Peering down into the corridors of America's history, I see brave men and women of honor. Contrary to today's popular opinion – held as fact by many historians – the vast majority of the founders of the united States of America did indeed fear God. They, along with their families, fought for and helped the birthing of a new nation. And as with any birth, great pains came with the birth of this nation. Families suffered great losses. Fathers, brothers, and sons dying to keep America alive – fighting for our freedom. Mothers, sisters, and daughters suffered great losses. If the writer could use one word to describe America's beginnings, it would be: sacrifice.
July fourth marks a special day in the calendar of those living in the United States. On July of 1776, two hundred and thirty-three years ago, fifty-six men signed a document. Signing this document resulted in officially sparking a revolution. A revolution that would change the course of history for the land of my birth. This document entitled "The Declaration of Independence", declared independence from a government that oppressed them: the government of Great Britain.
Growing up, from elementary school to High School (except for my last year of school), I had always been taught America's founding fathers declared independence from Britain because of taxation without representation. I've been to public school, Christian private school, and home school – taxation without representation is all I remember reading about it in class from the school's curriculum. They left out a very important fact: there were twenty-seven reasons for declaring independence. Not just one.
Here are the twenty-seven reasons (if you read the entire document, you will see that the founders of America were indeed very religious). Keep in mind, the word "he" refers to the king of Britain at that time in history:
1. He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.
2. He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.
3. He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.
4. He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their Public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.
5. He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.
6. He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected, whereby the Legislative Powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.
7. He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.
8. He has obstructed the Administration of Justice by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary Powers.
9. He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.
10. He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people and eat out their substance.
11. He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.
12. He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil Power.
13. He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:
14. For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:
15. For protecting them, by a mock Trial from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:
16. For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:
17. For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:
18. For depriving us in many cases, of the benefit of Trial by Jury:
19. For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences:
20. For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies
21. For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:
22. For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.
23. He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.
24. He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.
25. He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation, and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & Perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.
26. He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.
27. He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.
Those are the twenty-seven reasons as to why America's founding fathers declared independence. In signing this document, these men put their lives on the line. Nonetheless, they were courageous.
As I write, holding these great men and women in high esteem, I hold the Creator in higher esteem. And so did many of the signers of the Declaration of Independence. I will let them speak for themselves, here are their own words:
Benjamin Rush, who in his day was considered one of the three most prominent founding fathers, also founded America's first Bible society:
Dear Sir:
It is now several months since I promised to give you my reasons for preferring the Bible as a schoolbook to all other compositions. Before I state my arguments, I shall assume the five following propositions:
1 . That Christianity is the only true and perfect religion; and that in proportion as mankind adopt its principles and obey its precepts they will be wise and happy.
2. That a better knowledge of this religion is to be acquired by reading the Bible than in any other way.
3. That the Bible contains more knowledge necessary to man in his present state than any other book in the world.
4. That knowledge is most durable, and religious instruction most useful, when imparted in early life.
5. That the Bible, when not read in schools, is seldom read in any subsequent period of life.- from a tract he wrote titled "A Defense of the Use of the Bible as a Schoolbook." Read the whole letter, it is quite fascinating to read about a prominent figure desiring the Bible in schools!
John Witherspoon, was a clergyman and president of Princeton University:
"I shall now conclude my discourse by preaching this Savior to all who hear me, and entreating you in the most earnest manner to believe in Jesus Christ, for "there is no salvation in any other". ... If you are not reconciled to God through Jesus Christ, if you are not clothed with the spotless robe of His righteousness, you must forever perish."
- Other fascinating quotes by John Witherspoon may be found here.
John Hancock, politician, well-known for leaving the biggest signature on the great document remarked:
"I have the most animating confidence that the present noble struggle for liberty will terminate gloriously for America. And let us play the man for our God, and for the cities of our God; whilst we are using the means in our power, let us humbly commit our righteous cause to the great Lord of the Universe, who loveth righteousness and hateth iniquity. And having secured the approbation of our hearts by a faithful and unwearied discharge of our duty to our country, let us joyfully leave our concerns in the hands of Him who raiseth up and pulleth down the empires and kingdoms of the world as He pleases; and with cheerful submission to His sovereign will, devoutly say, "Although the fig tree shall not blossom neither shall fruit be in the vines, the labor of the olive shall fail and the field shall yield not meat, the flock shall be cut off from the fold and there shall be no herd in the stalls, yet we will rejoice in the Lord, we will joy in the God of our salvation." [Habakkuk 3:17-18]"
- Other fascinating quotes by John Hancock may be found here.
Roger Sherman, politician and lawyer:
"I believe that there is one only living and true God, existing in three persons, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, the same in substance equal in power and glory. That the scriptures of the old and new testaments are a revelation from God and a complete rule to direct us how we may glorify and enjoy Him. ... I believe that the souls of believers are at their death made perfectly holy and immediately taken to glory: that at the end of this world there will be a resurrection of the dead and a final judgement of all mankind when the righteous shall be publically acquitted by Christ the Judge and admitted to everlasting life and glory, and the wicked be sentenced to everlasting punishment."
- United States Founding Father, Signer of the Declaration of Independence, Signer of the United States Constitution, Roger Sherman, "The Life of Roger Sherman", Lewis Henry Boutell, (Chicago: a.C. McClurg and Company, 1896), pp. 272-273
George Washington, well-known for being first President of the united States of America:
It would be peculiarly improper to omit, in this first official act, my fervent supplications to that Almighty Being who rules over the universe, who presides in the councils of nations, and whose providential aids can supply every human defect. ... No people can be bound to acknowledge and adore the Invisible Hand which conducts the affairs of men more than those of the United States. Every step by which they have advanced to the character of an independent nation seems to have been distinguished by some token of providential agency. ... We ought to be no less persuaded that the propitious smiles of Heaven can never be expected on a nation that disregards the eternal rules of order and right which Heaven itself has ordained.
- First Inaugural Address
Samuel Adams, politician:
Principally and first of all, I recommend my soul to that Almighty Being who gave it and my body I commit to the dust, relying upon the merits of Jesus Christ for a pardon of all my sins." - United States Founding Father, Signer of the Declaration of Independence, "Father of the American Revolution", Samuel Adams, "Last Will and Testament"
Patrick Henry, great patriot remembered for his words "Give me liberty or give me death!":
"This is all the inheritance I can give to my dear family. The religion of Christ can give them one which will make them rich indeed." - United States Founding Father, Patrick Henry, "Last Will and Testament"
Alexander Hamilton, military officer and lawyer:
"The attempt by the rulers of a nation to destroy all religious opinion and to pervert a whole people to atheism is a phenomenon of profligacy [act of moral depravity]. ... To establish atheism on the ruins of Christianity to deprive mankind of its best consolations and most animating hopes and to make a gloomy desert of the universe." - United States Founding Father, Signer of the Constitution, Alexander Hamilton, "The Papers of Alexander Hamilton", Harold C. Syrett, editor, (NY: Columbia University Press, 1979), Vol. XXI, pp. 402-404, "The Stand No. III", New York, April 7, 1798
This fourth of July, as I contemplate the status of my dear country, I think of how America's founders would be devastated, horrified, and mournful to see the America of 2009. God has been kicked out of the public schools, people's version of God is that of being tolerant of sin, it's legal to murder babies here, homosexuality is glorified in the schools and through other forms of influence, and the government is selfish; it's corrupt, the people are apathetic as to what is going on in the government - or are blind as to what is truly going on. The list goes on and on.
Christians, let us remember to pray that America would once again declare independence. Independence from sin and Satan and that she would return to her biblical foundations. That is something that can only be done through the power of the Holy Spirit. We're in the midst of a great spiritual battle. Repent and pray.
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All quotes after that of Benjamin Rush, were found on http://www.partyof1776.net/
*Did all the men and women of that era fear God? Of course not, but there were many in the land that did. People looked to God as being supreme. Immorality existed, but it was not rampant and glorified as it is in the America of today. There was deception going on in 1776 as there is today, but unlike today, 1776 carried many prominent public leaders that did indeed want to honor the Almighty God of the Bible.
