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Finding Our Words: Words That Made America
Finding Our Words: Words That Made America is a collection of some of the most inspiring words spoken by American leaders since the nation’s founding.
It is intended for all for advanced readers to enjoy in leisure learning, or aloud in groups with all levels—even beginning readers. It may be used exclusively or in conjunction with other works for the study of language arts, U.S. history, civics, statesmanship, and elocution.
“We give here a few of the standards, but we also bring back to light some forgotten words forgotten undeservedly. Together they form a remarkable chronicle of selfless devotion that could have emerged only from a great nation. And yet, how many of our ancestors, even the perceptive and perspicacious ones, could have foreseen that American culture, verbally and otherwise, would one day devolve so depressingly and crassly that the day would arrive when, say, their grandchildren in high school would be unable to read what they themselves might have read for pleasure in elementary school?
"Commerce with these words offers us one path back to citizenship, decency, and good sense. The foundation of all learning, all communication, and all thought is words. Any honest struggle to use words well sets us all on a path not only to the intelligent life but to the decorous life, once graced with dignity and elan.” —Tracy Lee Simmons
“The loss can be summed up in one We have lost our words. We no longer read the greatest spoken and written words of all time, and so we have lost both the general use and the understanding of words that our ancestors, both ancient and more recent, lived by. More critically, however, in losing those words, we have lost what those words have represented.
"Yet it is exhilarating to realize how much one can learn, how much can quietly change within one’s self and within one’s family, simply by reading these words, slowly, and making them one’s own.” —Allison Ellis
Mount Titano Media publishes single works and collections of the greatest spoken and written words of all time in the fields of history, literature, poetry, philosophy, and politics for the benefit of families, schools, colleges, universities, and independent lovers of learning and culture.
It is intended for all for advanced readers to enjoy in leisure learning, or aloud in groups with all levels—even beginning readers. It may be used exclusively or in conjunction with other works for the study of language arts, U.S. history, civics, statesmanship, and elocution.
“We give here a few of the standards, but we also bring back to light some forgotten words forgotten undeservedly. Together they form a remarkable chronicle of selfless devotion that could have emerged only from a great nation. And yet, how many of our ancestors, even the perceptive and perspicacious ones, could have foreseen that American culture, verbally and otherwise, would one day devolve so depressingly and crassly that the day would arrive when, say, their grandchildren in high school would be unable to read what they themselves might have read for pleasure in elementary school?
"Commerce with these words offers us one path back to citizenship, decency, and good sense. The foundation of all learning, all communication, and all thought is words. Any honest struggle to use words well sets us all on a path not only to the intelligent life but to the decorous life, once graced with dignity and elan.” —Tracy Lee Simmons
“The loss can be summed up in one We have lost our words. We no longer read the greatest spoken and written words of all time, and so we have lost both the general use and the understanding of words that our ancestors, both ancient and more recent, lived by. More critically, however, in losing those words, we have lost what those words have represented.
"Yet it is exhilarating to realize how much one can learn, how much can quietly change within one’s self and within one’s family, simply by reading these words, slowly, and making them one’s own.” —Allison Ellis
Mount Titano Media publishes single works and collections of the greatest spoken and written words of all time in the fields of history, literature, poetry, philosophy, and politics for the benefit of families, schools, colleges, universities, and independent lovers of learning and culture.
366 pages, Paperback
Published December 8, 2024
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
February 22, 2026
This book surprised me — in a good way.
At first glance, it’s a curated collection of speeches and writings from key figures in American history. That could have been dry, or predictable. It’s neither. What this book does well is remind us that America was not built merely by events — it was built by arguments. By words. By ideas articulated clearly and courageously.
And some of these words soar.
Take Calvin Coolidge’s July 4th address reflecting on the Declaration of Independence. He reminds us that we live in “an age of science and of abounding accumulation of material things,” and then delivers the line that stops you cold: “Our Declaration created them. The things of the spirit come first.” That’s not nostalgia — that’s a thesis about civilization.
Coolidge goes further. The principles of the Declaration, he argued, are not evolving abstractions but fixed truths. They are final. There is nowhere to advance beyond them — only downward from them. That’s a bracing claim in any century.
Throughout the book, you see this pattern: the American project is anchored in moral and philosophical commitments before it is political. Government represents the will of the people, yes — but its legitimacy rests on prior truths. As Coolidge put it: “Ours is a government of the people. It represents their will. Its officers may sometimes go astray, but that is not a reason for criticizing the principles of our institutions.”
That distinction — between flawed actors and enduring principles — feels especially relevant today.
What an excellent compilation of compelling oratory. It reminds you that words matter because ideas matter — and that the American experiment was, and remains, fundamentally moral before it is procedural.
It’s hard to read some of these speeches without feeling both inspired and challenged.
Memorable
Calvin Coolidge
“Our Declaration created them. The things of the spirit come first.”
[This is the hinge sentence. It flips material progress on its head and reasserts moral primacy].
“The principles are final.”
“It is a great advantage to a President… for him to know that he is not a great man.”
“Hero worship might make Americans forget that laws mattered more than men.”
Abraham Lincoln
“With malice toward none; with charity for all…”
[Still the gold standard for moral clarity in victory].
“Government of the people, by the people, for the people…”
Frederick Douglass
“What, to the American slave, is your Fourth of July?”
[Few lines in American rhetoric are sharper. It’s not merely a question — it’s an indictment].
“This Fourth of July is yours, not mine.”
Martin Luther King Jr.
“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”
“The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.”
George Washington
“Religion and morality are indispensable supports.”
John F. Kennedy
“Ask not what your country can do for you…”
“Let us begin anew…”
At first glance, it’s a curated collection of speeches and writings from key figures in American history. That could have been dry, or predictable. It’s neither. What this book does well is remind us that America was not built merely by events — it was built by arguments. By words. By ideas articulated clearly and courageously.
And some of these words soar.
Take Calvin Coolidge’s July 4th address reflecting on the Declaration of Independence. He reminds us that we live in “an age of science and of abounding accumulation of material things,” and then delivers the line that stops you cold: “Our Declaration created them. The things of the spirit come first.” That’s not nostalgia — that’s a thesis about civilization.
Coolidge goes further. The principles of the Declaration, he argued, are not evolving abstractions but fixed truths. They are final. There is nowhere to advance beyond them — only downward from them. That’s a bracing claim in any century.
Throughout the book, you see this pattern: the American project is anchored in moral and philosophical commitments before it is political. Government represents the will of the people, yes — but its legitimacy rests on prior truths. As Coolidge put it: “Ours is a government of the people. It represents their will. Its officers may sometimes go astray, but that is not a reason for criticizing the principles of our institutions.”
That distinction — between flawed actors and enduring principles — feels especially relevant today.
What an excellent compilation of compelling oratory. It reminds you that words matter because ideas matter — and that the American experiment was, and remains, fundamentally moral before it is procedural.
It’s hard to read some of these speeches without feeling both inspired and challenged.
Memorable
Calvin Coolidge
“Our Declaration created them. The things of the spirit come first.”
[This is the hinge sentence. It flips material progress on its head and reasserts moral primacy].
“The principles are final.”
“It is a great advantage to a President… for him to know that he is not a great man.”
“Hero worship might make Americans forget that laws mattered more than men.”
Abraham Lincoln
“With malice toward none; with charity for all…”
[Still the gold standard for moral clarity in victory].
“Government of the people, by the people, for the people…”
Frederick Douglass
“What, to the American slave, is your Fourth of July?”
[Few lines in American rhetoric are sharper. It’s not merely a question — it’s an indictment].
“This Fourth of July is yours, not mine.”
Martin Luther King Jr.
“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”
“The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.”
George Washington
“Religion and morality are indispensable supports.”
John F. Kennedy
“Ask not what your country can do for you…”
“Let us begin anew…”
Displaying 1 of 1 review