Editing Calvin Coolidge (section)

==Early career and marriage==

===Education and law practice===
Coolidge attended the [[Black River Academy]] and then [[St. Johnsbury Academy]] before enrolling at [[Amherst College]], where he distinguished himself in the debating class. As a senior, he joined the [[Phi Gamma Delta]] fraternity and graduated ''[[cum laude]]''. While at Amherst, Coolidge was profoundly influenced by philosophy professor [[Charles Edward Garman]], a [[Congregationalism in the United States|Congregational]] mystic who had a [[Neo-Hegelianism|neo-Hegelian]] philosophy. Coolidge explained Garman's ethics forty years later:{{blockquote|[T]here is a standard of righteousness that might does not make right, that the end does not justify the means, and that expediency as a working principle is bound to fail. The only hope of perfecting human relationships is in accordance with the law of service under which men are not so solicitous about what they shall get as they are about what they shall give. Yet people are entitled to the rewards of their industry. What they earn is theirs, no matter how small or how great. But the possession of property carries the obligation to use it in a larger service...{{sfn|White|1938|pp=43–44}}}}

At his father's urging after graduation, Coolidge moved to [[Northampton, Massachusetts]], to become a lawyer. Coolidge followed the common practice of apprenticing with a local law firm, Hammond & Field, and [[reading law]] with them. [[John C Hammond|John C. Hammond]] and Henry P. Field, both Amherst graduates, introduced Coolidge to practicing law in the county seat of [[Hampshire County, Massachusetts]]. In 1897, Coolidge was admitted to the [[Massachusetts Bar Association|Massachusetts bar]], becoming a [[country lawyer]].{{sfn|Shlaes|2013|pp=66–68}} With his savings and a small inheritance from his grandfather, Coolidge opened his own law office in Northampton in 1898. He practiced commercial law, believing that he served his clients best by staying out of court. As his reputation as a hard-working and diligent attorney grew, local banks and other businesses began to retain his services.{{sfnm|Fuess|1940|1pp=74–81|McCoy|1967|2pp=22–26}}

===Marriage and family===
[[File:Coolidge family LCCN2014716433.jpg|thumb|upright|Coolidge with his family, {{c.}} 1915]]

In 1903, Coolidge met [[Grace Goodhue]], a graduate of the [[University of Vermont]] and a teacher at Northampton's [[Clarke School for the Deaf]]. They married on October 4, 1905, at 2:30&nbsp;p.m. in a small ceremony which took place in the parlor of Grace's family's house, having overcome her mother's objections to the marriage.{{sfn|Bryson|2013|p=187}} The newlyweds went on a [[honeymoon]] trip to [[Montreal]], originally planned for two weeks but cut short by a week at Coolidge's request. After 25 years he wrote of Grace, "for almost a quarter of a century she has borne with my infirmities and I have rejoiced in her graces".{{sfn|White|1938|p=61}}

The Coolidges had two sons: [[John Coolidge|John]] (1906–2000) and Calvin Jr. (1908–1924). On June 30, 1924, Calvin Jr. played [[tennis]] with his brother on the White House tennis courts without putting on socks and developed a [[blister]] on one of his toes. The blister subsequently degenerated into [[sepsis]]. He died a little over a week later at the age of 16.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Shapell |first1=Benjamin |last2=Willen |first2=Sara |title=The Death of Calvin Coolidge Jr. |url=https://www.shapell.org/historical-perspectives/between-the-lines/death-calvin-coolidge-jr/ |publisher=Shapell Manuscript Foundation |access-date=April 8, 2019 |date=July 6, 2017}}</ref> 

Coolidge never forgave himself for Calvin Jr's death.<ref>{{cite book |editor1-last=Remini |editor1-first=Robert V. |editor2-last=Golway |editor2-first=Terry |title=Fellow Citizens: The Penguin Book of U.S. Presidential Inaugural Addresses |date=2008 |publisher=Penguin Books |page=307 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZMjOsudMDhgC&pg=PA307|isbn=978-1440631573 }}</ref> His elder son John said it "hurt [Coolidge] terribly", and psychiatric biographer Robert E. Gilbert, author of'' The Tormented President: Calvin Coolidge, Death, and Clinical Depression'', said that Coolidge "ceased to function as President after the death of his sixteen-year-old son". Gilbert writes that after Calvin Jr.'s death Coolidge displayed all ten of the symptoms the [[American Psychiatric Association]] lists as evidence of [[major depressive disorder]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2003/12/president-coolidges-burden/303175/|title= President Coolidge's Burden |work= The Atlantic |date= 2003|access-date= December 12, 2021}}</ref> John later became a railroad executive, helped start the Coolidge Foundation, and was instrumental in creating the [[President Calvin Coolidge State Historic Site]].{{sfn|Martin|2000}}

Coolidge was frugal, and when it came to securing a home, he insisted upon renting. He and his wife attended Northampton's Edwards [[Congregational church|Congregational]] Church before and after his presidency.{{sfn|Shlaes|2013|p=91}}<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pJPeDQAAQBAJ&q=%22Edwards+congregational+church%22+Coolidge&pg=PT108|title=The Presidents & Their Faith: From George Washington to Barack Obama|last1=Grinder|first1=Darrin|last2=Shaw|first2=Steve|year= 2016|publisher=Elevate Publishing|isbn=978-1943425778|language=en}}</ref>