John Adams 1798: “Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other”

“We have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion . . . Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.”

– From John Adams to Massachusetts Militia, 11 October 1798