President Ronald Reagan said:
âI am deeply disappointed that, although a majority of the Senate voted for it, the school prayer amendment fell short.â
On September 25, 1982, Reagan said:
âUnfortunately, in the last two decades weâve experienced an onslaught of such twisted logic that if Alice were visiting America, she might think sheâd never left Wonderland. Weâre told that it somehow violates the rights of others to permit students in school who desire to pray to do so. Clearly this infringes on the freedom of those who choose to pray, the freedom taken for granted since the time of our Founding Fathers â¦â
After the Constitutional Convention ended, George Washington commented to Marquis de Lafayette, February 7, 1788:
âWith regard to the two great points (the pivots on which the whole machine must move) my creed is simply:
First, That the general Government is not invested with more powers than are indispensably necessary to perform functions of a good government â¦
Secondly, That these Powers ⦠are so distributed among the Legislative, Executive, and Judicial Branches, into which the general Government is arranged, that it can never be in danger of degenerating into a monarchy, an oligarchy, an aristocracy, or any other despotic or oppressive form; so long as there shall remain any virtue in the body of the People â¦â