic duties…Indeed the foremost achievement of the period was something more than independence. It was the establishment of a Nation under the American Constitution. This was the acknowledgment and declaration of the great principle that a larger liberty is to be found in the remission of a lesser freedom. The former colonies gave up their independence, merged their small estate in the greater estate of the Nation, relinquished the smaller privilege to be colonists and gained the greater power to be Americans. They had learned the lesson that to submit is to govern, to serve is to rule…

“Greater liberty does not mean less responsibility, it means more responsibility. That responsibility cannot be borne vicariously. It must be borne by the individual. If economically our citizens are to be no longer cheap, they must be no longer without responsibilities. As new liberties come by submission so new prosperity must come by submission. There is no advance which is not bought with a price…But if America is to lead her people must be true to her ancient ideals…and when they come and come they must to a comprehension that all kinds of selfishness and tyranny interfere with it, they will discard their advocates as they discarded the leadership of Toryism, nullification, and secession. After the Almighty had created the first man He blessed him and laid on him the first command to replenish the earth and subdue it. From that time, there has been, can be, no escape from the obligation to work…

“Faith in the people is an American ideal. Not faith in their ignorance or their prejudice. If men are only selfish the war was in vain. We might just as well accept the Prussian standard and each seize whatever he have the power to hold. But a faith that men act with knowledge rejecting the false, accepting the true, proud not of gain but of sacrifice.

“An American ideal is equality. Not that all are equal in degree. There are differing glories, as of sun, and moon and star, but all are equal in kind tolerating no class distinction, no privilege, save that which comes from service, no plutocrat, no proletariat, no authority save that which is derived from the consent of the people.

“An American ideal is peace. Not that peace which is wrought by the force of the sword, not that peace which is bought by a cringing servitude, but that peace which abides with justice, which follows the mutual requirement of scrupulous observance and discharge of all obligations.

“There are others, important, compelling, but these indicate the line of advance. They are not yet realities but they are ideals toward which progress is being made. To them we cannot yet read our title clear but we can spell out the beginnings. Whether we seize the opportunity to lead in a great advance depends solely on ourselves. We have the resources, the power, the material force. The only question concerns our moral force. What leadership shall we follow? We have come through adversity. Can we bear prosperity? Are we to turn back toward the cave man who was absolutely free to do as he chose but yet a slave in all things, or shall we go forward toward the majestic figure of modern civilization who by following duty have found a larger liberty in all things? …

“Go forward in the line of duty, small or great, under discipline, conscious that from doing comes the power to do more, firm in the faith of the fathers, seeking the enlightenment of education, surpassing the hopes of the past, ensuring liberty by accepting responsibility, that this whole nation made like-minded with Washington and Lincoln may continue to show forth to the World a revelation of ‘the way, the truth, and the light’ ” (Excerpts from Governor Calvin Coolidge’s Commencement Address at the University of Vermont in Burlington on June 28, 1920, before its 125 graduates, also accepting a Doctor of Laws degree on that occasion)

Happy Independence Day 2023!