As we celebrate the 249th anniversary of American Independence, it seems only fitting to remember and celebrate how God birthed this nation, conceived and established on the eternal principles of His Word.
Before we ever sought to be liberated from British rule, our hearts and minds were liberated from sin. The First Great Awakening, a revival that swept the colonies from c.1735-1775, was foundational in preparing Americans with the Biblical character and worldview necessary for independence and self-government.
As French political philosopher Alexis de Tocqueville wrote in his book, Democracy in America, “Americans combine the notions of Christianity and of liberty so intimately in their minds that it is impossible to make them conceive the one without the other….Upon my arrival in the United States, the religious aspect of the country was the first thing that struck my attention; and the longer I stayed there, the more did I perceive the great political consequences resulting from this state of things, to which I was unaccustomed. In France I had almost always seen the spirit of religion and the spirit of freedom pursuing courses diametrically opposed to each other; but in America I found that they were intimately united, and that they reigned in common over the same country.”
The application of these Biblical principles led the colonists to model local government after the standards of God’s Word and to advocate for justice with the British government. For example, Biblical teaching on protections for private property and prohibitions against theft led to slogans like “no taxation without representation.” For years, the colonists peacefully petitioned the British government and tirelessly sought remediation of their grievances. However, amid deep divisions in the British parliament, these efforts met with little success.
Patrick Henry, the great Virginia statesman, wrote of the passage of the Stamp Act, “After a long and warm contest, the resolutions passed by a very small majority, perhaps of one or two only. The alarm spread throughout America with astonishing quickness, and the ministerial party were overwhelmed. The great point of resistance to British taxation was universally established in the colonies. This brought on the war, which finally separated the two countries, and gave independence to ours. Whether this will prove a blessing or a curse, will depend upon the use our people make of the blessings which a gracious God hath bestowed on us. If they are wise, they will be great and happy. If they are of a contrary character, they will be miserable. Righteousness alone can exalt them as a nation. Reader! whoever thou art, remember this; and in thy sphere, practice virtue thyself, and encourage it in others.” (“Patrick Henry, Life, Correspondence and Speeches,: Vol. 1”, by William Wirt, 1891, pg. 58.)
To the colonists, the actions of the British government constituted an affront on the biblical precepts society was built on. Depriving the colonists of property was an injustice; depriving them of life was a greater one. Samuel Adams, the founder of the Sons of Liberty, published a pamphlet explaining it this way:
“The natural rights of the colonists are these: first, a right to life; secondly, to liberty; thirdly, to property; together with the right to support and defend them in the best manner they can….The rights of the colonists as Christians…may be best understood by reading and carefully studying the institutes of the great Law Giver and Head of the Christian Church, which are to be found clearly written and promulgated in the New Testament.” (Samuel Adams, “The Rights of the Colonists,” Old South Leaflets, No. 173)
Amid escalating tensions between the colonists and their British overlords, in 1773, Parliament passed the Tea Act, taxing tea. The colonists objected and “refused to buy English tea. Consequently, it began to pile up in warehouses in England. Merchants petitioned the Parliament to do something about this. Parliament’s response was to vote to subsidize the tea and make it cheap, thinking the colonists would then buy it.
Benjamin Franklin observed, ‘They have no idea that any people can act from any other principle but that of interest; and they believe that three pence on a pound of tea, of which one does not perhaps drink ten pounds in a year, is sufficient to overcome all the patriotism of an American.’
Our Founders were men of principle. They reasoned and acted from principles that were rooted in the Bible. It was not money but principles that motivated the colonists. The attempt of England to tax them without their consent violated the principle of property. The Americans refused to buy the tea even though it was cheap.
However, the British did not care that the tea placed in the harbor belonged to the patriots, not the Crown. Fearful of growing civil unrest, the British responded with a series of sanctions against the patriots of Boston and surrounding areas, forcing them to feed and house Redcoat Regulars sent to enforce the King’s will. Blockades and others punishments were put in place–but the patriots were not to be so easily silenced. Neighboring communities and colonies understood that a threat to the liberty of some threatened the liberty of all, and collaborative efforts began where the colonists sought to respond with Biblically-informed wisdom.
When the Continental Congress first met at Carpenters’ Hall in Philadelphia, they agreed to open each session by seeking the Lord. The first session then opened in prayer from Reverend Duché, who after prayer, proceeded to read the whole of Psalm 35:
1 Plead my cause, O Lord, with them that strive with me: fight against them that fight against me.
2 Take hold of shield and buckler, and stand up for mine help.
3 Draw out also the spear, and stop the way against them that persecute me: say unto my soul, I am thy salvation.
4 Let them be confounded and put to shame that seek after my soul: let them be turned back and brought to confusion that devise my hurt.
5 Let them be as chaff before the wind: and let the angel of the Lord chase them.
6 Let their way be dark and slippery: and let the angel of the Lord persecute them.
7 For without cause have they hid for me their net in a pit, which without cause they have digged for my soul.
8 Let destruction come upon him at unawares; and let his net that he hath hid catch himself: into that very destruction let him fall.
9 And my soul shall be joyful in the Lord: it shall rejoice in his salvation.
10 All my bones shall say, Lord, who is like unto thee, which deliverest the poor from him that is too strong for him, yea, the poor and the needy from him that spoileth him?
11 False witnesses did rise up; they laid to my charge things that I knew not.
12 They rewarded me evil for good to the spoiling of my soul.
13 But as for me, when they were sick, my clothing was sackcloth: I humbled my soul with fasting; and my prayer returned into mine own bosom.
14 I behaved myself as though he had been my friend or brother: I bowed down heavily, as one that mourneth for his mother.
15 But in mine adversity they rejoiced, and gathered themselves together: yea, the abjects gathered themselves together against me, and I knew it not; they did tear me, and ceased not:
16 With hypocritical mockers in feasts, they gnashed upon me with their teeth.
17 Lord, how long wilt thou look on? rescue my soul from their destructions, my darling from the lions.
18 I will give thee thanks in the great congregation: I will praise thee among much people.
19 Let not them that are mine enemies wrongfully rejoice over me: neither let them wink with the eye that hate me without a cause.
20 For they speak not peace: but they devise deceitful matters against them that are quiet in the land.
21 Yea, they opened their mouth wide against me, and said, Aha, aha, our eye hath seen it.
22 This thou hast seen, O Lord: keep not silence: O Lord, be not far from me.
23 Stir up thyself, and awake to my judgment, even unto my cause, my God and my Lord.
24 Judge me, O Lord my God, according to thy righteousness; and let them not rejoice over me.
25 Let them not say in their hearts, Ah, so would we have it: let them not say, We have swallowed him up.
26 Let them be ashamed and brought to confusion together that rejoice at mine hurt: let them be clothed with shame and dishonour that magnify themselves against me.
27 Let them shout for joy, and be glad, that favour my righteous cause: yea, let them say continually, Let the Lord be magnified, which hath pleasure in the prosperity of his servant.
28 And my tongue shall speak of thy righteousness and of thy praise all the day long
As the colonists earnestly and humbly sought the Lord, local congregations led by heroic pastors began to prepare to pay the cost of uncompromising obedience to God and His Word. According to Wallbuilders, “About seven months after the first Continental Congress met in Philadelphia, Paul Revere set out on his famous ride to warn the colonists, and in particular two leaders of the “rebellion,” Samuel Adams and John Hancock, that the British were coming. He knew precisely where to find them–at the home of Rev. Jonas Clark in Lexington. Rev. Clark had for some time been teaching his church and prominent men of Massachusetts Biblical ideas of liberty. He had also prepared his parishioners to defend themselves if necessary. After being warned that British troops were on the way, he was asked if the people of Lexington would fight. He replied, ‘I have trained them for this very hour.’ The shot that was heard around the world took place on the morning of April 19, 1775. Fighting began on the lawn of Rev. Clark’s church, and it was his parishioners who died that day. Upon seeing them slain he declared, ‘From this day will be dated the liberty of the world!’ “
With war now being fought in their front yards and town squares, the colonists could have pursued any number of courses. Civil war, regime change, or many other options would have been easier than their unprecedented action–to declare themselves a free and independent nation.
“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.“
Read the full text of the Declaration of Independence here.
Declaring independence did not mean we were free; words had to be backed up sacrificial action. Years of war and tremendous sacrifice by the signers of the Declaration and their families was the downpayment required to secure our nation’s freedom.
Historians estimate that some 70,000 patriots gave their life for the cause of liberty during the War for Independence. As John Adams wrote, “Posterity! You will never know, how much it cost the present Generation, to preserve your Freedom!” Read more about the extraordinary sacrifice of the Signers of the Declaration and their families here: https://www.dailysignal.com/…/the-sacrifices-made-by…/
The battle for Independence didn’t end when the Revolutionary War ended. In fact, some would say it was just beginning. To live in liberty, we had to figure out how to be keepers of our liberty. What laws would preserve liberty? What did it look like to live in freedom? The Northwest Land Ordinance of 1787 was one of the first documents to help answer that question, and like the Declaration, the principles it is based on are found in the Bible. As John Adams said, “It is religion and morality alone which can establish the principles upon which freedom can securely stand.
“We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.” -Preamble, United States Constitution…
The story of our Constitution is equally incredible. Men informed by the principles of God’s Word who daily sought His Wisdom and aid drafted the most extraordinary, long-lasting governing document in the history of the world to limit the power of government while preserving and protecting individual, God-given liberties.
It was the War of 1812 that inspired Francis Scott Key to compose the “Star Spangled Banner.” We invite you to read all four verses, as he originally wrote them:
O say can you see, by the dawn’s early light,
What so proudly we hail’d at the twilight’s last gleaming, Whose broad stripes and bright stars through the perilous fight O’er the ramparts we watch’d were so gallantly streaming? And the rocket’s red glare, the bomb bursting in air,
Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there,
O say does that star-spangled banner yet wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave?
On the shore dimly seen through the mists of the deep Where the foe’s haughty host in dread silence reposes, What is that which the breeze, o’er the towering steep, As it fitfully blows, half conceals, half discloses? Now it catches the gleam of the morning’s first beam, In full glory reflected now shines in the stream,
‘Tis the star-spangled banner – O long may it wave O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave!
And where is that band who so vauntingly swore,
That the havoc of war and the battle’s confusion
A home and a Country should leave us no more?
Their blood has wash’d out their foul footstep’s pollution. No refuge could save the hireling and slave
From the terror of flight or the gloom of the grave, And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave.
O thus be it ever when freemen shall stand
Between their lov’d home and the war’s desolation!
Blest with vict’ry and peace may the heav’n rescued land Praise the power that hath made and preserv’d us a nation! Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,
And this be our motto – “In God is our trust,”
And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave.
Did you know that YOU play a vital role in the story of our nation’s independence?
Each one of us, as citizens, have a role to play as stewards of the liberty that has been entrusted to us. Each of us is called to be salt and light and carry Christ to this nation and the world (Matthew 15, Matthew 28).
Not sure where to start? To learn more about being an engaged Christian Citizen, visit our website saltlightglobal.org or message us at info@saltlightglobal.org!
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