There is no time when the Declaration of Independence‘s true meaning is not worthy of deep reflection. But certainly this Independence Day, which marks the beginning of a year of celebrating the 250th anniversary of the declaration’s signing, is a worthy occasion for such reflection.

To be sure, there’s no shortage of commentary to spur thinking about the declaration’s meaning. Anything Thomas Jefferson, the document’s principal author, said about it warrants close attention, of course. But here I want to consider the words of two very different presidents living in two different centuries: Abraham Lincoln and Calvin Coolidge.

At one of his many stops on his way to Washington to be inaugurated for the first time, Lincoln spoke at Independence Hall in Philadelphia on Feb. 22, 1861, which happens to be George Washington’s birthday. In brief remarks — Lincoln told his audience it was a “wholly unprepared speech” — he declared: “I have never had a feeling politically that did not spring from the sentiments........

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