Democracy Rests on Faith

"Under this covenant of justice, liberty, and union we have become a nation — prosperous, great, and mighty. And we have kept our freedom. But we have no promise from God that our greatness will endure. We have been allowed by Him to seek greatness with the sweat of our hands and the strength of our spirit …

"If we fail now, we shall have forgotten in abundance what we learned in hardship: that democracy rests on faith, that freedom asks more than it gives, and that the judgment of God is harshest on those who are most favored … For myself, I ask only in the words of an ancient leader: 'Give me now wisdom and knowledge, that I may go out and come in before this people: for who can judge this thy people, that is so great?'"

— Lyndon Baines Johnson, inaugural address, Jan. 20, 1965