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Quotes by Our Founding Fathers

America was founded by Christians who practiced Christian precepts. They were God-fearing men who truly believed that our country couldn’t survive without the presence of God. Our nation today cannot survive without a strong foundation in Christ. Think about what these quotes by our founding fathers truly mean as you read them.

John Quincy Adams

SIXTH PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES; DIPLOMAT; SECRETARY OF STATE; U. S. SENATOR;

U. S. REPRESENTATIVE; “OLD MAN ELOQUENT”; “HELL-HOUND OF ABOLITION”

“In the chain of human events, the birthday of the nation is indissolubly linked with the birthday of the Savior. The Declaration of Independence laid the cornerstone of human government upon the first precepts of Christianity.

Benjamin Rush

SIGNER OF THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE; SURGEON GENERAL OF THE CONTINENTAL ARMY; RATIFIER OF THE U. S. CONSTITUTION; “FATHER OF AMERICAN MEDICINE”;

TREASURER OF THE U. S. MINT; “FATHER OF PUBLIC SCHOOLS UNDER THE CONSTITUTION”

“[C]hristianity is the only true and perfect religion; and… in proportion as mankind adopt its principles and obey its precepts, they will be wise and happy.”

Joseph Story

U. S. CONGRESSMAN; “FATHER OF AMERICAN JURISPRUDENCE”;

U. S. SUPREME COURT JUSTICE APPOINTED BY PRESIDENT JAMES MADISON

“I verily believe that Christianity is necessary to support a civil society and shall ever attend to its institutions and acknowledge its precepts as the pure and natural sources of private and social happiness.”

Daniel Webster

U. S. SENATOR; SECRETARY OF STATE; “DEFENDER OF THE CONSTITUTION”

“[T]he Christian religion – its general principles – must ever be regarded among us as the foundation of civil society.”

Noah Webster

REVOLUTIONARY SOLDIER; JUDGE; LEGISLATOR; EDUCATOR; “SCHOOLMASTER TO AMERICA”

“[T]he Christian religion… is the basis, or rather the source, of all genuine freedom in government… I am persuaded that no civil government of a republican form can exist and be durable in which the principles of Christianity have not a controlling influence.”

John Dickinson

SIGNER OF THE CONSTITUTION; GOVERNOR OF PENNSYLVANIA; GOVERNOR OF DELAWARE; GENERAL IN THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION

“[Governments] could not give the rights essential to happiness… We claim them from a higher source: from the King of kings, and Lord of all the earth.”

John Jay

PRESIDENT OF CONGRESS; DIPLOMAT; AUTHOR OF THE FEDERALIST PAPERS;

ORIGINAL CHIEF JUSTICE OF THE U. S. SUPREME COURT; GOVERNOR OF NEW YORK

“The Bible is the best of all books, for it is the word of God and teaches us the way to be happy in this world and in the next. Continue therefore to read it and to regulate your life by its precepts.”

Benjamin Rush

SIGNER OF THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE; SURGEON GENERAL OF THE CONTINENTAL ARMY; RATIFIER OF THE U. S. CONSTITUTION; “FATHER OF AMERICAN MEDICINE”;

TREASURER OF THE U. S. MINT; “FATHER OF PUBLIC SCHOOLS UNDER THE CONSTITUTION”

“The Bible contains more knowledge necessary to man in his present state than any other book in the world.”

Daniel Webster

U. S. SENATOR; SECRETARY OF STATE; “DEFENDER OF THE CONSTITUTION”

“The Bible is a book… which teaches man his own individual responsibility, his own dignity, and his equality with his fellow man.”

Noah Webster

REVOLUTIONARY SOLDIER; JUDGE; LEGISLATOR; EDUCATOR; “SCHOOLMASTER TO AMERICA”

“The Bible is the chief moral cause of all that is good and the best corrector of all that is evil in human society – the best book for regulating the temporal concerns of men.”

Noah Webster

REVOLUTIONARY SOLDIER; JUDGE; LEGISLATOR; EDUCATOR; “SCHOOLMASTER TO AMERICA”

“The moral principles and precepts found in the Scriptures ought to form the basis of all our civil constitutions and laws.”

Patrick Henry

REVOLUTIONARY GENERAL; LEGISLATOR; “THE VOICE OF LIBERTY”;
RATIFIER OF THE U. S. CONSTITUTION; GOVERNOR OF VIRGINIA

“This is all the inheritance I can give to my dear family. The religion of Christ can give them one which will make them rich indeed.”

George Washington

JUDGE; MEMBER OF THE CONTINENTAL CONGRESS;
COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF OF THE CONTINENTAL ARMY;
PRESIDENT OF THE CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION;
FIRST PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES; “FATHER OF HIS COUNTRY”

“You do well to wish to learn our arts and ways of life, and above all, the religion of Jesus Christ. These will make you a greater and happier people than you are.”

Daniel Webster

U. S. SENATOR; SECRETARY OF STATE; “DEFENDER OF THE CONSTITUTION”

“Whatever makes men good Christians, makes them good citizens.”


Noah Webster

REVOLUTIONARY SOLDIER; JUDGE; LEGISLATOR; EDUCATOR; “SCHOOLMASTER TO AMERICA”

“All the… evils which men suffer from vice, crime, ambition, injustice, oppression, slavery and war, proceed from their despising or neglecting the precepts contained in the Bible.”

Benjamin Franklin

SIGNER OF THE DECLARATION; DIPLOMAT; PRINTER; SCIENTIST;
SIGNER OF THE CONSTITUTION; GOVERNOR OF PENNSYLVANIA

“As to Jesus of Nazareth, my opinion of whom you particularly desire, I think the system of morals and His religion as He left them to us, the best the world ever saw or is likely to see.”

Patrick Henry

REVOLUTIONARY GENERAL; LEGISLATOR; “THE VOICE OF LIBERTY”;
RATIFIER OF THE U. S. CONSTITUTION; GOVERNOR OF VIRGINIA

“The great pillars of all government and of social life [are] virtue, morality, and religion. This is the armor, my friend, and this alone, that renders us invincible.”

https://wallbuilders.com/founding-fathers-jesus-christianity-bible/

5. Did our founding fathers intend for prayer and the Bible to be removed from public schools? Is it constitutional?

“Separation of church and state” statement, the one that Supreme Court used to declare prayer and Bibles in school unconstitutional, is not found in the Constitution, Declaration of Independence, or in any of the nation’s founding documents. That statement, was actually found in a letter Thomas Jefferson wrote to the Danbury Baptist Association of Connecticut in 1801. Thomas Jefferson wrote: “Believing with you that religion is a matter which lies solely between Man & his God, that he owes account to none other for his faith or his worship, that the legitimate powers of government reach actions only, & not opinions, I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should “make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof,” thus building a wall of separation between Church & State. Adhering to this expression of the supreme will of the nation in behalf of the rights of conscience, I shall see with sincere satisfaction the progress of those sentiments which tend to restore to man all his natural rights, convinced he has no natural right in opposition to his social duties.”

The First Amendment actually says: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.”

What did Thomas Jefferson actually mean, in relation to “separation from church and state”, when he wrote his letter to Danbury Baptist Association?
“Separation from church and state” was “merely meant to prevent the establishment of a particular religion or the suppression of a particular religion.” It was to prevent the Church from establishing “a national church” that had complete control of the entire nation. It was also to disallow the government from removing churches from the country. The church and state are separate entities – the church performed the functions of the church, and the government was in charge of government operations. This didn’t mean that the government leaders shouldn’t draw knowledge from the Bible to base their decisions on, or shouldn’t be moral Christians to be a government leader.

Both churches and government are comprised of people, susceptible to immorality. Tendencies to injure another for personal gain, being power hungry, being selfish and greedy, and being emotional and making errors in judgments, are present in everyone, regardless if they are in the church or in the government. They are human. To prevent both parties from trying to control the other, for potential personal agenda, the founding fathers kept the “separation of church and state” so a group of people in one big national or state church entity, wasn’t immoral, and thus become a potential tyrant whose views and policies controlled an entire nation of people. Back then, the founding fathers had differing views in the minor areas of Christianity, and they didn’t want the entire nation be forced to heed to what one particular view, of one particular belief system (for example, we have today different churches: Baptists, Catholics, Presbyterians, etc. You don’t want the entire nation be Baptist when other people believed in Catholicism, etc.). So, as Thomas Jefferson, it is between “man and God” to decide in what they exactly believe in, and not a government-chosen, one national church to dictate what you believe and worship about God. Every human has an individual right to choose exactly what they believe in, not to have only one national church that everyone must listen to. There is no freedom without choice.

Our founding fathers formulated the principle of church and state being separate entities from the Bible. In Matthew 22:21, Jesus said, ‘“Therefore render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s,” obviously delineating between “the things that are Ceasar’s” (ie – government) and the “things that are God’s”. In John 18:36, Christ mentioned “His Kingdom not being of this world” (His Kingdom being the church, the world, inclusive of the government). In Romans 13:1-7, the Apostle Paul acknowledge the fact that ‘earthly government is established by God for our good’.

The church is supposed to be in charge of the operations of the church and the government, the government. Again, this doesn’t mean at all that government leaders shouldn’t be Christian men or women or that they shouldn’t used God principles to guide policies. Obviously, our founding fathers were godly men who regularly attended church and use the Bible and God to direct the paths of this nation. Thus, our government leaders should do the same. Our country is at stake.

This is what the founding fathers meant by separation of church and state. A student praying in school doesn’t mean the same thing as Congress making a law. “The First Amendment meant Congress is limited from setting up a national denomination and Congress is limited from prohibiting the free exercise of religion. The First Amendment does not limit faith or the people, only the government.” Thus, the 1962 and 1963 Supreme Court rulings on prayer and bible being removed from schools, is unconstitutional, as the founding fathers’ intentions of the First Amendment was misconstrued.

Bibliography

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/can-america-survive-without-christianity

https://www.pewforum.org/2019/10/17/in-u-s-decline-of-christianity-continues-at-rapid-pace/

Is American Christianity really in decline?

https://lifewayresearch.com/2017/05/09/americans-worry-about-moral-decline-cant-agree-on-right-and-wrong/

https://www.reasonablefaith.org/writings/popular-writings/existence-nature-of-god/can-we-be-good-without-god/

https://www.thedailybeast.com/can-you-be-good-without-god?ref=scroll

https://www.biblestudytools.com/blogs/theologically-driven/can-we-be-good-without-god.html

https://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/penny-starr/education-expert-removing-bible-prayer-public-schools-has-caused-decline

Moral decline due to absence of school prayer

https://www.freedomforuminstitute.org/2012/07/29/50-years-later-how-school-prayer-ruling-changed-america/

https://www.freedomforuminstitute.org/2012/07/29/50-years-later-how-school-prayer-ruling-changed-america/

https://www.commentarymagazine.com/articles/leonard-levy/school-prayers-the-founding-fathers/

https://www.forbes.com/sites/billflax/2011/07/09/the-true-meaning-of-separation-of-church-and-state/#6c73ea415d02

What does “separation of Church and State” actually mean?

How to Respond to “Separation of Church and State”