From Adams’s letter of 11 October 1798 to the officers of the First Brigade of the Third Division of the Massachusetts militia, written as a reply to their address. The exact wording is confirmed in The Works of John Adams, vol. 9 (1854), pp. 228–229, and in the 1848 Revolutionary Services and Civil Life of General William Hull, pp. 265–266.
“Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other” John Adams, letter to the officers of the First Brigade of the Third Division of the Militia of Massachusetts, 11 October 1798 (The Works of John Adams, vol. 9, 1854, pp. 228–229)
Can you use it?
✓ Free to use, including in commercial and paid presentations — no permission or licence needed.
Image direction — grounded in this quote’s real context; paste into your image tool
In context
Evoking the world of John Adams — Second President of the United States (1797–1801). Theme: "Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other". Atmospheric and restrained, cinematic directional light, a muted period-appropriate palette, fine grain and texture. Compose with generous empty space for the quote and a small credit line. No lettering in the image itself.
Minimalist
Minimalist editorial slide for the quote "Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other". Clean background, a single muted accent color, generous negative space, subtle paper or linen texture, no literal illustration — let the words carry it. Reserve clear space for a serif quote and a small credit line. No lettering in the image itself.
Provenance
The source
Document
To the Officers of the First Brigade of the Third Division of the Militia of Massachusetts
Date
11 October 1798, Quincy
Printed in
The Works of John Adams, ed. Charles Francis Adams, vol. 9 (Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1854), pp. 228–229
Also printed in
Revolutionary Services and Civil Life of General William Hull (New York: D. Appleton & Co., 1848), pp. 265–266
While our country remains untainted with the principles and manners which are now producing desolation in so many parts of the world; while she continues sincere, and incapable of insidious and impious policy, we shall have the strongest reason to rejoice in the local destination assigned us by Providence. But should the people of America once become capable of that deep simulation towards one another, and towards foreign nations, which assumes the language of justice and moderation while it is practising iniquity and extravagance, and displays in the most captivating manner the charming pictures of candor, frankness, and sincerity, while it is rioting in rapine and insolence, this country will be the most miserable habitation in the world; because we have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion. Avarice, ambition, revenge, or gallantry, would break the strongest cords of our Constitution as a whale goes through a net. Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.The Works of John Adams, vol. 9 (1854), pp. 228–229
Text from the 1854 Works. The 1848 Hull volume has “and licentiousness” where the Works has “or gallantry.” The two quoted sentences are the same in both printings.
1798 — Adams writes from Quincy on 11 October, answering the officers’ “unanimous address from Lexington,” which Major-General Hull and Brigadier-General Walker had delivered to him (transcription with the original spelling, Hillsdale College ↗).
1848 — The letter, signed “John Adams,” is printed in Revolutionary Services and Civil Life of General William Hull, pp. 265–266, with the wording “and licentiousness” (Internet Archive ↗).
1854 — Charles Francis Adams prints it in The Works of John Adams, vol. 9, pp. 228–229, with the wording “or gallantry” (Internet Archive ↗).
Today — Wikiquote lists the passage among Adams’s sourced quotes for the 1790s, citing both printings and noting where they differ (Wikiquote ↗).
✓Public domain
The letter dates from 1798. The printings this page relies on came out in 1848 (the Hull volume) and 1854 (The Works of John Adams, vol. 9). All of these are long out of copyright in the United States.
Rights status is our research, not legal advice — and copyright varies by country and edition. For commercial or published use, confirm with the rightsholder. See terms.
Fact-check
Real quote, often misread
These are John Adams’s own words. The mistakes are about what he meant, where the line comes from, and which printed version is quoted.
~
Meaning“Proof the U.S. was founded as a Christian nation” Context stripped
Historian John Fea writes that conservative Christians quote this line as evidence for a Christian-nation founding, and that the sentence has been “ripped from the context of the original letter.” In that context, Adams is warning that passions such as avarice and ambition would break the Constitution if morality and religion did not hold them in check (The Way of Improvement Leads Home ↗).
✕
Meaning“Adams endorsing a particular faith” Disputed reading
Juan Cole calls Adams a Unitarian and argues the passage treats the Constitution as a secular framework that needs a moral public to make it work. In his reading, it is not praise for fundamentalist Christianity (Informed Comment ↗).
✕
Status“A formal statement of founding doctrine” Overstated
The source is a letter Adams wrote to answer an address from militia officers. It is not a state paper or a speech. Fea notes Kevin Kruse’s argument that it shows one man’s personal views, and also Fea’s own point that many founders shared the belief (The Way of Improvement Leads Home ↗).
✕
Wording“licentiousness” vs. “gallantry” Two printings
The sentence just before the famous lines differs between printings. The 1848 Hull volume has “Avarice, ambition, revenge and licentiousness,” and the 1854 Works has “Avarice, ambition, revenge, or gallantry.” Wikiquote records the same difference (Wikiquote ↗).
The officers of the First Brigade of the Third Division of the Massachusetts militia had adopted an address at Lexington, and Major-General Hull and Brigadier-General Walker delivered it to President Adams. In his reply, Adams praised the officers, who commanded “two thousand eight hundred men,” and called the oath they had taken “an ample pledge of your sincerity.” He then warned that the country had “no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion.”
Taken out of the letter, the two closing sentences have become one of the most quoted founding-era lines in modern arguments about religion and American government.
as a whale goes through a net
Read the full story
A transcription that keeps Adams’s original spelling and capitals reads “Revenge or Galantry” and “a moral and religious People” (Hillsdale College ↗). The 1854 Works modernizes this to “revenge, or gallantry.”
The two printings also arrange the letter differently. In the 1848 Hull volume, the paragraph praising the officers’ address comes before the “While our country” paragraph. In the 1854 Works, it comes after.
Explore
Filed under
More provenance-checked quotes on the same theme, each with its reuse status.
1735–1826 · Second President of the United States (1797–1801)
John Adams was a Massachusetts lawyer, a leader in the Continental Congress, a diplomat in Europe during the Revolution, the first Vice President, and the second President of the United States. He wrote this letter while he was President, answering an address from Massachusetts militia officers. His grandson Charles Francis Adams later edited his papers into the ten-volume Works of John Adams.
For writers & researchers
Cite this
Primary source
John Adams, “To the Officers of the First Brigade of the Third Division of the Militia of Massachusetts,” 11 October 1798, in The Works of John Adams, Second President of the United States, ed. Charles Francis Adams, vol. 9 (Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1854), 228–29.
This verification page
Quotle.info. “Who really said ‘Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other’?” Last verified 3 Nov 2026. https://quotle.info/who-said/our-constitution-was-made-only-for-a-moral-and-religious/