The basic elements of Coolidge’s Character as presented in "The Man and His Character" and "The VilliagerThat Raised Him" are the foundation stones of his idealism.

Coolidge believed that the principal ideal of the American people was (and I believe, is) idealism itself. 1 This idealism is grounded in the first two sentences of paragraph two of our Declaration of Independence.

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the Governed." 2

This Declaration is the reason why the United States of America exists as a sovereign and independent country though we had to fight a Revolutionary War to put this Declaration into effect.

The basic concepts of these two sentences are:

1. There is a Creator.

2. That all humans are created equal by this Creator. How they are created (evolution or direct creation) is not specified.

3. That this Creator endows humans with certain inalienable rights. The State/Government is not the source of these rights.

4. Governments exist to secure, make operable, these inalienable rights.

5. Governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed. That is why we have elections, the right to petition, etc.

Calvin Coolidge’s idealism is directly grounded on these five basic concepts. In his Wheaton College speech cited earlier, he says we need more spiritual development, more religion, and more of the things that are unseen. These three "needs" are the foundation stones for moral power and character.

Calvin saw Faith in God as the Being who created humans out of love. He wished to share his life so he made humans in his image, ie. gave them the power of reflective thought. Humans can ponder their actions and will to change them. Faith provides humans with a meaning for their lives, a conviction that there is an eternal plan for every human life thus motivating us to achieve.

In speaking of his time at Amherst College and the required daily assemblies that were chapel exercises during the week and a regular church service on Sunday morning with Vespers in the late afternoon, he writes

"Of course we did not like to go and talked learnedly about the right of freedom of worship, and the bad mental and moral reactions from which we were likely to suffer as a result of being forced to hear scriptural readings, psalm singings, prayers, and sermons. ….

If attendance on these religious services ever harmed any of the men of my time I have never been informed of it. The good it did I believe was infinite. Not the least of it was the discipline that resulted from having constantly to give some thought to things that young men would often prefer not to consider. If we did not have the privilege of doing what we wanted to do, we had the much greater benefit of doing what we ought to do. It broke down our selfishness, it conquered our resistance, it supplanted impulse, and finally it enthroned reason." 3

Calvin saw religion as basic for a self-directed people who would do the right thing (obey the law) most of the time because it was the right thing to do, not because they were forced to do so by law and penalty. By religion he meant the Judaeo Christian ethical system found in the Bible, in the Ten Commandments, and in the teachings of Jesus Christ especially the Beatitudes found in the Sermon on the Mount. Together these precepts make for a largely self-regulating and more humane society.

Endnotes

1 Presidential Address to the American Society of Newspaper Editors, Washington, D.C., January 17, 1925, Calvin Coolidge Presidential Library and

Museum, Forbes Library, Northampton, Massachusetts.

2 Webster's New Twentieth Century Dictionary, Second Edition, New World Dictionaries, Simon and Schuster, New York, N.Y., 1983, p. 135.

3 The Autobiography of Calvin Coolidge, Cosmopolitan Book Corporation, New York, N.Y., 1929, 1989 edition, p. 160. This and subsequent

quotations from the Autobiography are used with the gracious permission of the Calvin Coolidge Memorial Foundation, Plymouth Notch, Vermont.