The Paths of Our Founding Fathers

A total of 52 of our 55 founding fathers who had a role in producing the Constitution—most of whom also worked on the Bill of Rights—were committed members of either Orthodox or Evangelical Christian churches.

To understand their hearts and what they had in mind for America, let’s look at some of the things they said during this founding era. Let’s start with Patrick Henry. He said:

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.

Our sixth president, John Quincy Adams, said in a speech given on the Fourth of July in 1837:

What is it that, next to the birthday of the Savior of the world (your most joyous and venerated festival,) returns on this day? Is it not that in the chain of human events the birthday of the nation is indissolubly linked with the birthday of the Savior? 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 on the foundation of the Redeemer’s mission upon earth? That it laid the cornerstone of human government upon the first precepts of Christianity?

John Jay, the first chief justice of the Supreme Court and one of the three men most responsible for our Constitution said this:

Providence has given to our people the choice of their rulers. It is the duty, as well as the privilege and interest, of our Christian nation to select and prefer Christians for their rulers.

George Washington’s farewell address is yet another example of the intent of our founding fathers. He said this:

Of all dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports. In vain would that man claim the tribute of patriotism who should labor to subvert these great pillars….

There are literally hundreds of such quotations from our founding fathers that make it seem as if they were all cut from the same spiritual cloth, but let’s also take a more secular look at the question of our origin as a nation.

For ten years, the University of Houston’s Political Science department researched over 15,000 writings from this nation’s founding era looking for the sources of the ideas, philosophies, and principles behind our Constitution and the Bill of Rights. They uncovered 3,154 quotes used by our founding fathers for which they could find an identifiable source.

Baron Charles D. Montesque’s writings were quoted 8.3% of the time; Sir William Blackstone was quoted7.9% and 2.9% of the 3,154 quotes came from John Locke.

Guess how many of the quotations used by our founding fathers were directly from the Bible? 34%!

Not stopping there, Montesque’s, Blackstone’s, and Locke’s quotes were also traced back to their sources; 60% of those were derived from the Bible.

These particular scholars came face-to-face with the fact that nearly half of the source material used in the development of our Constitution and Bill of Rights came either directly or indirectly from the Bible.

This Independence Day, let’s remember that our nation was founded on the principles, standards, and truths of the Word of God. Let’s pray and agree together that America would return to her roots.

God bless America!