I posted something on Facebook the other day that I had come across from a reputable source:

‎"God who gave us life gave us liberty. Can the liberties of a nation be secure when we have removed a conviction that these liberties are the gift of God? Indeed I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just, that his justice cannot sleep forever."

~Thomas Jefferson (letter to George Washington, 1/4/1786)

I freely admit that I didn't think to research it for accuracy. When a friend pointed out that the three statements were said at three different times in three different contexts, I wanted to do some more research. I discovered that's how it's written on the third panel of the Jefferson Memorial. Actually, here is the full quotation:

"God who gave us life gave us liberty. Can the liberties of a nation be secure when we have removed a conviction that these liberties are the gift of God? Indeed I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just, that his justice cannot sleep forever. Commerce between master and slave is despotism. Nothing is more certainly written in the book of fate than that these people are to be free. Establish a law for educating the common people. This it is the business of the state and on a general plan."

Taken in whole, it's actually a product of six different writings of Jefferson. Just because it's literally written in stone is not reason to believe that Jefferson purposely concocted his point as such. In my personal opinion, in the interest of clarity, the memorial should have left each statement as a stand alone to let the reader come to the same conclusion. Here are the five statements, all in regards to slavery:

"But let them [members of the parliament of Great Britain] not think to exclude us from going to other markets, to dispose of those commodities which they cannot use, nor to supply those wants which they cannot supply. Still less let it be proposed that our properties within our own territories shall be taxed or regulated by any power on earth but our own. The god who gave us life gave us liberty at the same time: the hand of force may destroy, but cannot disjoin them."

- "A Summary View of the Rights of British America"

"For in a warm climate, no man will labour for himself who can make another labour for him. This is so true, that of the proprietors of slaves a very small proportion indeed are ever seen to labor. And can the liberties of a nation be thought secure when we have removed their only firm basis,a conviction in the minds of the people that these liberties are the gift of God? That they are not to be violated but with his wrath? Indeed I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just: that his justice cannot sleep for ever . . . ."

- Notes on the State of Virginia, Query XVIII

"The whole commerce between master and slave is a perpetual exercise of the most boisterous passions, the most unremitting despotism on the one part, and degrading submissions on the other. Our children see this, and learn to imitate it. . . ."

- Notes on the State of Virginia, Query XVIII

"Nothing is more certainly written in the book of fate than that these people are to be free. Nor is it less certain that the two races, equally free, cannot live in the same government. Nature, habit, opinion has drawn indelible lines of distinction between them."

- Jefferson's Autobiography

"Preach, my dear sir, a crusade against ignorance; establish & improve the law for educating the common people."

- Jefferson to George Wythe, August 13, 1786

"It is an axiom in my mind that our liberty can never be safe but in the hands of the people themselves, and that too of the people with a certain degree of instruction.This it is the business of the state to effect, and on a general plan."

- Jefferson to George Washington, January 4, 1786

For what it's worth, though, I think the summation of those sentiments of Jefferson is correct, both in regards to slavery and being a Christian nation. I do believe the liberties outlined in Jefferson's "inalienable rights," rights we've adopted as a country, are inherent ones given by God. As a nation building upon those, I think we'd do well to remember that. There are many times that I have to trust that God is just in the end so that I can lay aside what I feel is rightful retribution on my side. This however, is one time that I don't want to trust in His justice because I know some of my part in our nation- be it action or complacency.

Along the lines of our personal responsibility in America (beyond taxes, voting, and adhering to the law), I think Stanley McChrystal writes an excellent article in Why America Needs National Service.

So the question becomes, faced with either/both motivating forces, what are you and I doing or not doing as citizens of the USA?