Dear Editor,
We are celebrating our countries 249th birthday this July. In 1776, 56 men signed the Declaration of Independence and America was born. The signers were ordinary men; they were lawyers, merchants, and farmers trying to live their lives. The majority of them were Christian; a few were Deists but all of them were knowledgeable of the Bible. Many had attended universities such as Harvard, Yale, William and Mary, plus other Ivy league schools in the various colonies. After they signed the Declaration, the British placed a bounty on each one of them. Most would experience both financial and personal loss, with only a few escaping harm. Many of them had already achieved success in life as British citizens, yet, they signed and pledged their lives, fortunes and their scared honor, knowing full well the troubles they would face and the sacrifices they would have to make. All 56 lived up to their pledge. None ever regretted their decision.
Why would these men and their families risk so much? To find the answer, we must go to an event that occurred in the Old Testament. In 1 Samuel 17, we see David visiting his brothers as the Israeli army faced the Philistines. Here David asks the people, “Is there not a cause?” The Founders made their pledge because they knew there was a cause in America. And that cause was Liberty. The spiritual renewal of the First Great Awakening was the greatest contributor to this cause. The influence of Christianity exploded in the colonies between 1740-1770. Thousands became Christians, hundreds of new churches were established and a thirst for knowledge directed people’s interest to what the Declaration would call, “self-evident Truth.” Truth, according to Biblical teaching, is what sets humans free. This truth was not a grand idea or philosophy of enlighten man. Instead, it was what was known and true, revealed to man by creation and the Bible. They called it the “Laws of Nature and Nature’s God.” A great renewing of the hearts and minds started changing people’s understanding of issues such as the value of man and the role of government. Every human is created in the image of God and therefore has value and purpose. And as image bearers, the creation has a duty to the Creator. With this duty came the individual liberties and the property needed to exercise both the duty and the proper enjoyment of the fruit of their labors. As creatures made in the image of God, no one has a right to rule over fellow man without consent. For them freedom was a gift from God. “Where the Spirit of the Lord is there is Liberty” (2 Corinthians 3:17). Any gift from God is worth taking a stand, no matter what the cost.
On July 4, 1837, John Quincy Adams gave a speech on the 61st anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. He summed up very well the motivation of the Founders. He first asked the audience, “Why is that next to the birthday of the Savior of the World, your most joyous and most venerated festival returns on this day?” He then answers his own question, “Is it not in the chain of human events, the birthday of a nation is indissolubly linked to the birthday of the Savior of the World? That it forms a leading event in the progress of the Gospel dispensation? Is it not that the declaration of independence first organized the social compact the foundation on the Redeemer’s mission upon the earth? That it laid the cornerstone of human government upon the first principles of Christianity.”
Thomas Jefferson would later say that when he wrote the Declaration of Independence, he was only expressing the hearts of the people in the colonies. The principles of self-government, natural rights and ownership of property were already woven into everyone's thinking. For the first time in human history, a people declared the rights of their Creator. Then they accused King George of violating these rights and presented their accusations to the Supreme Judge of the universe. They did not want a fight, just freedom. But if the king wanted one, then so be it. They would perform their duty and rely on Divine Providence for the outcome.
The heavens shined on the founders and a new symbol for freedom arose out of the ashes of war. During our 249 years, America has been a beacon of light shining from atop a hill. Declaring all men are created equal and endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights. Among these rights are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. An idea new to world politics, this new nation would eventually abolish slavery, elevate the human condition and raise the level of prosperity around the world.
Liberty in America is not guaranteed. Liberty is built on morality and virtue. Once a people move away from these essential pillars, the liberty is lost. In reality, America is losing the liberty it once enjoyed, exchanging it for the false ideas of socialism.
The Founders left us warnings of what would happen if a generation fails to teach liberty to the next:
“Can the liberties of a nation thought secure when we have removed their firm basis, a conviction in the minds of the people that these liberties are the gift of God?” Thomas Jefferson asked.
“Bad men cannot make good citizens. It is when a people forget God that tyrants forge their chains,” Patrick Henry said.
Hopefully, the current generation will heed their warnings.
Richard Culliver
Improve
