The Independence of a Judeo-Christian nation...

On July 4, 1776, fifty-six of our Founding Fathers signed the Declaration of Independence. In doing so, thirteen states formed a free American nation separate from that of Great Britain:

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.



The Declaration of Independence was authored primarily by Thomas Jefferson and signed at Independence Hall in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. (P.I.C. even once visited Independence Hall.)

In my continuing studies of our Founding Fathers and the idea that the United States of America was founded as a Judeo-Christian nation, I have included a few more quotes from our Founding Fathers. This idea goes all the way back (at the very least) to the Pilgrims and the Mayflower Compact. (Click the "Christianity" and "History" Label links for further quotations.)




-George Washington (1752, Part of a prayer written in Washington's prayer journal):

Let me live according to those holy rules which Thou hast this day prescribed in Thy Holy Word…direct me to the true object, Jesus Christ, the way, the truth, and the life. Bless, O Lord, all the people of this land.




-Thomas Jefferson (April 21, 1803, In a letter written to Dr. Benjamin Rush):

My views... are the result of a life of inquiry and reflection, and very different from the anti-Christian system imputed to me by those who know nothing of my opinions. To the corruptions of Christianity I am indeed opposed, but not to the genuine precepts of Jesus Himself. I am a Christian in the only sense in which He wished anyone to be, sincerely attached to His doctrines in preference to all others.




-John Adams (October 11, 1798, A message to the Officers of the First Brigade of the Third Division of the Militia of Massachusetts.):

We have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion. Avarice, ambition, revenge, or gallantry, would break the strongest cords of our Constitution as a whale goes through a net. Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.

Speak freely...

-George Washington (March 15, 1783):

If the freedom of speech is taken away, then dumb and silent we may be led, like sheep to the slaughter.



-Thomas Jefferson (1823):

The only security of all is in a free press. The force of public opinion cannot be resisted when permitted freely to be expressed. The agitation it produces must be submitted to. It is necessary, to keep the waters pure.

National Day of Prayer…

In honor of today, the National Day of Prayer, I’m posting excerpts from speeches and writings of three of America’s founding fathers…



-George Washington's Thanksgiving Proclamation (October 3, 1789, New York, NY):

Whereas it is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits, and humbly to implore His protection and favor; and Whereas both Houses of Congress have, by their joint committee, requested me to recommend to the people of the United States a day of public thanksgiving and prayer, to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many and signal favors of Almighty God, especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness.



-Benjamin Franklin’s Constitutional Convention Address on Prayer (June 28, 1787, Philadelphia, PA):

I have lived, Sir, a long time and the longer I live, the more convincing proofs I see of this truth-- that God governs in the affairs of men. And if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without his notice, is it probable that an empire can rise without his aid? We have been assured, Sir, in the sacred writings that "except the Lord build they labor in vain that build it." I firmly believe this; and I also believe that without his concurring aid we shall succeed in this political building no better than the Builders of Babel: We shall be divided by our little partial local interests; our projects will be confounded, and we ourselves shall be become a reproach and a bye word down to future age. And what is worse, mankind may hereafter this unfortunate instance, despair of establishing Governments by Human Wisdom, and leave it to chance, war, and conquest.



-Thomas Jefferson’s "Notes on the State of Virginia" (1781):

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 of the gift of God? That they are not to be violated but with his wrath? Indeed I tremble for my country when reflect that God is just: that his justice cannot sleep forever: that considering numbers, nature and natural means only, a revolution of the wheel of fortune, an exchange of situation, is among possible events: that it may become probable by supernatural interference! The Almighty has no attribute which can take side with us in such a contest.-- But it is impossible to be temperate and to pursue this subject through the various considerations of policy, of morals, of history natural and civil. We must be contented to hope they will force their way into every one's mind. I think a change already perceptible, since the origin of the present revolution. The spirit of the master is abating, that of the slave rising from the dust, his condition mollifying, the way I hope preparing, under the auspices of heaven, for a total emancipation, and that this is disposed, in the order of events, to be with the consent of the masters, rather than by their extirpation.