The Founding Fathers intended that our
religious spirit not only be remembered, but also practiced whenever we
celebrated our Nation’s Independence. This
was made clear in two letters written by John Adams to his wife, Abigail, on
the day after Congress approved the Declaration
of Independence. John’s first letter
was short and concise, jubilant that the Declaration
had been approved. His second was much
longer and more pensive, giving serious consideration to what had been done on
the previous day. Adams cautiously
predicted: “[Yesterday] will be the most memorable epoch in the history of
America. I am apt to believe that it
will be celebrated by succeeding generations as the great anniversary
festival.” On the day following the
approval of the Declaration, Adams
was already foreseeing that their actions would be celebrated by future
generations. Adams contemplated whether
it would be proper to hold such celebrations, but then concluded that the day should
be commemorated— but in a particular manner and with a specific spirit. As he told Abigail: “It ought to be
commemorated as the day of deliverance by solemn acts of devotion to God
Almighty.”
John Adams believed that the Fourth
of July should become a religious holiday— a day when the citizens remember
God’s hand of deliverance and a day filled with religious activities when we
recommit ourselves to God in “solemn acts of devotion.” Such was the religious spirit of the American
Revolution as seen through the eyes of those who led it!
Is there any benefit to looking back
and examining the American Revolution and the spirit underlying it? Perhaps the best answer to that question is
offered by President Woodrow Wilson, who noted: “A nation which does not
remember what it was yesterday, does not know what it is today, nor what it is
trying to do. We are trying to do a
futile thing if we don’t know where we have come from, or what we have been
about.”
President Lincoln understood this
truth. He had studied the spirit behind
the American Revolution, and he guided his actions by it. As he once explained: “I have never had a
feeling politically that did not spring from the sentiments embodied in the Declaration of Independence.”
In his speech on August 17, 1858,
Lincoln urged his fellow-Americans: “[M]y countrymen, if you have been taught
doctrines conflicting with the great landmarks of the Declaration of Independence, … let me entreat you to come back; …
come back to the truths that are in the Declaration
of Independence.”
It is time that we remember the
truths embodied by the “laws of nature and of nature’s God.” Our liberties must be cared for and diligently
watched over— but the source of those liberties must first be understood.
Educator and Founder Noah Webster, a
soldier during the American Revolution and a great influence in establishing
American government afterwards, summarized the source of our liberties in these
words: “[T]he religion which has introduced civil liberty is the religion of
Christ and His apostles … This is genuine Christianity and to this we owe our
free constitutions of government.”
Perpetuating American liberty
depends first upon our understanding the foundations on which this great
country was built and then preserving the principles on which it was founded. May we not let the purpose for which America
was established be forgotten. The
Founding Fathers have passed us a torch; let’s not let it be extinguished!
Rev. Dr. Kenneth L. Beale, Jr.
Chaplain (Colonel-Ret), U.S. Army
Pastor, Ft. Snelling Memorial Chapel
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