America's
Biblical FoundationHistory and Facts that cannot be changed.
See also: American Heritage
EarsToHear.net
He That Has Ears To Hear, Let Him Hear
(Matthew 11:15-30)
Challenging both secular wisdom and religious doctrines. - Will our descendants know moral virtue?
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America's
Biblical Foundation
History and Facts that cannot be
changed.
See also: American Heritage
American Minute for July 15th: The Continental Congress was evacuating Philadelphia as the British had just won the Battle of Brandywine, forcing Washington's troops to retreat to Valley Forge. In addition, Congress was informed that the war had interrupted trade with the King's authorized printers in England, thereby causing a shortage of Bibles, commonly used in education. The Continental Congress voted September 11, 1777, to import Bibles from Scotland or Holland into different parts of the Union, stating: "The use of the Bible is so universal and its importance so great...it was resolved accordingly to direct said Committee of Commerce to import 20,000 copies of the Bible." Five years later, September 10, 1782, the Continental Congress again responded to the shortage of Bibles by authorizing the publisher of The Pennsylvania Magazine, Robert Aitken, who died JULY 15, 1802, to print America's first English language Bible- "A neat edition of the Holy Scriptures for the use of schools." Congress stated: "Resolved, That the United States in Congress assembled highly approve the...undertaking of Mr. Aitken...and...recommend this edition of the Bible to the inhabitants of the United States, and hereby authorize him to publish this recommendation."
As a deeply disturbed constituent of Senator's
Kennedy and
Kerry, and Representative
John Olver, I have repeatedly asked
all three to enlighten me as to their foundation, their basis for determining
the boundaries of how civil, "unalienable Rights" are to be "entitled." what new
and improved wisdom do they proclaim which supersedes that of
America's Founding Document, where the boundaries for how "Rights" are to be
"entitled" are if they do not violate "the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God."
I have yet to receive a response that defines their secular humanistic liberal
foundation or basis of their "politically
correct" definition of morality if not that of the Holy Scriptures,
from which
America's founders based our founding Document, the
Declaration of Independence and the
Constitution, regardless any all the false claims otherwise based upon
facts, writings,
and warnings of
our founders.
American Minute for May 2nd: The director of the FBI, J. Edgar Hoover, died MAY 2, 1972. For 48 years, under eight Presidents, J. Edgar Hoover oversaw the Federal Bureau of Investigation, becoming famous for his dramatic campaigns to stop gangsters and organized crime. Hoover established the use of fingerprints in law enforcement and successfully tracked down well-known criminals. FDR gave Hoover the task of investigating foreign espionage and left-wing activist groups. J. Edgar Hoover stated: "The criminal is the product of spiritual starvation. Someone failed miserably to bring him to know God, love Him and serve Him." In the introduction to Edward L.R. Elson's book, America's Spiritual Recovery, 1954, J. Edgar Hoover wrote: "We can see all too clearly the devastating effects of Secularism on our Christian way of life. The period when it was smart to 'debunk' our traditions undermined...high standards of conduct. A rising emphasis on materialism caused a decline of 'God-centered' deeds and thoughts." J. Edgar Hoover continued: "The American home...ceased to be a school of moral and spiritual education. When spiritual guidance is at a low ebb, moral principles are in a state of deterioration. Secularism advances when men forget God."
Purpose-Driven Patriotism (12
minute audio interview)
The new book Battlefields & Blessings: Stories of Faith and Courage from the Revolutionary War
Were America's Founders Deists? By Brannon Howse - Joseph Story served on the U.S. Supreme Court from 1811 to 1845, and in his commentaries on the Constitution of the United States, he wrote: Now, there will probably be found few persons in this, or any other Christian country, who would deliberately contend, that it was unreasonable, or unjust to foster and encourage the Christian religion generally, as a matter of sound policy, as well as of revealed truth. In fact, every American colony, from its foundation down to the revolution, with the exception of Rhode Island, (If, indeed that state be an exception,) did openly, by the whole course of its laws and institutions, support and sustain, in some form, the Christian religion; and almost invariably gave a peculiar sanction to some of its fundamental doctrines. And this has continued to be the case in some of the states down to the present period, without the slightest suspicion, that it was against the principles of public law, or republican liberty. The reason Story mentions that some think Rhode Island should be an exception is that, in considering the place of the Ten Commandments in their system of law, “Rhode Island adopted the last six of the Commandments, but not the first four.” The strategy of secular humanists is simple: If you say something often enough, people tend to believe it. So, in various forms, they repeat the myth that America’s Founders held to a secular, deistic worldview.
“The Founding Fathers & Deism” David Barton - Wallbuilders.com - The standard assertion is that the Founders were deists. Deists? What is a deist? In dictionaries like Websters, Funk & Wagnalls, Century, and others, the terms “deist,” “agnostic,” and “atheist” appear as synonyms. Therefore, the range of a deist spans from those who believe there is no God, to those who believe in a distant, impersonal creator of the universe, to those who believe there is no way to know if God exists. Do the Founders fit any of these definitions?
None of the notable Founders fit this description. Thomas Paine, in his discourse on “The Study of God,” forcefully asserts that it is “the error of schools” to teach sciences without “reference to the Being who is author of them: for all the principles of science are of Divine origin.” He laments that “the evil that has resulted from the error of the schools in teaching [science without God] has been that of generating in the pupils a species of atheism.” Paine not only believed in God, he believed in a reality beyond the visible world.
In Benjamin Franklin's 1749 plan of education for public schools in Pennsylvania, he insisted that schools teach “the necessity of a public religion . . . and the excellency of the Christian religion above all others, ancient or modern.” Consider also the fact that Franklin proposed a Biblical inscription for the Seal of the United States; that he chose a New Testament verse for the motto of the Philadelphia Hospital; that he was one of the chief voices behind the establishment of a paid chaplain in Congress; and that when in 1787 when Franklin helped found the college which bore his name, it was dedicated as “a nursery of religion and learning” built “on Christ, the Corner-Stone.” Franklin certainly doesn't fit the definition of a deist.
Nor does George Washington. He was an open promoter of Christianity. For example, in his speech on May 12, 1779, he claimed that what children needed to learn “above all” was the “religion of Jesus Christ,” and that to learn this would make them “greater and happier than they already are”; on May 2, 1778, he charged his soldiers at Valley Forge that “To the distinguished character of patriot, it should be our highest glory to add the more distinguished character of Christian”; and when he resigned his commission as commander-in-chief of the military on June 8, 1783, he reminded the nation that “without a humble imitation” of “the Divine Author of our blessed religion” we “can never hope to be a happy nation.” Washington's own adopted daughter declared of Washington that you might as well question his patriotism as to question his Christianity.
Alexander Hamilton was certainly no deist. For example, Hamilton began work with the Rev. James Bayard to form the Christian Constitutional Society to help spread over the world the two things which Hamilton said made America great: (1) Christianity, and (2) a Constitution formed under Christianity. Only Hamilton's death two months later thwarted his plan of starting a missionary society to promote Christian government. And at the time he did face his death in his duel with Aaron Burr, Hamilton met and prayed with the Rev. Mason and Bishop Moore, wherein he reaffirmed to him his readiness to face God should he die, having declared to them “a lively faith in God's mercy through Christ, with a thankful remembrance of the death of Christ.” At that time, he also partook of Holy Communion with Bishop Moore.
The reader, as do many others, claimed that Jefferson omitted all miraculous events of Jesus from his “Bible.” Rarely do those who make this claim let Jefferson speak for himself. Jefferson's own words explain that his intent for that book was not for it to be a “Bible,” but rather for it to be a primer for the Indians on the teachings of Christ (which is why Jefferson titled that work, “The Life and Morals of Jesus of Nazareth”). What Jefferson did was to take the “red letter” portions of the New Testament and publish these teachings in order to introduce the Indians to Christian morality. And as President of the United States, Jefferson signed a treaty with the Kaskaskia tribe wherein he provided—at the government's expense—Christian missionaries to the Indians. In fact, Jefferson himself declared, “I am a real Christian, that is to say, a disciple of the doctrines of Jesus.” While many might question this claim, the fact remains that Jefferson called himself a Christian, not a deist.
James Madison trained for ministry with the Rev. Dr. John Witherspoon, and Madison's writings are replete with declarations of his faith in God and in Christ. In fact, for proof of this, one only need read his letter to Attorney General Bradford wherein Madison laments that public officials are not bold enough about their Christian faith in public and that public officials should be “fervent advocates in the cause of Christ.” And while Madison did allude to a “wall of separation,” contemporary writers frequently refuse to allow Madison to provide his own definition of that “wall.” According to Madison, the purpose of that “wall” was only to prevent Congress from passing a national law to establish a national religion.
None of the Founders mentioned fit the definition of a deist. And as is typical with those who make this claim, they name only a handful of Founders and then generalize the rest. This in itself is a mistake, for there are over two hundred Founders (fifty-five at the Constitutional Convention, ninety who framed the First Amendment and the Bill of Rights, and fifty-six who signed the Declaration) and any generalization of the Founders as deists is completely inaccurate.
The reason that such critics never mention any other Founders is evident. For example, consider what must be explained away if the following signers of the Constitution were to be mentioned: Charles Pinckney and John Langdon—founders of the American Bible Society; James McHenry—founder of the Baltimore Bible Society; Rufus King—helped found a Bible society for Anglicans; Abraham Baldwin—a chaplain in the Revolution and considered the youngest theologian in America; Roger Sherman, William Samuel Johnson, John Dickinson, and Jacob Broom—also theological writers; James Wilson and William Patterson—placed on the Supreme Court by President George Washington, they had prayer over juries in the U. S. Supreme Court room; and the list could go on. And this does not even include the huge number of thoroughly evangelical Christians who signed the Declaration or who helped frame the Bill of Rights.
Any portrayal of any handful of Founders as deists is inaccurate. (If this group had really wanted some irreligious Founders, they should have chosen Henry Dearborne, Charles Lee, or Ethan Allen). Perhaps critics should spend more time reading the writings of the Founders to discover their religious beliefs for themselves rather than making such sweeping accusations which are so easily disproven.
(For more on this topic see: Thomas Paine Criticizes the Current Public School Science Curriculum, Franklin’s Appeal for Prayer at the Constitutional Convention, Was George Washington a Christian?, The Founders and Public Religious Expression, & James Madison and Religion in Public)
Audio (18m27s) David Barton on President's Day - Who was a deist, who was a Christian? (Secular liberal progressives do not let this history or these facts and truths get in their way of their unfounded "reasoning.)
Deism
and the Declaration by Teddy James - AFA Journal sat down with noted
historian David Barton, founder of Wallbuilders (www.wallbuilders.com) and
author of several books, to talk about the true history of the Declaration of
Independence.
AFA Journal: We know Thomas Jefferson wrote the Declaration. We are taught he was a deist, a person believing in a distant, non-personal God. Is this true?
David Barton: Jefferson, when you go by his actions, was absolutely pro-Christian his entire life. He started church services at the U. S. Capitol in 1800. By 1857, the largest church in the U.S. was the one he helped start. He also started church services in the War Department and the Treasury Department on Sundays. When we bought the Louisiana Purchase in 1804, there were several Christian schools in New Orleans. Many of them wrote the president asking if they would have to shut down since they now belonged to America. Jefferson wrote them back saying no, they would still get the patronage of the government to help run their Christian schools.
AFAJ: So where does the idea he was a deist come from?
DB: We have 19,000 of Jefferson’s letters. In 6 of those letters, he raises some questions as to the divinity of Jesus. We are talking 6 out of 19,000, and that is what everyone focuses on. Beyond that, Jefferson admits while he was in France he studied the writings of David Hume, an atheist philosopher. He later states, “In my youth, I studied Hume’s writing and it has taken decades to get his poison out of my system.” You can look at periods in Jefferson’s life and find things that look kind of anti-religious in his writings. You cannot find that in his actions. ...
In the White House Rose Garden, November 21, 1961, John F. Kennedy said:
"When we all - regardless of our particular religious convictions - draw our
guidance and inspiration, and really, in a sense, moral direction, from the same
general area, the Bible, the Old and the New Testaments, we have every reason to
believe that our various religious denominations should live together in the
closest harmony." Kennedy concluded: "The basic presumption of the moral
law, the existence of God, man's relationship to Him - there is generally
consensus on those questions."
He that has ears to hear, let him hear...
The father of the American space program died JUNE 16, 1977. He developed the famed V-2 rocket for Germany before emigrating to the US, where in 1958, he launched America's first satellite. He became the director of NASA, the U.S. guided missile program and founded the National Space Institute. His name was Wernher von Braun, and he stated: "The laws of nature that enable us to fly to the Moon also enable us to destroy our home planet with the atom bomb. Science itself does not address the question whether we should use the power at our disposal for good or for evil. The guidelines of what we ought to do are furnished in the moral law of God." Wernher von Braun continued: "It is no longer enough that we pray that God may be with us on our side. We must learn to pray that we may be on God's side." In the foreword to his Anthology on the Creation and Design exhibited in Nature, Wernher von Braun stated: "Viewing the awesome reaches of space...should only confirm our belief in the certainty of its Creator. I find it difficult to understand a scientist who does not acknowledge the presence of a superior rationality behind the existence of the universe." American Minute June 16th
...the nature of the separation between church and state is a metaphor of "a wall of separation" as used by Thomas Jefferson. Metaphors can be very powerful, but powerfully misleading at the same time. I cited the lead academic authority on the subject of the history and nature of this metaphor, Dr. Daniel Dreisbach of American University (Thomas Jefferson and the Wall of Separation between Church and State, New York University Press, 2002). Dreisbach demonstrates that the wall of separation was between the state and federal government for the sake of religious liberty, and not to keep religious conviction out of public life. This "wall" metaphor has been used dishonestly ever since it was cited in the 1947 Everson v. Board of Education U.S. Supreme Court decision (they called it a "high and impregnable" wall -- novel language they invented). Even Nadine Strossen. Esq., president of the ACLU, in Mars Hill Forum #101, explicitly agrees that this metaphor has been used falsely to restrict religious liberty. Rev. John C. Rankin, President - Theological Education Institute (TEI Update #174) and the Mars Hill Society 150 Trumbull Street, 4th Floor, Hartford, Connecticut www.teinetwork.com
Without a Heritage Every Generation Starts Over
"Whatever may be conceded to the influence of refined education on minds of peculiar structure, reason and experience both forbid us to expect that National morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle.” George Washington
"Atheism is unknown there; Infidelity rare and secret; so that persons may live to a great age in that country without having their piety shocked by meeting with either an Atheist or an Infidel. And the Divine Being seems...pleased to favor the whole country." Benjamin Franklin in a pamphlet for Europeans titled "Information to Those Who Would Remove to America," 1754.
Knowing this, that the law is not made for a righteous man, but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and for sinners, for unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers, For whoremongers, for them that defile themselves with mankind, for menstealers, for liars, for perjured persons, and if there be any other thing that is contrary to sound doctrine. 1 Timothy 1:9-10
I Remember Fred Thompson (Townhall.com) I remember when I was a kid; one thing was clear to me. The more I learned about the rest of the world, the luckier I felt just having been born in America. ...Students polled in a wide range of colleges and universities showed no real improvement in their historical knowledge. Some actually forgot part of what they'd learned in high school by the time they graduated -- and I'm talking about some of our best-known Ivy League schools. Less than half of college seniors knew that, "We hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal" is from the Declaration of Independence. Less than half knew basic facts about the First Amendment. Half didn't know that the Federalist Papers were written in support of the Constitution's ratification. Only a quarter of seniors knew the purpose of the Monroe Doctrine. This is our quandary. Memorial Day is about remembering. It’s about remembering those who died for our country; but it's also about remembering why they believed it was worth dying for. Too many Americans, though, have never been taught our own history and heritage. How can you remember something that you’ve never learned?
On APRIL 16, 1859, French historian Alexis de Tocqueville died. After nine months of traveling the United States, he wrote Democracy in America in 1835, which has been described as "the most comprehensive...analysis of character and society in America ever written." Alexis de Tocqueville wrote:
"Upon my arrival in the United States the religious aspect of the country was the first thing that struck my attention...In France I had almost always seen the spirit of religion and the spirit of freedom marching in opposite directions. But in America I found they were intimately united." De Tocqueville continued:
"The 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...They brought with them into the New World a form of Christianity which I cannot better describe than by styling it a democratic and republican religion."
In Book Two of Democracy in America, de Tocqueville wrote: "Christianity has therefore retained a strong hold on the public mind in America...In the United States...Christianity itself is a fact so irresistibly established, that no one undertakes either to attack or to defend it." American Minute for April 16th.
But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the LORD, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people. Jeremiah 31:33
"That wise Men have in all Ages thought Government necessary for the Good of Mankind; and, that wise Governments have always thought Religion necessary for the well ordering and well-being of Society, and accordingly have been ever careful to encourage and protect the Ministers of it, paying them the highest publick Honours, that their Doctrines might thereby meet with the greater Respect among the common People." Benjamin Franklin (On that Odd Letter of the Drum, April 1730) Reference: Franklin Collected Writings, Lemay, ed., 148.
“[N]either the wisest constitution nor the wisest laws will secure the liberty and happiness of a people whose manners are universally corrupt.” Samuel Adams
“[A] Congress with power to do whatever would be for the good of the United States... as they would be the sole judges of the good or evil, it would be also a power to do whatever evil they please.” Thomas Jefferson
Example of what the mainstream media doesn't report: The increase in children being born out of wedlock in Scandinavia since marriage was redefined! William Murray, the chairman of the Religious Freedom Coalition, warns of the dangers of legalizing same-sex marriage in the United States. He says Scandinavia has had nearly a decade of legal homosexual marriage, and it has nearly destroyed the institution of marriage altogether. More details: http://headlines.agapepress.org/archive/4/132004c.asp (See more facts at Lifestyle Consequences of homosexuals.
The High Cost of Aids - The James Hartline Report On The Frontlines of the Culture War January 29, 2007 - The Great Rainbow Robbery: Gay Activists Costing America Billions Of Dollars In Medical Expenses To Pay For Unsafe Sex Practices
How do secular liberal progressives react to
this statement:
that "the laws of Nature and of
Nature's God" is what determines how "unalienable Rights" are to be
"entitled" as outlined in the opening two paragraphs of
America's founding document? As James Madison, who provided the original
draft of the Constitution, wrote to Jefferson in the year of the Declaration's
50th anniversary, where he wrote of its supremacy over our nation's
Constitution: "On the distinctive principles of the Government...of the U.
States, the best guides are to be found in...The Declaration of Independence, as
the fundamental Act of Union of these States." And while as President,
James Madison, on June 20, 1785 stated: "Before any man can be considered
as a member of Civilized Society, he must first be considered as a subject of
the Governor of the Universe."
Ask a secular progressive liberal what their foundation is, what their basis is,
for establishing the boundaries of "civil" rights? What
new and improved human wisdom do they employ? And how is it they have come
to claim the Judeo-Christian heritage is now discriminatory?
"...the 'wall of separation between church and state' is a metaphor based on bad history, a metaphor which has proved useless as a guide to judging. It should be frankly and explicitly abandoned." Justice Rehnquist Wallace v. Jeffree
“I suppose, indeed, that in public life, a man whose political principles have any decided character and who has energy enough to give them effect must always expect to encounter political hostility from those of adverse principles.” Thomas Jefferson
"The chief danger of the 20th century will be religion without the Holy Ghost, Christianity without Christ, forgiveness without repentance, salvation without regeneration, politics without God, and Heaven without Hell." William Booth, Founder of the Salvation Army (Trevor Yaxley, William and Catherine: The Life and Legacy of the Booths, (Minneapolis, Minnesota: Bethany House Publishers, 2003):)
"There is no question that we have failed to live up to the dreams of the founding fathers many times and in many places. Sometimes we do better than others. But all in all, the one thing we must be on guard against is thinking that because of this, the system has failed. The system has not failed. Some human beings have failed the system." Ronald Reagan
"[N]either the wisest constitution nor the wisest laws will secure the liberty and happiness of a people whose manners are universally corrupt." Samuel Adams (essay in The Public Advertiser, Circa 1749) Reference: The Life and Public Service of Samuel Adams, William Wells, vol. 1 (22)
See also:
America's Foundation of Law and "Civil" Rights.
How I learned about the root of law...but not in law school by Steven Voigt
The Existential Establishment Clause: How does that make you feel?
"The deterioration of every
government begins with the decay of the principles on which it was founded."
C.
L. De Montesquieu
The Opening Paragraph of America's First Official Document - Written in vain?
The
opening paragraph of the
Declaration of Independence (which
Thomas Jefferson also provided the draft):
"When in the Course of human events, it becomes
necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected
them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and
equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God
entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of
mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the
separation." The second paragraph continues: 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...."
"Unalienable rights" are "entitled" if they do not violate "the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God" which lays out the boundaries and rules for America's Laws, just as athletes are "entitled" to play according to the boundaries and rules of their sport. Otherwise there would be chaos. Civil Rights and Liberties are "entitled" by "the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God." Yet marriage is being redefined and schools are now teaching our children that which "goes against nature" is normal. What then is the real "hate crime?" Being out of the boundaries of "the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God," as is homosexuality, depicts the chaos in the facts and consequences of that lifestyle. Or did Thomas Jefferson write the opening paragraph in vain, but not a letter to the Baptists?
If you violate the law of gravity you will be subject to the consequences of the fall. If you purposely jump out of a plane without a parachute the health risks will prove deadly and the consequences will also effect others. If you practice homosexuality and violate "the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God" you become subject to the health risks associated with that lifestyle, as well as impacting not only those who love you, but also healthcare costs for all of society. Legalizing such violations against nature is then compounded by mandating children be taught that violating "the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God" is acceptable, which may well place their lives in danger as well if they are persuaded and deceived into taking such a risk. See Joshua 7-8 for a lesson in how personal choices can result into national ramafications.
"The Declaration of Independence...[is the] declaratory charter of our rights, and the rights of man." Thomas Jefferson (letter to Samuel Adams Wells, 1819) Reference: The Writings of Thomas Jefferson, Lipscomb and Bergh, eds., 15:200.
"Any single man must judge for himself whether circumstances warrant obedience or resistance to the commands of the civil magistrate; we are all qualified, entitled, and morally obliged to evaluate the conduct of our rulers. This political judgment, moreover, is not simply or primarily a right, but like self-preservation, a duty to God. As such it is a judgment that men cannot part with according to the God of Nature. It is the first and foremost of our inalienable rights without which we can preserve no other." John Locke
"The liberty enjoyed by the people of these states of worshiping Almighty God agreeably to their conscience, is not only among the choicest of their blessings, but also of their rights." George Washington
What government-run schools and "higher" education refuse to teach
On
August 1, 1776, Samuel Adams stood before a large crowd on the steps of the
Philadelphia Statehouse and delivered a speech before the formal signing of the
Declaration Of Independence on August 2, 1776. In his speech he stated:
"We have explored the temple of Royalty and found that the idol that we have
bowed down to has Eyes which see not, Ears that hear not our Prayers, and a
heart like the nether millstone. We have this day restored the Sovereign to Whom
alone all men ought to be obedient; He reigns in Heaven, and with a propitious
Eye beholds His subjects assuming that freedom of thought, and dignity of self
direction, which He bestowed upon them. From the rising to the setting Sun, may
His Kingdom come."
Jesus said unto him, You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets. Matthew 22:37-40
In the same manner, the Constitution and Bill of Rights hang on Jefferson's first two paragraphs of the Declaration of Independence.
In fact James Madison, in a letter to our Declaration's author, Thomas Jefferson, in 1825. Madison, in his own hand, wrote of the supremacy of the Declaration of Independence: "On the distinctive principles of the Government...of the U. States, the best guides are to be found in...The Declaration of Independence, as the fundamental Act of Union of these States."
“If men were angels, no government would be necessary…. In framing a government which is to be administered by men over men, the great difficulty lies in this: you must first enable the government to control the governed; and in the next place oblige it to control itself.” James Mdison
Joseph Story: The Son of one of the Boston Tea Party "Indians," he graduated from Harvard and eventually became Massachusetts Speaker of the House. At age 32, he was appointed the youngest Justice on the U.S. Supreme Court, where he served 34 years and helped establish the illegality of the slave trade in the Amistad case. His name was Joseph Story, and he died September 10, 1845. A founder of Harvard Law School, Justice Joseph Story stated in Vidal v. Girard's Executors, 1844: "Where can the purest principles of morality be learned so clearly or so perfectly as from the New Testament?" Appointed to the Supreme Court by James Madison-the person who introduced the First Amendment, Justice Joseph Story commented on it in his Familiar Exposition of the Constitution of the United States, 1840: "At the time of the adoption...of the Amendment...the general, if not the universal, sentiment in America was, that Christianity ought to receive encouragement from the State... The real object of the First Amendment was not to countenance, much less to advance Mohammedanism, or Judaism, or infidelity, by prostrating Christianity, but to exclude all rivalry among Christian sects." American Minute with Bill Federer September 10, 2006
Justice William O. Douglas of the U.S. Supreme Court in the 1961 case of McGowan vs. Maryland: "The institutions of our society are founded on the belief that there is an authority higher than the authority of the State; that there is a moral law which the State is powerless to alter; that the individual possess rights, conferred by the Creator which government must respect. The Declaration Of Independence stated the now familiar theme: 'We hold these Truths to be self evident, that all Men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness.' And the body of the Constitution as well as the Bill of Rights enshrined these principles." (The following year, prayer was removed from schools.)
"It has ever been my hobby-horse to see rising in America an empire of liberty, and a prospect of two or three hundred millions of freemen, without one noble or one king among them. You say it is impossible. If I should agree with you in this, I would still say, let us try the experiment, and preserve our equality as long as we can. A better system of education for the common people might preserve them long from such artificial inequalities as are prejudicial to society, by confounding the natural distinctions of right and wrong, virtue and vice." John Adams
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