As we celebrate the 250th anniversary of the United States of America, I decided to list quotes showing how our founders were influenced by their faith. I asked AI to find as many quotes as it could, so I could compile them for this article. It presented me with a bit of a problem: Someone else has already done that compilation.
Here is a link to the list by wallbuilders.com of quotes from the signers of the Declaration of Independence. The entire site is devoted to helping people “discover the true story of America and our Biblical foundation.” And here’s another list, this one from Christian Heritage Fellowship, another site with that same mission. Well, there goes my article! What will I write about now? 🤔
I still want to honor the faith of our founding fathers. So I have put together a list of my favorite quotes, with some categories by topic. Here goes….
Christian faith in general
“Here is my Creed. I believe in one God, the Creator of the Universe. That He governs it by His Providence… That the most acceptable service we render to Him is doing good to His other children.” (Benjamin Franklin, letter to Ezra Stiles, 1790)
“I give and recommend my soul into the hands of God that gave it… nothing doubting but at the general resurrection I shall receive the same again by the mercy and power of God.” (John Hancock, from his will)
“My only hope of salvation is in the infinite, transcendent love of God manifested to the world by the death of His Son upon the cross.” (Benjamin Rush, autobiography, 1813)
“I believe that there is one only living and true God, existing in three persons, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost…” (Roger Sherman, letter to Samuel Hopkins, 1790)
“I subscribe to the entire belief of the great and leading doctrines of the Christian religion… the divinity of the person and the completeness of the redemption purchased by the blessed Savior.” (Richard Stockton, from his will)
“I commit my soul into the hands of God, its great and benevolent author.” (Josiah Bartlett, from his will)
“I rely upon the merits of Jesus Christ for a pardon of all my sins.” (Samuel Adams, from his will)
“Through various scenes of life, God has sustained me. May He ever be my unfailing friend; may His love cherish my soul; may my heart with gratitude acknowledge His goodness…” (Oliver Wolcott, letter to his wife, 1776)
Dependence on Providence, and gratitude for victory given
“The hand of Providence has been so conspicuous in all this, that he must be worse than an infidel that lacks faith…” (George Washington, letter on the Revolutionary War)
“In this situation of this Assembly, groping as it were in the dark to find political truth… how has it happened, Sir, that we have not hitherto once thought of humbly applying to the Father of lights to illuminate our understandings?
In the beginning of the Contest with G. Britain, when we were sensible of danger, we had daily prayer in this room for the divine protection. Our prayers, Sir, were heard, and they were graciously answered. All of us who were engaged in the struggle must have observed frequent instances of a superintending providence in our favor.
To that kind providence we owe this happy opportunity…
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 the House 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…”
I therefore beg leave to move — that henceforth prayers imploring the assistance of Heaven, and its blessings on our deliberations, be held in this Assembly every morning…” (Benjamin Franklin, Constitutional Convention, 1787)
“I do not believe that the Constitution was the offspring of inspiration, but I am as satisfied that it is as much the work of a Divine Providence as any of the miracles recorded in the Old and New Testament.” (Benjamin Rush, on the U.S. Constitution)
“It is impossible for the man of pious reflection not to perceive in it [the success of the Convention] a finger of that Almighty hand which has been so frequently and signally extended to our relief in the critical stages of the Revolution.” (James Madison, Federalist Paper #37)
“We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions…
And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.” (Declaration of Independence)
Need for faith and virtue for success as a nation
“Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.” (John Adams, letter to officers of 1st Brigade, 3rd Division, Militia of Massachusetts, 1798)
“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.” (George Washington, from his Thanksgiving Proclamation, 1789)
“God who gave us life gave us liberty. 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 I reflect that God is just; that His justice cannot sleep forever…” (Thomas Jefferson, Notes on the State of Virginia, Query XVIII, 1787)
“He is the best friend to American liberty, who is most sincere and active in promoting true and undefiled religion, and who sets himself with the greatest firmness to bear down profanity and immorality of every kind.” (John Witherspoon, “The Works of the Reverend John Witherspoon”, 1802)
“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, 1772)
“Without morals a republic cannot subsist any length of time; they therefore who are decrying the Christian religion, whose morality is so sublime and pure… are undermining the solid foundation of morals, the best security for the duration of free governments.” (Charles Carroll, letter to James McHenry, 1802)
“A popular government cannot flourish without virtue in the people.” (Richard Henry Lee, letter to Mortin Pickett, 1786)
“The genuine source of correct republican principles is the Bible, particularly the New Testament or the Christian religion.” (Charles Thomson)
Need for Christian education
“The only foundation for a useful education in a republic is to be laid in religion. Without this there can be no virtue, and without virtue there can be no liberty, and liberty is the object and life of all republican governments.” (Benjamin Rush, “Thoughts Upon the Mode of Education Proper in a Republic”, 1786)
“Let the children who are sent to those schools be taught to read and write… [and] above all, let both sexes be carefully instructed in the principles and obligations of the Christian religion. This is the most essential part of education.” (Benjamin Rush, on public schools, 1791)
“We profess to be republicans, and yet we neglect the only means of establishing and perpetuating our republican forms of government, that is, the universal education of our youth in the principles of Christianity, by means of the Bible.” (Benjamin Rush)
“The Bible…should be read in our schools in preference to all other books because it contains the greatest portion of that kind of knowledge which is calculated to produce private and public happiness.” (Benjamin Rush, A Defense of the Use of the Bible as a Schoolbook, 1791)
“Education is useless without the Bible.” (Noah Webster)
“In my view, the Christian religion is the most important and one of the first things in which all children, under a free government ought to be instructed.” (Noah Webster)
“Should not the Bible regain the place it once held as a schoolbook? Its moral precepts are… the best that have ever been taught.” (Fisher Ames)
Not a Christian nation, but a nation founded by Christians
No nation — or any other group of people — can truly be called “Christian”. That term is reserved for individuals who have chosen to accept the salvation that Christ offers. But that does not negate the fact that the United States would not exist as a nation, and certainly not as the great nation it has been for two-and-a-half centuries, if not for the Christ-centered men who founded it. They declared independence from Great Britain while trusting in God. They saw His hand in the battles they won. They depended on His wisdom to draft a Constitution governing a republic that was the first of its kind ever in the history of the world.
And, they told us that it is only by continuing as “one nation under God“, and teaching future generations to do so, that our government “of the people, by the people, for the people” can endure. As we celebrate the past 250 years, I pray that we, along with all 342 million of our fellow citizens, will heed that lesson.
I’ll end with a couple of song links to the classic hymn “Faith of our Fathers”. The first is accompanied by images of the men quoted above. The second is sung by a new generation that is carrying that torch forward.
Happy Independence Day!
Note: The article “The God Who Acts” has more examples of God’s providence during the settling and founding our nation.