Quotes about the divine inspiration for the U.S. Constitution from the Scriptures, the Prophet Joseph Smith, other Modern Prophets, the Founding Fathers, and the Living Prophets. I believe that God inspired the formation of the United States of America and its Constitution and I hope that good people everywhere will uphold and defend this important document.

1. What The Church
Has Taught About
The U.S. Constitution

2. 2 - JimmySmith.org
Agenda
1. What the Scriptures teach about the U.S. Constitution
2. What the Prophet Joseph Smith taught about the U.S. Constitution
3. What Other Modern Prophets have taught about the U.S. Constitution
4. What the Founding Fathers said about the U.S. Constitution
5. What the Living Prophets have taught about the U.S. Constitution

3. What The Scriptures
Teach About
The U.S. Constitution

4. 4 - JimmySmith.org
• 1 Ne 13: 12 And I looked and beheld a man among the
Gentiles, who was separated from the seed of my
brethren by the many waters; and I beheld the Spirit of
God, that it came down and wrought upon the man; and
he went forth upon the many waters, even unto the
seed of my brethren, who were in the promised land.
• 15 And I beheld the Spirit of the Lord, that it was upon
the Gentiles, and they did prosper and obtain the land
for their inheritance.
• 16 And it came to pass that I, Nephi, beheld that the
Gentiles who had gone forth out of captivity did humble
themselves before the Lord; and the power of the Lord
was with them.
Christopher Columbus and Pilgrims

5. 5 - JimmySmith.org
Background for D&C sections 98 and 101
• In 1833, the Saints who had gathered in Missouri were suffering great persecution
• A mob destroyed Church property, tarred and feathered two Church members, and
demanded that the Saints leave Jackson County
• By December 1833, mobs had driven the Saints from their homes and they moved
to nearby counties, but persecution followed them
• The Saints had lost household furniture, clothing, livestock, and other personal
property; and many of their crops had been destroyed.
• It was in these times that Joseph Smith received D&C sections 98 and 101

6. 6 - JimmySmith.org
• D&C 98:5 And that law of the land which is constitutional, supporting that
principle of freedom in maintaining rights and privileges, belongs to all
mankind, and is justifiable before me.
• 6 Therefore, I, the Lord, justify you, and your brethren of my church, in
befriending that law which is the constitutional law of the land.
• 8 I, the Lord God, make you free, therefore ye are free indeed; and the law
also maketh you free.
• 9 Nevertheless, when the wicked rule the people mourn.

7. 7 - JimmySmith.org
• D&C 101:76 It is my will that they should continue to importune for redress,
and redemption, by the hands of those who are placed as rulers and are in
authority over you—
• 77 According to the laws and constitution of the people, which I have
suffered to be established, and should be maintained for the rights and
protection of all flesh, according to just and holy principles;
• 80 And for this purpose have I established the Constitution of this land, by
the hands of wise men whom I raised up unto this very purpose, and
redeemed the land by the shedding of blood.

8. 8 - JimmySmith.org
• A few years later, at the dedication of the
temple at Kirtland, Ohio, March 27, 1836,
Joseph Smith offered this prayer which
was given to him by revelation
• “Have mercy, O Lord, upon all the nations
of the earth; have mercy upon the rulers
of our land; may those principles, which
were so honorably and nobly defended,
namely, the Constitution of our land, by
our fathers, be established forever.” (D&C
109:54)

9. What the Prophet
Joseph Smith Taught
About the U.S.
Constitution

10. 10 - JimmySmith.org
• In the winter of 1838-1839, Joseph Smith was unjustly incarcerated in a cold,
underground jail cell in the town of Liberty, Missouri
• Despite his circumstances, he bore his testimony of the divinity of the
Constitution:
• “The Constitution of the United States is a glorious standard; it is founded in
the wisdom of God. It is a heavenly banner.”
• History of The Church, ed. B. H. Roberts, 3:304.

11. 11 - JimmySmith.org
• Joseph Smith said:
• “Even this nation will be on the very verge of crumbling to pieces and
tumbling to the ground, and when the Constitution is upon the brink of ruin,
this people will be the staff upon which the nation shall lean, and they shall
bear the Constitution away from the very verge of destruction.”
• 19 July 1840, as recorded by Martha Jane Knowlton Coray

12. 12 - JimmySmith.org
• In a Pioneer Day celebration in Ogden, Utah
in 1871, Eliza R. Snow said:
• “I heard the prophet say, ‘The time will
come when the government of these United
States will be so nearly overthrown through
its corruption, that the Constitution will
hang as it were by a single hair, and the
Latter-day Saints—the Elders of Israel—will
step forward to its rescue and save it.’”
• Journal History, MSF 143 #28, July 24, 1871.
• Orson Hyde’s account includes and “if.” “If the
constitution be saved at all, it will be by the
Elders of this Church.” (JD, 6:150.)

13. 13 - JimmySmith.org
• In June 1844, angry mobs had begun again to
threaten Joseph Smith and the Latter-day Saints
• Joseph was also still fighting extradition to
Missouri where he was wanted in connection with
crimes he did not commit
• Joseph believed they were losing many of the
most basic rights guaranteed by the Constitution
and said:
• “I call upon all the volunteers who feel to
support the Constitution from the Rocky
Mountains to the Atlantic Ocean to come
with their arms, ammunition, and defend
the Constitution.”

14. What Other Modern
Prophets Have Taught
About The U.S.
Constitution

15. 15 - JimmySmith.org
• “To me the Constitution is a part of my religion. In its
place it is just as much a part of my religion as any other
part. It is a part of my religion because it is one of those
institutions which God has set up for His own purposes,
and, as one of the brethren said today, set up so that
this Church might be established, because under no
other government in the world could the Church have
been established as it has been established under this
government.”
• President J. Reuben Clark, Jr., First Counselor in the First
Presidency of the Church, Conference Report, October 1942

16. 16 - JimmySmith.org
• In 1986, Church President Ezra Taft Benson quoted former
British Prime Minister William Gladstone who said the U.S.
Constitution is “the most wonderful work ever struck off at a
given time by the brain and purpose of man.”
• Pres Benson continued, “I heartily endorse this assessment,
and I would like to pay honor—honor to the document itself,
honor to the men who framed it, and honor to the God who
inspired it and made possible its coming forth.”
• The Constitution—A Glorious Standard, 16 September 1986

17. 17 - JimmySmith.org
• Church President Ezra Taft Benson said:
• “I reverence the Constitution of the United States
as a sacred document. To me its words are akin to
the revelations of God, for God has placed His
stamp of approval on the Constitution of this
land. I testify that the God of heaven sent some of
His choicest spirits to lay the foundation of this
government, and He has sent other choice spirits
to preserve it.”
• The Constitution—A Glorious Standard, 16 September
1986

18. What the Founding
Fathers said about the
U.S. Constitution

19. 19 - JimmySmith.org
• In 1877, Wilford Woodruff was visited by “the signers of the Declaration of
Independence, and fifty other eminent men, making one hundred in all,
including John Wesley, Columbus, and others.”
• They said to him: “We laid the foundation of the government you now enjoy,
and we never apostatized from it, but we remained true to it and were
faithful to God.” (Journal of Discourses, 19:229)

20. 20 - JimmySmith.org
• “The Constitution is the guide which I never
will abandon.”
• “The Constitution that we have is an
excellent one, if we can keep it where it is.”
• The Constitution “will demonstrate as visibly
the finger of Providence as any possible
event in the course of human affairs.”
• “I wish the constitution, which is offered,
had been made more perfect; but I sincerely
believe it is the best that could be obtained
at this time.”
• George Washington, President of the Constitutional
Convention, first President of the United States

21. 21 - JimmySmith.org
• “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 is
designed only for a moral and
religious people. It is wholly
inadequate for any other.”
• John Adams, first vice-president and
second president of the United States

22. 22 - JimmySmith.org
• “The course of history shows that as a
government grows, liberty decreases.
The two enemies of the people are
criminals and government, so let us tie
the second down with the chains of the
constitution so the second will not
become the legalized version of the
first.”
• Thomas Jefferson, principal author of
the Declaration of Independence, and
third president of the United States

23. 23 - JimmySmith.org
• “I have so much faith in the general
government of the world by Providence
that I can hardly conceive a transaction of
such momentous importance [as the
framing of the Constitution] ... should be
suffered to pass without being in some
degree influenced, guided, and governed
by that omnipotent, omnipresent, and
beneficent Ruler in whom all inferior spirits
live and move and have their being.”
• Benjamin Franklin, helped draft the
Declaration of Independence and delegate
to the Constitutional Convention

24. 24 - JimmySmith.org
• “The happy Union of these States is a
wonder; their Constitution a miracle; their
example the hope of Liberty throughout
the world.”
• “We have staked the whole future of our
new nation, not upon the power of
government; far from it. We have staked
the future of all our political constitutions
upon the capacity of each of ourselves to
govern ourselves according to the moral
principles of the Ten Commandments.”
• “The future and success of America is not
in this Constitution, but in the laws of God
upon which this Constitution is founded.”
• James Madison, drafted the Constitution and
Bill of Rights, and fourth President of the US

25. 25 - JimmySmith.org
• “We the people are the rightful masters of
both Congress and the courts, not to
overthrow the Constitution but to overthrow
the men who pervert the Constitution.”
• “Let [the Constitution] be taught in schools,
in seminaries, and in colleges; let it be
written in primers, spelling-books, and in
almanacs; let it be preached from the pulpit,
proclaimed in legislative halls, and enforced
in courts of justice. And, in short, let it
become the political religion of the nation.”
• Abraham Lincoln, 16th President of the
United States, Ended Slavery

26. What the Living
Prophets Have Taught
About the U.S.
Constitution

27. 27 - JimmySmith.org
• “I close by citing Thomas Jefferson, who
wisely said, “If a nation expects to be
ignorant and free . . . it expects what never
was and never will be.” How grateful we are
for Founding Fathers. “Honest, wise, and
good men” raised up by God, “unto this very
purpose,” to establish the Constitution of
this land. These principles of freedom,
“honorably and nobly defended,” are “for
the rights and protection of all flesh,
according to just and holy principles.” They
are part of the Lord’s blessing to His
precious sons and daughters everywhere.”
• Elder Gerrit W. Gong, “Things Expedient to
Understand”, 20 Oct 2020

28. 28 - JimmySmith.org
• “I am concerned when much of the
discussion is an attack on faith and
belief, often reframing and distorting
our history. Some, intentionally or not,
are trying to undermine our country’s
founding history and the United States
Constitution. Whether by intention or
by myopia, both effects are
regrettable.”
• Elder Quentin L. Cook, 24 Aug 2020

29. 29 - JimmySmith.org
• “The United States Constitution is the oldest
written national constitution still in use. It
has served Americans well, enhancing
freedom and prosperity during the changing
conditions of more than 200 years.
Frequently copied, it has become the United
States’ most important export. After two
centuries, every nation in the world except
six have adopted written constitutions, and
the United States Constitution was a model
for all of them. Consequently, if we abandon
or weaken its fundamental principles, we
betray our own national ideals and we also
weaken our global neighbors.”
• Elder Dallin H. Oaks, “Fundamentals of Our
Constitutions” 17 Sep 2010

30. 30 - JimmySmith.org
• “I will suggest five responsibilities that I
believe are appropriate for all citizens—
whatever their religious or philosophical
persuasion. 1. Understand the Constitution.
All citizens should be familiar with its great
fundamentals: the sovereignty of the
people, the structure of federalism that
divides powers between the state and the
federal government, the individual
guarantees in the Bill of Rights, and the
principle of separation of powers among the
various branches of government. We should
take alarm at and consider how to oppose
any action that would infringe these
fundamentals.”
• Elder Dallin H. Oaks, “Fundamentals of Our
Constitutions” 17 Sep 2010

31. Thank you for viewing this presentation. I created this
for my children, so they would know the importance
of the Constitution and have courage to support it as
they grow into voting adults. I add my witness to the
others quoted here, that the U.S. Constitution was
inspired by God. We need good people everywhere,
especially those who know of its divine source, to
uphold and defend the Constitution.
-Jimmy Smith
JimmySmith.org