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America's Godly Foundation
Quotes of the Founders
All 50 States Acknowledge God in Preamble
Amendment
According To The Founder's...
"We have this day restored the Sovereign to Whom all men ought to be obedient. He reigns in heaven and from the rising to the setting of the sun - let His Kingdom come"
Samuel Adams
Father of the Revolution
[Adams made the above statement as the Declaration of Independence was being signed]
"We have no government armed with the power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion... Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other."
John Adams
"It can not be emphasized too strongly or too often that this great nation was founded, not by religionists, but by Christians; not on religions, but on the Gospel of Jesus Christ."
Patrick Henry
According to the Supreme Courts Justices...
"... Providence has given to our people the choice of their rulers, and it is the duty as well as the privilege and interest of our Christian nation to select and prefer Christians for their rulers."
"National prosperity can neither be obtained nor preserved without the favor of Providence."
John Jay
first Chief Justice to the U.S. Supreme Court
"The people of this State, in common with the people of this country, profess the general doctrines of Christianity, as the rule of their faith and practice ... We are a Christian people, and the morality of the country is deeply engrafted upon Christianity, and not upon the doctrines or worship of those impostors [other religions] ... It is also said, and truly, that the Christian religion is a part of the common law ... proven by the volume of unofficial declarations to the mass of utterances that this is a Christian nation. We find everywhere a clear recognition of this same truth."
Chancellor Kent
the great commentator on American law,
Chief Justice to the Supreme Court of New York
According to the Supreme Court(s)...
"Our laws and our institutions must necessarily be based upon the teachings of the Redeemer of mankind. It is impossible that it should be otherwise; and in this sense and to this extent, our civilization and our institutions are emphatically Christian."
"No purpose of action against religion can be imputed to any legislation (State or National) because this is a religious people ... this is a Christian nation."
United Sates Supreme Court - 1892
"We are a religious people whose institutions presuppose a Supreme Being ... When the state encourages religious instruction or cooperates with religious authorities by adjusting the schedule of public events to sectarian needs, it follows the best of our traditions. For it then respects religious nature of our people and accommodates the public service to their spiritual needs. To hold that it may not would be to find in the Constitution a requirement that the government show a callous indifference to religious groups. That would be preferring those who believe in no religion over those who do believe ... We find no Constitutional requirement which makes it necessary for government to be hostile to religion to and to throw it's weight against efforts to widen the effective scope of religious influence."
United States Supreme Court - 1952
"Christianity is a part of the common law of the land, with liberty of conscience to all. It has always been so recognized ... if Christianity is a part of the common reference to the principles of right and wrong ... it is the foundation of those morals and manners upon which our society is formed; it is there basis. Remove this and they would fall."
South Carolina Supreme Court
Patrick Henry cautioned; "We are apt to shut our eyes against a painful truth …For my part, whatever anguish of the spirit it may cost, I am willing to know the whole truth; to know the worst; and to prepare for it." As we near this nation’s celebration of Independence there are three truths that need to be told. First, We are not supposed to be a democracy; we are supposed to be a Constitutional Republic. Second, We find ourselves today a secular society but we were formed as a Christian nation. Third, Americans have been taught to believe the concept that "a wall of separation of church and State" exists between religion and government. The truth is our founding fathers did not want any one Christian church to be preferred (have power) over another. Religion was fundamental to every aspect of life. They did not want religion out of government—they wanted government out of religion!
America is prosperous, powerful and leader of the free world because of the principles upon which she was founded. These principles are America’s heritage. Because knowledge of our heritage is being lost, America is losing her way. We are fast becoming a socialist nation surrendering the principles and freedom upon which our nation is based.
What is the source of these principles for the American Republic? According to Noah Webster, who defined the meaning of words used in our founding documents: "Our citizens should early understand that the genuine source of correct republican principles is the Bible, particularly the New Testament." Jedediah Moore, another noted educator, added this: "Whenever the pillars of Christianity shall be overthrown, our present republican forms of government and all the blessings which flow from them, must fall with them."
Politicians, professors, and news commentators constantly remind us of our wonderful ‘democracy’, but our founding documents call us a ‘constitutional republic’. Why did our founding fathers create a ‘republic’ rather than a ‘democracy’? John Adams, America’s second President tells us, "Remember, democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts, and murders itself. There never was a democracy yet that did not commit suicide." Benjamin Rush, another signer of the Constitution stated, "A simple democracy is one of the greatest of evils." The founders remembered that most infamous democratic vote in history when the ‘will of the people’ cried – "Crucify Him." This would not have happened in a Republic because a Republic is ‘rule of law’ not the rule of the mob.
A republican form of government is where citizens elect representatives who will then pass the laws by which we are to be governed. In forming our republic the framers of the Constitution cited nearly 15,000 references, but the three main reference sources were: the King James Bible - Spirit Of The Laws, by Baron Charles Montesquieu and - Commentaries On The Laws Of England, by Sir William Blackstone. All three identify the ‘rule of law’ as "Principles that do not change". The rule of law was based on ‘natural law’, which is the law God gave His people through the Bible and the Ten Commandments. Taking from Isaiah 33:22, "God is our King, God is our lawgiver, God is our Judge"- the founders gave us the very formation of our government – thus the Executive, the Legislative and Judicial branches. Historians are now beginning to realize that the Bible is the basis for our American system of Jurisprudence and Constitution.
Lastly, there is no "Wall of separation of church and state". That phrase is not found anywhere in our founding documents. When signing the Declaration of Independence, Samuel Adams, the father of the Revolution declared; "We have this day restored the Sovereign to Whom all men ought to be obedient. He reigns in Heaven and from the rising to the setting of the sun – let His Kingdom come." James Madison, the father of the Constitution said, "We have staked the whole future of American civilization, not upon the power of government, far from it…but upon the capacity of mankind for self government; upon the capacity of each and all of us to govern ourselves, to control ourselves, to sustain ourselves according to The Ten Commandments of God."
In the immortal words of Patrick Henry: "It cannot be emphasized too strongly or too often that this great nation was founded, not by religionists, but by Christians; not on religions, but on the Gospel of Jesus Christ". John Adams, our second President said, "The general principles on which the fathers achieved independence were … the general principles of Christianity … now I will avow that I then believed, and now believe, that those general principles of Christianity are as eternal and immutable as the existence and attributes of God … I could therefore safely say … that I believe they (the people) would never make discoveries in contradiction to these general principles."
Historical information from 1776 gives us the following facts. 98% of the people then in America professed themselves to be Protestant Christians; 1.8 % declared themselves to be Roman Catholic Christians; and only two- tenths of one percent said they were of the Jewish faith. Christianity was basically the only religion in America. Thomas Jefferson called the Bible the cornerstone for American liberty and wanted it placed in our schools as the light that should lead the way.
In 1846 the Supreme Court of South Carolina declared – "Christianity is a part of the common law of the land, with liberty of conscience to all. It has always been so recognized… it is the foundation of those morals and manners upon which our society is formed; it is their basis. Remove this and they would fall. The U.S. Supreme Court in 1892 ruled – "Our laws and institutions must necessarily be based upon the teachings of the Redeemer of Mankind. It is impossible that it should be otherwise; and in this sense and to this extent our civilization and our institutions are emphatically Christian." Again the Supreme Court in 1952 stated – "We are a religious people whose institutions all presuppose a Supreme Being …".
Our Founding Fathers Were Christians with a fervent love for the Gospel of Jesus Christ!
George Washington: His personal prayer book, written in his own handwriting, declares continual fidelity to the Lord Jesus Christ: "O most Glorious God, in Jesus Christ my merciful and loving Father, I acknowledge and confess my guilt, in the weak and imperfect performance of the duties of this day."
John Marshall: Chief Justice of the Supreme Court described Washington: "Without making ostentatious professions of religion, he was a sincere believer in the Christian faith, and a truly devout man."
The Continental Congress, on September 11, 1777, recommended and approved that the Committee of Commerce "import 20,000 Bibles from Holland, Scotland, or elsewhere," because of the great need of the American people and the great shortage caused by the interruption of trade with England by the Revolutionary War.
John Adams: On March 6, 1789, President Adams called for a national day of fasting and prayer so that the nation might "call to mind our numerous offenses against the most high God, confess them before Him with the sincerest penitence, implore his pardoning mercy, through the Great Mediator and Redeemer, for our past transgression, and that through the grace of His Holy Spirit, we may be disposed and enabled to yield a more suitable obedience. . ."
John Quincy Adams: "The highest glory of the American Revolution was this; it connected in one indissoluble bond the principles of civil government with the principles of Christianity." (July 4, 1821)
John Jay: First Chief Justice of the U. S. Supreme Court: "Unto Him who is the author and giver of all good, I render sincere and humble thanks for His manifold and unmerited blessings, and especially for our redemption and salvation by His beloved Son."
Patrick Henry: In a letter to his sister Anne: "My heart is full. Perhaps I may never see you in this world. O may we meet in heaven, to which the merits of Jesus will carry those who love and serve Him."
George Mason: "Father" of the Bill of Rights; "My soul I resign into the hands of my Almighty Creator, whose tender mercies are all over His works, who hateth nothing that He hath made, and to the justice and wisdom of whose dispensations I willingly and cheerfully submit, humbly hoping from His unbounded mercy and benevolence, through the merits of my blessed Savior, a remission of my sins".
James Madison: "Chief Architect" of the U. S. Constitution, wrote in the margin of his Bible, "Christ's Divinity appears by St. John chapter XX, 2; 'And Thomas answered and said unto Him, my Lord and my God!' Resurrection testified to and witnessed by the Apostles, Acts IV, 33."
The First Act of Congress following their agreement of the precise wording of the First Amendment (Congress shall make no law concerning the establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof...) was to ask President Washington to declare a national day of fasting and prayer!
Constitution of the State of Delaware: Art. XXII Every person who shall be chosen a member of either house, or appointed to any office or place of trust... shall...make and subscribe the following declaration, to wit: "I, do profess faith in God the Father and in Jesus Christ His only Son, and in the Holy Ghost, one God, blessed for evermore and I do acknowledge the holy scriptures of the Old and New Testament to be given by divine inspiration."
United States Supreme Court: Church of the Holy Trinity v. United States, 1892, 143 US 457, "These, and many other matters which might be noticed, add a volume of unofficial declarations to the mass of organic utterances that this is a Christian nation." (p.471) [This U. S. Supreme Court opinion includes a lengthy and detailed record of the historic evidences of America's Christian heritage.]
These quotations are representative of many which support the facts; that this is supposed to be a Constitutional Republic - based entirely upon Christian principles – with no separation of Church and State. Since our very form of government and legal system were formed from, and based on, God’s natural law and the Bible, then how can we separate church from State? We cannot. The heart cannot be removed from the body without the death of that body. Unfortunately and to our shame, none of this is being taught in our schools today. We will either educate our children to be the enemies of freedom and independence - as we are currently doing – or, we can educated them in the truths and visions of our Founding Fathers – raising future patriots for America.
It is evident that God blessed this country from its inception, yet not condoning acts such as the Civil War and all the atrocities associated with it. There have been a lot of mistakes committed in this country's history and understandably so when considering the fact that governments of all mankind are fallible in that sense. This great country however has allowed in the recent past minority groups and special interest groups to propel their morbid and perverse doctrines on society in the name of tolerance. In doing so this country and its government has turned its back on the principles and morals that were used to implement this society from its birth. Therefore, it is my conviction that this country is quickly moving out of God's grace and protective care and is fast approaching judgment as other nations have in the Biblical accounts. There is no justification for what has happened and we can only expect the just reprisal for what we have allowed to happen to this country and its government and society.
The Godly men that formed and shaped this country and its government and all the founding documents that it was derived from knew the importance of Biblical standards. They knew that as Christians we are to be the lights to the world and most especially our own country. They understood that the lost would live exactly that way and they expected nothing less from them. Somewhere in the last twenty five to thirty years we have lost site of that knowledge and replaced it with compromise and tolerance of the enemy taking over our government and society. As Christians we have placed our lights under a bushel just as we were instructed not to do. As a result we are experiencing everyday the price for that error. Another Biblical precedent says that "we reap what we sow" and because we have not fought for the truth and shined the light in the darkness as we were told we now have a defunct society to live with. Only when Christians wake up to the reality of this situation and take a stand and start fighting for our freedoms to recover we have no one else to blame for our situation. May God help up all to see what is needed and give us the conviction and fortitude to do it.
Adam Bartlett
Bible Headquarters
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