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“I invite you students of history to go back in your minds to the Continental Congress assembled in Philadelphia in the hot June of 1776. There was drafted the Declaration of Independence, which concluded, ‘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.’ Those who signed that document gave their lives, some literally, rotting away as prisoners of war. They gave their fortunes. But they kept their sacred honor.
“I take you again to Philadelphia in the muggy heat of 1787. It was May, when 55 men met together. There were differences of opinion, sharp and deep and bitter. But somehow, under the inspiration of the Almighty, there was forged the Constitution of the United States. On September 17, of that same year, 39 of the 55 signed the document which began with these remarkable words: ‘We, the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, ensure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this constitution of the United States of America.’”
(Gordon B. Hinckley, Keep Faith with America, May 6, 1999.)
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