God, “The Original Intent”
Advancing the historical understanding of the hand of God in American history.
          





























Historical Documents & Speeches
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"It is the duty of every good citizen to use all the opportunities which occur to him, for preserving documents relating to the history of our country."

— Thomas Jefferson, Author of the Declaration of Independence
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Magna Carta - 1215


    “Here is a law which is above the King and which even he must not break. This reaffirmation of a supreme law and its expression in a general charter is the great work of Magna Carta; and this alone justifies the respect in which men have held it.”
— Winston Churchill (1874-1965), British Politician & Leader, 1956
 

     John, by the grace of God, king of England, lord of Ireland, duke of Normandy and Aquitaine, and count of Anjou, to the archbishop, bishops, abbots, earls, barons, justiciaries, foresters, sheriffs, stewards, servants, and to all his bailiffs and liege subjects, greetings. Know that, having regard to God and for the salvation of our soul, and those of all our ancestors and heirs... - Download - PDF

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The First Charter of Virginia 1606, Jamestown

      The First Charter of Virginia - To the Glory of God - “JAMES, by the Grace of God, King of England, Scotland, France and Ireland, Defender of the Faith, ... loving Subjects, have been humble Suitors unto us, that We would vouchsafe unto them our Licence, to make Habitation, Plantation, and to deduce a colony of sundry of our People into that part of America commonly called VIRGINIA, and other parts and Territories in America, either appertaining unto us, or which are not now actually possessed by any Christian Prince or People, ...We, greatly commending, and graciously accepting of, their Desires for the Furtherance of so noble a Work, which may, by the Providence of Almighty God, hereafter tend to the Glory of his Divine Majesty, in propagating of Christian Religion to such People, as yet live in Darkness and miserable Ignorance of the true Knowledge and Worship of God, and may in time bring the Infidels and Savages, living in those parts, to human Civility, and to a settled and quiet Government: DO, by these our Letters Patents, graciously accept of, and agree to, their humble and well-intended Desires.”.- Download - PDF

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Mayflower Compact - 1620

      Mayflower Compact - For the Glory of God - IN THE NAME OF GOD, AMEN. We, whose names are underwritten, the Loyal Subjects of our dread Sovereign Lord King James, by the Grace of God, of Great Britain, France, and Ireland, King, Defender of the Faith, &c. Having undertaken for the Glory of God, and Advancement of the Christian Faith, and the Honour of our King and Country, a Voyage to plant the first Colony in the northern Parts of Virginia; Do by these Presents, solemnly and mutually, in the Presence of God and one another, covenant and combine ourselves together into a civil Body Politick, for our better Ordering and Preservation, and Furtherance of the Ends aforesaid: And by Virtue hereof do enact, constitute, and frame, such just and equal Laws, Ordinances, Acts, Constitutions, and Officers, from time to time, as shall be thought most meet and convenient for the general Good of the Colony; unto which we promise all due Submission and Obedience. - Download - PDF


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The New England Confederation - 1643

 
     “We shall find that the God of Israel is among us, when ten of us shall be able to resist a thousand of our enemies; when he shall make us a praise and glory that men shall say of succeeding plantations, ‘The Lord make it likely that of New England.’ For we must consider that we shall be as a city upon a hill, the eyes of all people are upon us; so that if we shall deal falsely with our God in this work we have undertaken, and so cause Him to withdraw His present help from us, we shall shame the faces of many of God’s worthy servants, and cause their prayers to be turned into curses upon us till we be consumed out of the good land whither we are agoing.”
— John Winthrop (1588-1649) Puritan & First Governor of Massachusetts, aboard the Arbella, 1630
- Download - PDF

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The Old Deluder Satan Act - 1649

      It being one chief project of that old deluder, Satan, to keep men from the knowledge of the Scriptures, as in former times by keeping them in an unknown tongue, so in these latter times by persuading from the use of tongues, that so that at least the true sense and meaning of the original might be clouded and corrupted with false glosses of saint-seeming deceivers; and to the end that learning may not be buried in the grave of our forefathers, in church and commonwealth, the Lord assisting our endeavors.

     It is therefore ordered that every township in this jurisdiction, after the Lord hath increased them to fifty households shall forthwith appoint one within their town to teach all such children as shall resort to him to write and read, whose wages shall be paid either by the parents or masters of such children, or by the inhabitants in general, by way of supply, as the major part of those that order the prudentials of the town shall appoint; provided those that send their children be not oppressed by paying much more than they can have them taught for in other towns.  - Download - PDF

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English Bill of Rights - 1689
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Samuel von Pufendorf - The Duty of Man and Citizen According to the Natural Law - 1682   

    “God is the author of the natural law, is proved by the natural reason ... Of the duties incumbent upon man in accordance with natural law the most convenient division seems to be according to the objects in regard to which they are to be practiced. From this standpoint they are classified under three main heads: the first of which instructs us how, according to the dictate of sound reason alone a man should conduct himself toward God, the second, how toward himself, the third, how toward other men.”

     “The duty of man toward God, so far as it can be investigated by the natural reason, reduces itself to two heads: that we have right views of God, and secondly that we order our acts in conformity with His will. …The second truth is that God is founder of this universe. … The third maxim is that God rules over the whole world, and over the human race. This is perfectly clear from the wonderful and constant order seen in this universe. But so far as the moral effect is concerned, it is immaterial whether one denies that God exists, or that he governs the affairs of men, since either view completely destroys all religion. For it is vain to fear or venerate him who, though in himself preeminent, is not touched by any care for us, and will not, or cannot, bring us any good or ill.

Samuel von Pufendorf - The Duty of Man and Citizen According to the Natural Law - 1682
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John Locke - Two Treatises of Government - 1689   

     “The power of the legislative being derived from the people by a positive voluntary grant and institution, can be no other than what that positive grant conveyed, which being only to make laws, and not to make legislators, the legislative can have no power to transfer their authority of making laws, and place it in other hands.” 

“The reason why men enter into society is the preservation of their property. ….[Therefore,] whenever the legislators endeavor to take away and destroy the property of the people, or to reduce them to slavery under arbitrary power, they put themselves into a state of war with the people, who are thereupon absolved from any farther obedience, and are left to the common refuge which God hath provided for all men against force and violence. Whensoever, therefore, the legislative shall transgress this fundamental rule of society, and either by ambition, fear, folly, or corruption, endeavor to grasp themselves, or put into the hands of any other, an absolute power over the lives, liberties, and estates of the people, by this breach of trust they [the government officals] forfeit the power the people had put into their hands…  and it devolves to the people, who have a right to resume their original liberty, and ….provide for their own safety and security.”


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William Penn - Charter of Privileges - 1701

     “BECAUSE no People can be truly happy, though under the greatest Enjoyment of Civil Liberties, if abridged of the Freedom of their Consciences, as to their Religious Profession and Worship: And Almighty God being the only Lord of Conscience, Father of Lights and Spirits; and the Author as well as Object of all divine Knowledge, Faith and Worship, who only doth enlighten the Minds, and persuade and convince the Understandings of People.”

     Charter of Privileges Granted by William Penn, esq.

     To the Inhabitants of Pennsylvania and Territories, October 28, 1701 (1)

     WILLIAM PENN, Proprietary and Governor of the Province of Pensilvania and Territories thereunto belonging, To all to whom these Presents shall come, sendeth Greeting. WHEREAS King CHARLES the Second, by His Letters Patents, under the Great Seal of England, bearing Date the Fourth Day of March in the Year One Thousand Six Hundred and Eighty-one, was graciously pleased to give and grant unto me, and my Heirs and Assigns for ever, this Province of Pennsilvania, with divers great Powers and Jurisdictions for the well Government thereof." - Download - PDF

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John Wise - A Vindication of the Government of New-England Churches - 1717 

     "For that all law, properly considered, supposes a capable subject and a superior power, and the law of God which is binding, is published by the dictates of right reason as other ways. … God has established the law of nature, as the general rule of government, is further illustrable from the many sanctions in providence, and from the peace and guilt of conscience in them that either obey or'violate the law of nature. But, moreover, the foundation of the law of nature with relation to government ...

     The native liberty of man's nature implies, a faculty of doing or omitting things according to the direction of his judgment. But in a more special meaning, this liberty does not consist in a loose and ungovernable freedom, or in an unbounded license of acting. Such license is disagreeing with the condition and dignity of man, and would make man of a lower and meaner constitution than brute creatures, who in all their liberties are kept under a better and more rational government by their instincts." - Link to Book

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George Whitefield - Father Abraham - Market Street, Philadelphia

 
     “Father Abraham, whom have you in heaven? Any Episcopalians? No. Any Presbyterians? No. Have you any Independents or Seceders? No. Have you any Methodists? No, No, No! Whom have you there? We don’t know those names here. All who are here are Christians—believers in Christ—men who were overcome by the blood of the Lamb and the word of his testimony. 

     Oh, is this the case? Then God help us, god help us all, to forget party names, and to become Christians in deed and in truth!”

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Jonathan Mayhew - A Discourse concerning Unlimited Submission and Non-Resistance to Higher Powers - 1750

     "Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers; for there is no power but of God: the powers that be, are ordained of God. Here he urges the duty of obedience from this topic of argument, that civil rulers, as they are supposed to fulfil the pleasure of God, are the ordinance of God. But how is this an argument for obedience to such rulers as do not perform the pleasure of God, by doing good; but the pleasure of the devil, by doing evil; and such as are not, therefore, God’s ministers, but the devil’s! Whosoever, therefore, resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God; and they that resist, shall receive to themselves damnation. … But how is this an argument, that we must honor, and submit to, such magistrates as are not enemies to the evil actions of men, but to the good; and such as are not a common blessing, but a common curse, to society! But if thou do that which is evil, be afraid: For he is the minister of God, a revenger, to execute wrath upon him that doth evil." - Link to Web Page 

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Barron Charles de Montesquieu - Spirit of the Laws - 1751

     “Laws, in their most general signification, are the necessary relations arising from the nature of things. In this sense all beings have their laws: the Deity His laws, the material world its laws, the intelligences superior to man their laws, the beasts their laws, man his laws. They who assert that a blind fatality produced the various effects we behold in this world talk very absurdly; for can anything be more unreasonable than to pretend that a blind fatality could be productive of intelligent beings?

There is, then, a prime reason; and laws are the relations subsisting between it and different beings, and the relations of these to one another. God is related to the universe, as Creator and Preserver; the laws by which He created all things are those by which He preserves them. He acts according to these rules, because He knows them; He knows them, because He made them; and He made them, because they are in relation to His wisdom and power.

Since we observe that the world, though formed by the motion of matter, and void of understanding, subsists through so long a succession of ages, its motions must certainly be directed by invariable laws; and could we imagine another world, it must also have constant rules, or it would inevitably perish." - Link to Web Page 

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James Otis - Rights of the British Colonies Asserted and Proved - 1764

    "Has it any solid foundation, any chief cornerstone but what accident, chance, or confusion may lay one moment and destroy the next? I think it has an everlasing foundation in the unchangeable will of GOD, the author of nature, whose laws never vary. …The end of government being the good of mankind points out its great duties: it is above all things to provide for the security, the quiet, and happy enjoyment of life, liberty, and property. There is no one act which a government can have a right to make that does not tend to the advancement of the security, tranquillity, and prosperity of the people. If life, liberty, and property could …

The sum of my argument is: that civil government is of God that the administrators of it were originally the whole people; that they might have devolved it on whom they pleased; that this devolution is fiduciary, for the good of the whole; that by the British constitution this devolution is on the King, Lords and Commons."
- Link to Web Page   

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William Blackstone - Blackstone's Commentaries on the Laws of England - 1765

    “This law of nature, being co-eval with mankind and dictated by God Himself, is of course superior in obligation to any other. It is binding over all the globe, in all countries, and at all times: no human laws are of any validity, if contrary to this; …upon these two foundations, the law of nature and the law of revelation, depend all human laws; that is to say, no human laws should be suffered to contradict these.”  

"No laws are binding on the human subject which assault the body or violate the [liberty of ] conscience."

“Blasphemy against the Almighty is denying his being or providence, or uttering contumacious [rebellious] reproaches on our Savior Christ. It is punished, at common law by fine and imprisonment, for Christianity is part of the law of the land.”   - Link to Web Page
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John Dickinson - Letters from "A Farmer" - 1768

     “Let us consider our, selves as men—freemen—Christian freemen—separated from the rest of the world, and firmly bound together by the same rights, interests and dangers. ... for posterity, to whom, by the most sacred obligations, we are bound to deliver down the invaluable inheritance; ... you may surely, without presumption, believe, that Almighty God himself will look down upon your righteous contest with gracious approbation. You will be a “band of brothers,” cemented by the dearest ties, and strengthened with inconceivable supplies of force and constancy, by that sympathetic ardor, which animates good men, confederated in a good cause. Your honor and welfare will be, as they now are, most intimately concerned; and besides, you are assigned by divine providence, in the appointed order of things, the protectors of unborn ages, whose fate depends upon your virtue. Whether they shall arise the generous and indisputable heirs of the noblest patrimonies, or the dastardly and hereditary drudges of imperious task-masters, you must determine." - Link to Web Page  
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Samuel Adams - The Rights of the Colonists - 1772

     "Among the natural rights of the Colonists are these: First, a right to life; Secondly, to liberty; Thirdly, to property; together with the right to support and defend them in the best manner they can. These are evident branches of, rather than deductions from, the duty of self-preservation, commonly called the first law of nature.  The natural liberty of man is to be free from any superior power on earth, and not to be under the will or legislative authority of man, but only to have the law of nature [God] for his rule. … These 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. … his natural right to worship God according to the dictates of his own conscience. And, by the charter of this Province, it is granted, ordained, and established (that is, declared as an original right) that there shall be liberty of conscience allowed in the worship of God to all Christians …Magna Charta itself is in substance but a constrained declaration ..." - Download - PDF

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The Minute Man Oath - 1773

     “We trust in God that, should the state of our affairs require it, we shall be ready to sacrifice our estates and everything dear in life, yea, and life itself, in support of the common cause.”

————————————————  Sign your name here?

Excerpt: Lexington Memorial .... On the morning of the ever memorable 19th of April, 1775, the die was cast!!! The blood of the martyrs, in the cause of God and their country, was the cement of the Union of these States, the Colonies and gave the spring to the spirit, firmness and resolution of their fellow citizens. They rose as one man, to revenge their brethren’s blood and at the point of the sword, to assert and defend their native rights. They nobly dared to be free!! The contest was long, bloody and affecting. Righteous heaven approved the solemn appeal: victory crowned their arms and the peace, liberty and independence of the United Sates of America was their glorious reward. - Download - PDF

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John Joachim Zubly - The Law of Liberty - 1775

     "The gospel is called a law of liberty, because it bears a most friendly aspect to the liberty of man; it is a known rule ...the gospel makes no alteration in the civil state; it by no means renders man's natural and social condition worse than it would be without the knowledge of the gospel. …  the gospel is a law of liberty in a much higher sense; by whomsoever a man is overcome, of the same he is brought into bondage; but no external enemy can so completely tyrannize over a conquered enemy, as sin does over all those who yield themselves its servants; vicious habits, when once they have gained the ascendancy in the soul, bring man to that unhappy pass, that he knows better things and does worse; sin, like a torrent, carries him away against knowledge and conviction, while conscience fully convinces him that he travels the road of death, and must expect, if he so continues, to take up his abode in hell ... till the grace of God brings salvation, when he would do good, evil is present with him; in short, instead of being under a law of liberty, he is under the law of sin and death; but whenever he feels the happy influence of the grace of the gospel, then this "law of liberty makes him free from the law of sin and death:" it furnishes him with not only motives to resist, but with power also to subdue sin; sin reigns no longer in his mortal body, because he is not under the law, but under grace.  By this law of liberty he is made free from sin, and has his fruit unto holiness, and the end of it eternal life.”  - Download - PDF

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A Declaration by the Representatives of the United Colonies of North-America - John Hancock- 1775

Our cause is just. Our union is perfect. Our internal resources are great, and, if necessary, foreign assistance is undoubtedly attainable.We gratefully acknowledge, as signal instances of the Divine favour towards us, that his Providence would not permit us to be called into this severe controversy, until we were grown up to our present strength, had been previously exercised in warlike operation, and possessed of the means of defending ourselves. With hearts fortified with these animating reflections, we most solemnly, before God and the world, declare, that, exerting the utmost energy of those powers, which our beneficent Creator hath graciously bestowed upon us, the arms we have been compelled by our enemies to assume, we will, in defiance of every hazard, with unabating firmness and perseverence, employ for the preservation of our liberties; being with one mind resolved to die freemen rather than to live slaves. …

With an humble confidence in the mercies of the supreme and impartial Judge and Ruler of the Universe, we most devoutly implore his divine goodness to protect us happily through this great conflict, to dispose our adversaries to reconciliation on reasonable terms, and thereby to relieve the empire from the calamities of civil war. - Download - PDF

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Thomas Paine - Common Sense - 1776


     “Society in every state is a blessing, but government even in its best state is but a necessary evil; in its worst state an intolerable one.”

“I have always considered the independancy of this continent, as an event which sooner or later must arrive.”

“Until an independance is declared, the Continent will feel itself like a man who continues putting off some unpleasant business from day to day, yet knows it must be done, hates to set about it, wishes it over, and is continually haunted with the thoughts of its necessity.”  - Download - PDF

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John Adams letter to his wife on the birth of a new Nation 

 
     "Yesterday, the greatest question was decided, which ever was debated in America, and a greater, perhaps, never was nor will be decided among men. A resolution was passed without one dissenting colony, “that these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent States, and as such they have, and of right ought to have, full power to make war, conclude peace, establish commerce, and to do all other acts and things which other States may rightfully do.” You will see in a few days a Declaration setting forth the causes which have impelled us to this mighty revolution, and the reasons which will justify it in the sight of God and man. ...

     I am surprised at the suddenness as well as greatness of this revolution. …But the day is past. The second day of July, 1776, will be the most memorable epocha in the history of America. I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated by succeeding generations as the great anniversary festival. It ought to be commemorated, as the day of deliverance, by solemn acts of devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemized with pomp and parade, with shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires, and illuminations, from one end of this continent to the other, from this time forward, forevermore.

     You will think me transported with enthusiasm, but I am not. I am well aware of the toil, and blood, and treasure, that it will cost us to maintain this declaration, and support and defend these States. Yet, through all the gloom, I can see the rays of ravishing light and glory. I can see that the end is more than worth all the means, and that posterity will triumph in that day's transaction, even although we should rue it, which I trust in God we shall not." Download - PDF

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John Adams speech in support of the Declaration - 1776

    “Before God, I believe the hour has come. My judgement approves this measure, and my whole heart is in it. All that I have, and all that I am, and all that I hope in this life, I am now ready here to stake upon it. And I leave off as I began, that live or die, survive or perish, I am for the Declaration. It is my living sentiment, and by the blessing of God it shall be my dying sentiment. Independence now, and Independence for ever!”

    Sink or swim, live or die, survive or perish, I give my hand and my heart to this vote. It is true, indeed, that in the beginning we aimed not at independence. But there's a divinity which shapes our ends. The injustice of England has driven us to arms; and, blinded to her own interest for our good, she has obstinately persisted, till independence is now within our grasp. We have but to reach forth to it, and it is ours. Why, then, should we defer the declaration? Is any man so weak as now to hope for reconciliation with England, which shall leave either safety to the country and its liberties, or safety to his own life and his own honor?" Download - PDF
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The Declaration of Independence- July 4, 1776

    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; that, to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed; that whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it ….

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, do, in the name and by the authority of the good people of these colonies solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, FREE AND INDEPENDENT STATES ... 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. Download - PDF

(Charter or mission statement for the future United States of America)
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John Hancock's letter to British Authorities on the Declaration of Independence - 1776 

     “we are able, and to trust the load to that Being [God] who controls both Causes and Events, so as to bring about his own Determination..”

      Altho it is not possible to foresee the Consequences of human Actions, yet it is nonetheless a Duty we owe ourselves and Posterity in all our public Counsels, to decide in the best Manner we are able, and to trust the load to that Being who controls both Causes and Events, so as to bring about his own Determination.

Impressed with this Sentiment, & at the same Time fully convinced that our Affairs may take a more favourable Turn, the Congress have judged it necessary to dissolve all Connection between Great Britain and the American Colonies, and to declare them free and independent States; Download - PDF

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Patrick Henry - Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death - 1777

     “It is natural to man to indulge in the illusions of hope. We are apt to shut our eyes against a painful truth, and listen to the song of that siren till she transforms us into beasts. Is this the part of wise men, engaged in a great and arduous struggle for liberty? Are we disposed to be of the number of those who, having eyes, see not, and, having ears, hear not, the things which so nearly concern their temporal salvation? For my part, whatever anguish of spirit it may cost, I am willing to know the whole truth; to know the worst, and to provide for it.”

     No man thinks more highly than I do of the patriotism, as well as abilities, of the very worthy gentlemen who have just addressed the House. But different men often see the same subject in different lights; and, therefore, I hope it will not be thought disrespectful to those gentlemen if, entertaining as I do opinions of a character very opposite to theirs, I shall speak forth my sentiments freely and without reserve. This is no time for ceremony. The question before the House is one of awful moment to this country. For my own part, I consider it as nothing less than a question of freedom or slavery; Download - PDF

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Articles of Confederation - 1777

     Every State shall abide by the determination of the United States in Congress assembled, on all questions which by this confederation are submitted to them. And the Articles of this Confederation shall be inviolably observed by every State, and the Union shall be perpetual; nor shall any alteration at any time hereafter be made in any of them; unless such alteration be agreed to in a Congress of the United States, and be afterwards confirmed by the legislatures of every State.

     And Whereas it hath pleased the Great Governor of the World to incline the hearts of the legislatures we respectively represent in Congress, to approve of, and to authorize us to ratify the said Articles of Confederation and perpetual Union. Know Ye that we the undersigned delegates, by virtue of the power and authority to us given for that purpose, do by these presents, in the name and in behalf of our respective constituents, fully and entirely ratify and confirm each and every of the said Articles of Confederation and perpetual Union, and all and singular the matters and things therein contained: And we do further solemnly plight and engage the faith of our respective constituents, that they shall abide by the determinations of the United States in Congress assembled, on all questions, which by the said Confederation are submitted to them. And that the Articles thereof shall be inviolably observed by the States we respectively represent, and that the Union shall be perpetual. Download - PDF

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Thanksgiving Proclaimation by the Continental Congress - 1777

     “solemn thanksgiving to Almighty God for his mercies, and of prayer for the continuance of his favor and protection to these United States; to beseech him that he would be graciously pleased to influence our public councils, and bless them with wisdom from on high, with unanimity, firmness, and success; that he would go forth with our hosts and crown our arms with victory; that he would grant to his church the plentiful effusions of divine grace, and pour out his holy spirit on all  ministers of the gospel; that he would bless and prosper the means of education, and spread the light of Christian knowledge through the remotest corners of the earth; that he would smile upon the labors of his people and cause the earth to bring forth her fruits in abundance; that we may with gratitude and gladness enjoy them; that he would take into his holy protection our illustrious ally, give him victory over his enemies, and render him signally great, as the father of his people and the protector of the rights of mankind.”  - Link to - web site

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Benjamin Franklin - Information to Those Who Would Remove to America - 1782 

     “To this may be truly added, that serious religion, under its various denominations, is not only tolerated, but respected and practiced. 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 to have manifested his approbation of the mutual forbearance and kindness with which the different sects treat each other, by the remarkable prosperity with which He has been pleased to favor the whole country.”

     Many persons in Europe having, directly or by letters, expressed to the writer of this, who is well acquainted with North America, their desire of transporting and establishing themselves in that country; but who appear to have formed, through ignorance, mistaken ideas and expectations of what is to be obtained there; he thinks it may be useful, and prevent inconvenient, expensive, and fruitless removals and voyages of improper persons, if he gives some clearer and truer notions of that part of the world - Download - PDF

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George Washington's Circular to the States - 1783

     “I now make it my earnest prayer, that God would have you, and the State over which you preside, in his holy protection, that he would incline the hearts of the Citizens to cultivate a spirit of subordination and obedience to Government, to entertain a brotherly affection and love for one another, for their fellow Citizens of the United States at large, and particularly for their brethren who have served in the Field, and finally, that he would most graciously be pleased to dispose us all, to do Justice, to love mercy, and to demean ourselves with that Charity, humility and pacific temper of mind, which were the Characteristics of the Divine Author of our blessed Religion, and without an humble imitation of whose example in these things, we can never hope to be a happy Nation.” - Download - PDF

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Evacuation Day - New York City - Nov. 25, 1783 

     “A reverence for the laws is peculiarly essential to public safety and prosperity under our free constitution: should we suffer the authority of the magistrate to be violated for the sake of private vengeance, we should be unworthy of the numberless blessings which an indulgent Providence hath placed within our reach." 

     "While we regard with inviolable gratitude and affection all who have aided us by their counsel or their arms, let us not be unmindful of that Almighty Being, whose gracious Providence has been manifestly interposed for our deliverance and protection; and let us shew by our virtues, that we deserve to partake of the freedom, sovereignty, and independence, which are so happily established throughout these United States.”

 - Download - PDF

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James Madison's Vices of the Political System of the United States - 1787
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Benjamin Franklin's request for prayer at the Constitutional Convention - 1787

     “I have lived, Sir, a long time, and the longer I live, the more convincing proof 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 labour in vain that build it.’

     .... In this situation of this Assembly, groping as it were in the dark to find political truth, and scarce able to distinguish it when presented to us, 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 Great Britain, when we were sensible of danger we had daily prayer in this room for the divine protection. Our prayers, Sir, were heard, & 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 of consulting in peace on the means of establishing our future national felicity."  - Download - PDF

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Constitution of the United States - 1787 

          “With all the defects in our Constitution, whether general or particular, the comparison of our government with those of Europe, is like a comparison of Heaven with Hell. England, like the earth, may be allowed to take the intermediate station.”
Thomas Jefferson, 3rd President of the U. S.

          “If I could have entertained the slightest apprehension that the Constitution framed by the Convention, where I had the honor to preside, might possibly endanger the religious rights of any ecclesiastical society, certainly I would never have placed my signature on it.”
— George Washington (1732-1799) Father of the Country, 1st President of the United States

           “Every word of the Constitution decides a question between power and liberty.” “The future and success of America is not in this Constitution, but in the laws of God upon which this Constitution  is founded.”
   James Madison (1751-1836) Father of the Constitution, 4th President of the United States  - Download - PDF

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Northwest Ordinance - 1787 

     “Sec. 13. And, for extending the fundamental principles of civil and religious liberty, which form the basis whereon these republics, their laws and constitutions are erected; to fix and establish those principles as the basis of all laws, constitutions, and governments, which forever hereafter shall be formed in the said territory: to provide also for the establishment of States, and permanent government therein, and for their admission to a share in the federal councils on an equal footing with the original States, at as early periods as may be consistent with the general interest”

     Art. 3. Religion, morality, and knowledge, being necessary to good government and the happiness of mankind, schools and the means of education shall forever be encouraged. ... Art. 6. There shall be neither slavery nor involuntary servitude in the said territory.Download - PDF

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George Washington's First Inaugural - 1789 

     “It would be peculiarly improper to omit in this first official act my fervent supplications to that Almighty Being who rules over the universe, who presides in the councils of nations, and whose providential aids can supply every human defect, that His benediction may consecrate to the liberties and happiness of the people of the United States a Government instituted by themselves for these essential purposes, and may enable every instrument employed in its administration to execute with success the functions allotted to his charge. In tendering this homage to the Great Author of every public and private good.”

     “The propitious smiles of Heaven can never be expected on a nation that disregards the eternal rules of order and right which Heaven itself has ordained.” Download - PDF

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George Washington's Thanksgiving Proclamation - 1789 

By the President of the United States of America, a Proclamation.

     Whereas 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-- and whereas both Houses of Congress have by their joint Committee requested me to recommend to the People of the United States a day of public thanksgiving and prayer to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many signal favors of Almighty God especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness. Download - PDF

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Bill of Rights - 1791 

     “Let the American youth never forget, that they possess a noble inheritance, brought by the toils, and sufferings, and blood of their ancestors.”

“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 [denominations] and to prevent any national ecclesiastical patronage of the national government.”

“There is not a truth to be gathered from history, more certain, or more momentous, than this: that civil liberty cannot long be separated from religious liberty without the destruction of both. Wherever religious liberty exists, it will, first or last, bring in and establish political liberty.”

— Joseph Story (1779-1845) Supreme Court Justice & Commentator on the U.S. Constitution

 

       “I regard it [the Constitution] as the work of the purest patriots and the wisest statesmen that ever existed,        aided by the smiles of a benignant Providence; . . . it almost appears a Divine interposition in our behalf .         . . . The hand that destroys the Constitution rends our Union asunder for ever.”
        — Daniel Webster (1782-1852) Author, Lawyer and Patriot  
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Fisher Ames - Famous oration in support of the Jay Treaty - 1796

Editors Note: In ill health, and barely able to stand, Fisher Ames made his plea before members of Congress in support the of the Jay Treaty with Great Britain. Ame’s speech, considered to be a world famous oration, moved the vote in Congress to a deadlocked 49-49. Fortunately for the country, the bill passed the next day, by a narrow three votes. Had the funding bill had not passed to support the Jay Treaty, likely the country would have been pulled back into war with Britain.

“I have thus been led by my feelings to speak more at length than I intended. Yet I have, perhaps, as little personal interest in the event as any one here. There is, I believe, no member who will not think his chance to be a witness of the consequences greater than mine. If, however, the vote shall pass to reject, and a spirit should rise, as it will, with the public disorders, to make confusion worse confounded, even I, slender and almost broken as my hold upon life is, may outlive the government and Constitution of my country.” -  Download - PDF

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George Washington's Farewell Address - 1796

     “Can it be that Providence has not connected the permanent felicity of a nation with its virtue? The experiment, at least, is recommended by every sentiment which ennobles human nature. Alas! is it rendered impossible by its vices?”

     “Of all the 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 of human happiness, these firmest props of the duties of men and citizens.”

Friends and Citizens:

The period for a new election of a citizen to administer the executive government of the United States being not far distant, and the time actually arrived when your thoughts must be employed in designating the person who is to be clothed with that important trust, it appears to me proper, especially as it may conduce to a more distinct expression of the public voice, that I should now apprise you of the resolution I have formed, to decline being considered among the number of those out of whom a choice is to be made. - Download - PDF

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Treaty of Tripoli - 1797

     ARTICLE 9.     

     The commerce between the United States and Tripoli,-the protection to be given to merchants, masters of vessels and seamen,- the reciprocal right of establishing consuls in each country, and the privileges, immunities and jurisdictions to be enjoyed by such consuls, are declared to be on the same footing with those of the most favoured nations respectively.

     ARTICLE 10.

     The money and presents demanded by the Bey of Tripoli as a full and satisfactory consideration on his part and on the part of his subjects for this treaty of         perpetual peace and friendship are acknowledged to have been recieved by him previous to his signing the same, according to a reciept which is hereto annexed, except such part as is promised on the part of the United States to be delivered and paid by them on the arrival of their Consul in Tripoly, of which part a note is likewise hereto annexed. And no presence of any periodical tribute or farther payment is ever to be made by either party.

     ARTICLE 11.
     As the government of the United States of America is not in any sense founded on the Christian Religion as it has in itself no character of enmity against the laws, religion or tranquility of Musselmen,-and as the said States never have entered into any war or act of hostility against any Mehomitan nation, it is declared by the parties that no pretext arising from religious opinions shall ever produce an interruption of the harmony existing between the two countries. 
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Review of the often misquoted Article 11 of the Treaty of Tripoli and brief historical context of the treaty.
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Link to Web Page

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John Adams - Proclamation Fasting and Prayer - 1798

     “AS the safety and prosperity of nations ultimately and essentially depend on the protection and blessing of Almighty God; and the national acknowledgment of this truth is not only an indispensable duty which the people owe to Him, but a duty whose natural influence is favorable to the promotion of that morality and piety, without which social happiness cannot exist, nor the blessings of a free government be enjoyed; and as this duty, at all times incumbent, is so especially in seasons of difficulty and of danger, when existing or threatening calamities, the just judgments of God against prevalent iniquity are a loud call to repentance and reformation.”

 

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Elias Boudinot - The Age of Revelation; or The Age of Reason shewn to be An Age of Infidelity - 1801    

(In response to Thomas Paine's Age of Reason)

     "If the Son of God has appeared in this our world, and has proved his mission by miracles and prophecies ; in a word, by doing works, that no other man ever did, and that in proof of doctrines the most pure, moral, religious and benevolent; honourable to God, and beneficial to man; do they not demand, at least, as much respect, as men pay every day to their fellow creatures, whom they know to be fallible and imperfect; sometimes immoral, dissolute, and profane. …

     I confess, that I was much mortified to find, the whole force of this vain man's genius and art, pointed at the youth of America, and her unlearned citizens, (for I have no doubt, but that it was originally intended for them) in hopes of raising a sceptical temper and disposition in their minds, well knowing that this was the best inlet to infidelity, and the most effectual way of serving its cause, thereby sapping the foundation of our holy religion in their minds. ….

     This awful consequence, created some alarm in my mind, lest at any future day, you, my beloved child, might take up this plausible address of infidelity; and, for want of an answer at hand to his subtle insinuations, might suffer even a doubt of the truth, as it is in Jesus, to penetrate into your mind." 

The Age of Revelation; or The Age of Reason shewn to be An Age of Infidelity - 1801

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Thomas Jefferson - The Life and Morals of Jesus of Nazareth (Jefferson Bible) - 1804    

"the Philosophy Of Jesus Of Nazareth"

"Extracted from the account of his life and doctrines as given by Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. Being an abridgment of the New Testament for the use of the Indians, unembarrassed with matters of fact or faith beyond the level of their comprehensions."

     “We must reduce our volume to the simple evangelists, select, even from them, the very words only of Jesus, paring off the umphiboligisms into which they have been led, by forgetting often, or not understanding, what bad fallen from him, by giving their own misconceptions as his dicta, and expressing unintelligibly for others what they had not understood themselves. There will be found remaining the most sublime and benevolent code of morals, which has ever been offered to man. I have performed this operation for my own use, by cutting verso by verse out of the printed book, and arranging the matter which is evidently his, and which is as easily distinguishable as diamonds in a dunghill.”  

The Life and Morals of Jesus of Nazareth - 1804

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Noah Webster - The Second Great Awakening - 1808

     "About a year ago an unusual revival of religion took place in New Haven. .... During this time, my mind continued to be more and more agitated, and in a manner wholly unusual and to me unaccountable. I had indeed short composure, but at all times of the day and in the midst of other occupations, I was suddenly seized with impressions, which called my mind irresistibly to religious concerns and to the awakening. …

     The impressions however grew stronger till at length I could not pursue my studies without frequent interruptions. My mind was suddenly arrested, without any previous circumstance of the time to draw it to this subject and as it were fastened to the awakening and upon my own conduct. I closed my books, yielded to the influence, which could not be resisted or mistaken and was led by a spontaneous impulse to repentance, prayer and entire submission and surrender of myself to my maker and redeemer. My submission appeared to be cheerful and was soon followed by that peace of mind which the world can neither give nor take away. …

     I could no longer question or have a doubt respecting … Christian doctrines of regeneration, of free grace and of the sovereignty of God. I now began to understand and relish many parts of the scriptures, which before appeared mysterious and unintelligible, or repugnant to my natural pride." Download - PDF

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Dr Benjamin Rush - A Defence of the Bible in schools - 1812

     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 re publican governments. Such is my veneration for every religion that reveals the attributes of the Deity, or a future state of rewards and punishments, that I had rather see the opinions of Confucius or Mohammed inculcated upon our youth than see them grow up wholly devoid of a system of religious principles. But the religion I mean to recommend in this place is the religion of Jesus Christ. It is foreign to my purpose to hint at the arguments which establish the truth of the Christian revelation. My only business is to declare that all its doctrines and precepts are calculated to promote the happiness of society and the safety and well-being of civil government. A Christian cannot fail of being a republican.*  (To be added)

*Republicanism is more than a form of government, such as our Constitutional Republic. It a Judio-Christian biblically based political philosophy based on republican principles, comprised of republican vales and virtues (not the Republican Party). The foundation or bedrock of republicanism is God, His law and blessing upon a people and a nation. Republicicanism is spiritual as well and resides in the heart. ...

- Link to explanation of Republicanism and American Exceptionalism

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Francis Scott Key - The Star Spangled Banner - 1814

     “Blest with vict'ry and peace, may the heav'n-rescued land Praise the Pow'r that hath made and preserv'd us as a nation! Then conquer we must, when our cause. it is just, And this be our motto: ‘In God is our trust.’ And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!”

       O, thus be it ever when freemen shall stand,

       Between their lov'd homes and the war's desolation;

       Blest with vict'ry and peace, may the heav'n-rescued land

       Praise the Pow'r that hath made and preserv'd us as a nation!

Then conquer we must, when our cause. it is just,

And this be our motto: "In God is our trust"

And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave

O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!  - Download - PDF 

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Jubilee of Freedom - July 4th - 1826
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John Quincy Adams - Oration Delivered Before the Inhabitants of the town of at Newburyport, MA July 4th - 1837

     “Is it not that, in the chain of human events, the birthday of the nation is indissolubly linked with the birthday of the Saviour? 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 corner stone of human government upon the first precepts of Christianity, and gave to the world the first irrevocable pledge of the fulfillment of the prophecies, announced directly from Heaven at the birth of the Saviour and predicted by the greatest of the Hebrew prophets six hundred years before?” …

     “And, by this paper, this One People did notify the world of mankind that they thereby did assume among the powers of the earth the separate and equal station, to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitled them.

     This was indeed a great and solemn event. The sublimes of the prophets of antiquity with the voice of inspiration had exclaimed, "Who hath heard such a thing? Who hath seen such things? Shall the earth be made to bring forth in one day? Or shall a nation be born at once?" In the two thousand five hundred years, that had elapsed since the days of that prophecy, no such event had occurred. It had never been seen before. In the annals of the human race, then, for the first time, did one People announce themselves as a member of that great community of the powers of the earth, acknowledging the obligations and claiming the rights of the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God. The earth was made to bring forth in one day! A Nation was born at once!" -  Download - PDF   

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John Quincy Adams - The Jubilee of the Constitution, Fiftieth Anniversary of the Inauguration of George Washington, New York, April 30th - 1839

     "George Washington ...  in the visions of the night, the guardian angel of the Father of our country had appeared before him, in the venerated form of his mother, and, to cheer and encourage him in the performance of the momentous and solemn duties that he was about to assume, had delivered to him a suit of celestial armor."

     "Yes, gentlemen! on that shield, the CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES was sculptured (by forms unseen, and in characters then invisible to mortal eye,) the predestined and prophetic history of the one confederated people of the North American Union."

     "And now the future is all before us, and Providence our guide…. The ark of your covenant is the Declaration of independence. Your Mount Ebal, is the confederacy of separate state sovereignties, and your Mount Gerizim is the Constitution of the United States. In that scene of tremendous and awful solemnity, narrated in the Holy Scriptures there is not a curse pronounced against the people, upon Mount Ebal, not a blessing promised them upon Mount Gerizim, which your posterity may not suffer or enjoy, from your and their adherence to, or departure from, the principles of the Declaration of Independence, practically interwoven in the Constitution of the United States. Lay up these principles, then, in your hearts, and in your souls - bind them for signs upon your hands, that they may be as frontlets between your eyes - teach them to your children, speaking of them when sitting in your houses, when walking by the way, when lying down and when rising up - write them upon the doorplates of your houses, and upon your gates - cling to them as to the issues of life - adhere to them as to the cords of your eternal salvation. So may your children's children at the next return of this day of jubilee, after a full century of experience under your national Constitution, celebrate it again in the full enjoyment of all the blessings recognized by you in the commemoration of this day, and of all the blessings promised to the children of Israel upon Mount Gerizim, as the reward of obedience to the law of God." -  Download - PDF 

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Napoleon Bonaparte - On the Divinity of Jesus Christ, exiled on Saint Helena - 1820

     “I know men; and I tell you that Jesus Christ is not a man. Superficial minds see a resemblance between Christ and the founders of empires, and the gods of other religions. That resemblance does not exist. There is between Christianity and whatever other religions the distance of infinity...”

     “The Bible is no mere book, but a Living Creature, with a power that conquers all that oppose it.”

     “Time, the great destroyer, is powerless to extinguish this sacred flame; time can neither exhaust its strength nor put a limit to its range. This is it, which strikes me most; I have often thought of it. This it is which proves to me quite convincingly the Divinity of Jesus Christ.”

        “If you do not perceive that Jesus Christ is God, very well, then I did wrong to make you a general.” - Download - PDF 

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Abraham Lincoln's Advice to the American People on the Constitution - 1837

     “Let every American, every lover of liberty, every well-wisher to his posterity, swear by the blood of the Revolution, never to violate in the least particular the laws of the country, and never to tolerate their violation by others. As the patriots of seventy-six did to the support of the Declaration of Independence, so to the support of the Constitution and laws let every American pledge his life, his property, and his sacred honor—let every man remember that to violate the law is to trample on the blood of his father, and to tear the charter of his own and his children’s liberty. Let reverence for the laws be breathed by every American mother to the lisping babe that prattles on her lap; let it be taught in schools, in seminaries, and in colleges; let it be written in primers, spelling—books, and in almanacs; let it be preached from the pulpit, proclaimed in legislative halls, and enforced in courts of justice.”
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Daniel Webster - Reception at Madison - 1837

     “On the diffusion of education among the people rest the preservation and perpetuation of our free institutions. I apprehend no danger to our country from a foreign foe. The prospect of a war with any powerful nation is too remote to be a matter of calculation. Besides, there is no nation on earth powerful enough to accomplish our overthrow. Our destruction, should it come at all, will be from another quarter. From the inattention of the people to the concerns of their government, from their carelessness and negligence, I must confess that I do apprehend some danger. I fear that they may place too implicit a confidence in their public servants, and fail properly to scrutinize their conduct; that in this way they may be made the dupes of designing men, and become the instruments of their own undoing. Make them intelligent, and they will be vigilant; give them the means of detecting the wrong, and they will apply the remedy. … 

I regard it [Constitution] as the work of the purest patriots and wisest statesmen that ever existed, aided by the smiles of a benignant Providence for when we regard it as a system of government growing out of the discordant opinions and conflicting interests of thirteen independent States, it almost appears a Divine interposition in our behalf. … the hand that destroys the Constitution rends our Union asunder for ever.”
 
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Daniel Webster - The Dignity and Importance of History - 1853

     "Unborn ages and visions of glory crowd upon my soul, the realization of which, however, is in the hands and good pleasure of Almighty God, but, under His divine blessing, it will be dependent on the character and the virtues of ourselves and our posterity. ….And let me say, gentlemen, that if we and our posterity shall be true to the Christian religion, if we and they shall live always in the fear of God, and shall respect His commandments, if we and they shall maintain just moral sentiments and such conscientious convictions of duty as shall control the heart and life, we may have the highest hopes of the future fortunes of our country …. It will have no decline and fall. It will go on prospering and to prosper.

But if we and our posterity reject religious institutions and authority, violate the rules of eternal justice, trifile with the injunctions of morality, and recklessly destroy the political constitution which holds us together, no man can tell how sudden a catastrophe may overwhelm us that shall bury all our glory in profound obscurity. Should that catastrophe happen, let it have no history! Let the horrible narrative never be written! Let its fate be like that of the lost books of Livy, which no human eye shall ever read, or the missing Pleiad, of which no man can ever know more than that it is lost, and lost forever!"  - Link to Web Page

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Abraham Lincoln's First Inaugural Address - 1861

     “Descending from these general principles, we find the proposition that in legal contemplation the Union is perpetual confirmed by the history of the Union itself. The Union is much older than the Constitution. It was formed, in fact, by the Articles of Association in 1774. It was matured and continued by the Declaration of Independence in 1776. It was further matured, and the faith of all the then thirteen States expressly plighted and engaged that it should be perpetual, by the Articles of Confederation in 1778. And finally, in 1787, one of the declared objects for ordaining and establishing the Constitution was ‘to form a more perfect Union.’ But if destruction of the Union by one or by a part only of the States be lawfully possible, the Union is less perfect than before the Constitution, having lost the vital element of perpetuity.” 

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The Emancipation Proclamation - 1863

     That on the first day of January, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, all persons held as slaves within any State or designated part of a State, the people whereof shall then be in rebellion against the United States, shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free; and the Executive Government of the United States, including the military and naval authority thereof, will recognize and maintain the freedom of such persons, and will do no act or acts to repress such persons, or any of them, in any efforts they may make for their actual freedom. …

Now, therefore I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States, by virtue of the power in me vested as Commander-in-Chief, of the Army and Navy of the United States in time of actual armed rebellion against the authority and government of the United States, and as a fit and necessary war measure for suppressing said rebellion, do, …

And upon this act, sincerely believed to be an act of justice, warranted by the Constitution, upon military necessity, I invoke the considerate judgment of mankind, and the gracious favor of Almighty God.

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Abraham Lincoln National Fast Day - 1863

     “And whereas it is the duty of nations as well as of men, to own their dependence upon the overruling power of God, to confess their sins and transgressions, in humble sorrow, yet with assured hope that genuine repentance will lead to mercy and pardon; and to recognize the sublime truth, announced in the Holy Scriptures and proven by all history, that those nations only are blessed whose God is the Lord.”

A Proclamation.

Whereas, the Senate of the United States, devoutly recognizing the Supreme Authority and just Government of Almighty God, in all the affairs of men and of nations, has, by a resolution, requested the President to designate and set apart a day for National prayer and humiliation. - Download - PDF

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Gettysburg Address - 1863

    "Fourscore and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation or any nation so conceived and so dedicated can long endure. We are met on a great battlefield of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field as a final resting-place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live….”

Abraham Lincoln describing July 5th, 1863 — "Well, I will tell you how it was. In the pinch of the campaign up there (at Gettysburg) when everybody seemed panic-stricken and nobody could tell what was going to happen, oppressed by the gravity of our affairs, I went to my room one day and locked the door and got down on my knees before Almighty God and prayed to Him mightily for victory at Gettysburg. I told Him that this war was His war, and our cause His cause, but we could not stand another Fredericksburg or Chancellorsville. Then and there I made a solemn vow to Almighty God that if He would stand by our boys at Gettysburg, I would stand by Him. And after that, I don't know how it was, and I cannot explain it, but soon a sweet comfort crept into my soul. The feeling came that God had taken the whole business into His own hands and that things would go right at Gettysburg, and that is why I had no fears about you.” - Download - PDF

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Abraham Lincoln's Thanksgiving Proclamation - 1863

    The ever watchful providence of Almighty God. … In the midst of a civil war of unequaled magnitude and severity, which has sometimes seemed to foreign States to invite and to provoke the aggression, peace has been preserved with all nations, order has been maintained, the laws have been respected and obeyed, and harmony has prevailed … They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy. It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently and gratefully acknowledged as with one heart and one voice by the whole American People. ...

     I …set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next, as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens. And I recommend to them that while offering up the ascription's justly due to Him for such singular deliverance's and blessings, they do also, with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience, commend to His tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably engaged, and fervently implore the interposition of the Almighty hand to heal the wounds of the nation, and to restore it as soon as may be consistent with the Divine purposes to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquility, and Union. Download - PDF 

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Abraham Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address - 1865

     “Both read the same Bible and pray to the same God, and each invokes His aid against the other. It may seem strange that any men should dare to ask a just God's assistance in wringing their bread from the sweat of other men's faces, but let us judge not, that we be not judged. The prayers of both could not be answered. That of neither has been answered fully. The Almighty has His own purposes. ‘Woe unto the world because of offenses; for it must needs be that offenses come, but woe to that man by whom the offense cometh.’ ... If we shall suppose that American slavery is one of those offenses which, in the providence of God, must needs come, but which, having continued through His appointed time, He now wills to remove, and that He gives to both North and South this terrible war ...As was said three thousand years ago, so still it must be said 'the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether.'" Fellow-Countrymen:  Download - PDF

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Oath of the Continental Army




    
 “So help me God”

     “I, _______________ do acknowledge the United States of America to be free, independent and sovereign states, and declare that the people thereof owe no allegiance or obedience, to George the third, king of Great Britain; and I renounce, refuse and abjure any allegiance or obedience to him: and I do swear (or affirm) that I will, to the utmost of my power, support, maintain and defend the said United States, against the said king George the third and his heirs and successors, and his and their abettors, assistants and adherents, and will serve the said United States in the office of _______________ which I now hold, with fidelity, according to the best of my skill and understanding. So help me God.” Download - PDF

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Oath of the President of the United States


 


     “So help me God”

     I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my Ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States. “So help me God.”

Editors Note: The duties of the office of president, and oath of office, are spelled out under Article II of the Constitution. George Washington as the country’s first president, set the tradition for all future presidents to follow by adding the words “I swear-so help me God!” after the oath of office or today the words “So help me God.”  - Download - PDF

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Oath of members of Congress and Supreme Court

    
 

     “So help me God”

With their hand on the Bible swear to support and defend the Constitution ...

     “I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the                   duties of the office on which I am about to enter: So help me God.

“I, ____________________________,  do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will administer justice without respect to persons, and do equal right to the poor and to the rich, and that I will faithfully and impartially discharge and perform all the duties incumbent upon me as [TITLE] under the Constitution and laws of the United States. So help me God.”  - Download - PDF

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Oath of the Military of the United States

     

     “So help me God”


     "I, ____________________________, do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; and that I will obey the orders (constitutional & lawful) of the President of the United States and the orders (constitutional & lawful) of the officers appointed over me, according to regulations and the Uniform Code of Military Justice. So help me God." - Download - PDF

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Oath of Citizenship - United States of America



     “So help me God”

     "... I will support and defend the Constitution and laws of the United States of America against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I will bear arms on behalf of the United States when required by law; that I will perform noncombatant service in the Armed Forces of the United States when required by the law; that I will perform work of national importance under civilian direction when required by the law; and that I take this obligation freely without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; so help me God.” - Download - PDF

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Oath for American Citizens to Vote - United States of America - Proposed

Excerpt: In the United States of America, any citizen over the age of 18, and who meets their perspective state requirements, may vote in Federal elections. For natural-born citizens however, no oath “to protect and defend the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America against enemies foreign and domestic” is required. Natural-born citizens are not tested on their competency of American history, Constitution, Bill of Rights, government, literacy or required to be a “person of good moral character” as those applying for citizenship. An oath “to protect and defend the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America against enemies foreign and domestic” is required for those applying for citizenship, President, Congress, Judicial, Military, National Guard, and federal employees. 

George Washington said, “The preservation of the sacred fire of liberty and the destiny of the republican model of government are justly considered, perhaps, as deeply, as finally, staked on the experiment entrusted to the hands of the American people.” Founding Father Dr Benjamin Rush stated that, “Freedom can exist only in the society of knowledge. Without learning, men are incapable of knowing their rights.” … Truths once considered to be self-evident are no longer, and with loss of truth, and knowledge, comes loss of rights, liberty, and freedom, and eventually, loss of country. Download - PDF

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Additional Oath for ALL Government Offices - United States of America - Proposed

     

     With hand on the bible, “I acknowledge I have read, understand and will faithfully support the Declaration of Independence, Constitution, and Bill of Rights. I entirely renounce and abjure all oaths and allegiances other than to God and the United States of America. I will faithfully read, and comprehend ALL legislation before I cast my vote or sign any bill or legislation. I do solemnly swear that I will not sign, pass or vote for any legislation that violates the Constitution of the United States of America, so help me God.”  Download - PDF


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Winston Churchill - Blood, Toil, and Sweat - 1940

     “And do not suppose that this is the end. This is only the beginning of the reckoning. This is only the first sip, the first foretaste of a bitter cup which will be proffered to us year by year, unless by a supreme recovery of moral health and martial vigor, arise and take our stand for freedom as in the olden time.”

      “I am prepared to meet my Maker. Whether my Maker is prepared for the great ordeal of meeting me is another matter.”

      “You can measure a man's character by the choices he makes under pressure.”

      “History will be kind to me for I intend to write it.”

     “Today is Trinity Sunday. Centuries ago words were written to be a call and a spur to the faithful servants of Truth and Justice: Arm yourselves, and be ye men of valour, and be in readiness for the conflict; for it is better for us to perish in battle than to look upon the outrage of our nation and our altar. As the will of God is in Heaven, even so let it be.” - Download - PDF

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Winston Churchill - This was their finest hour - 1940

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Franklin Delanor Roosevelt's D-Day Prayer - June 6, 1944


     “Almighty God: our sons, pride of our Nation, this day have set upon a mighty endeavor, a struggle to preserve our Republic, our religion, and our civilization, and to set free a suffering humanity..”





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John F. Kennedy - First Inaugural Address - January 20, 1961

     "For I have sworn before you and Almighty God the same solemn oath our forbears prescribed nearly a century and three-quarters ago.

     The world is very different now. For man holds in his mortal hands the power to abolish all forms of human poverty and all forms of human life. And yet the same revolutionary beliefs for which our forebears fought are still at issue around the globe--the belief that the rights of man come not from the generosity of the state but from the hand of God.

     We dare not forget today that we are the heirs of that first revolution. Let the word go forth from this time and place, to friend and foe alike, that the torch has been passed to a new generation of Americans--born in this century, tempered by war, disciplined by a hard and bitter peace, proud of our ancient heritage--and unwilling to witness or permit the slow undoing of those human rights to which this nation has always been committed, and to which we are committed today at home and around the world.

     Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe to assure the survival and the success of liberty. …. With a good conscience our only sure reward, with history the final judge of our deeds, let us go forth to lead the land we love, asking His blessing and His help, but knowing that here on earth God's work must truly be our own."

John F. Kennedy - First Inagural address audio - January 20, 1961

John F. Kennedy - First Inagural address text - January 20, 1961
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Ronald Reagan - A Time for Choosing - October 27, 1964

     "Well I think it's time we ask ourselves if we still know the freedoms that were intended for us by the Founding Fathers. … If we lose freedom here, there's no place to escape to. This is the last stand on earth.

And this idea that government is beholden to the people, that it has no other source of power except the sovereign people, is still the newest and the most unique idea in all the long history of man's relation to man. …Well, perhaps there is a simple answer—not an easy answer—but simple: If you and I have the courage to tell our elected officials that we want our national policy based on what we know in our hearts is morally right. ...

You and I have a rendezvous with destiny. We'll preserve for our children this, the last best hope of man on earth, or we'll sentence them to take the last step into a thousand years of darkness."

A Time for Choosing - Stump Speech - October 27, 1964

A Time for Choosing - Stump Speech Video - October 27, 1964
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Ronald Reagan's Evil Empire Speech - March 8, 1983

     “Yes, let us pray for the salvation of all of those who live in that totalitarian darkness — pray they will discover the joy of knowing God. But until they do, let us be aware that while they preach the supremacy of the state, declare its omnipotence over individual man, and predict its eventual domination of all peoples on the Earth, they are the focus of evil in the modern world. …So, I urge you to speak out against those who would place the United States in a position of military and moral inferiority. …So, in your discussions of the nuclear freeze proposals, I urge you to beware the temptation of pride — the temptation of blithely declaring yourselves above it all and label both sides equally at fault, to ignore the facts of history and the aggressive impulses of an evil empire, to simply call the arms race a giant misunderstanding and thereby remove yourself from the struggle between right and wrong and good and evil.”

“He called us the ‘Evil Empire.’ So why did you in the West laugh at him? It’s true!”
— Arkady Murashev, Moscow police chief, a leader of Democratic Russia

Editors Note: Reagan’s anticommunist work with John Paul II, the "Holy Alliance," would be tied to a series of messages given to three illiterate children in Fatima, Portugal in 1917, by an apparition of the Virgin Mary. The messages were given to the children at the end of WWI, years before Russia was a country. - Download - PDF

Ronald Reagan's Evil Empire Speech - March 8, 1983

Ronald Reagan's Evil Empire Speech Video - March 8, 1983
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Ronald Reagan's Farewell Address - January 11, 1989

     There's a clear cause and effect here that is as neat and predictable as a law of physics: As government expands, liberty contracts. ...Ours was the first revolution in the history of mankind that truly reversed the course of government, and with three little words: "We the people." "We the people" tell the government what to do, it doesn't tell us. "We the people" are the driver, the government is the car. And we decide where it should go, and by what route, and how fast. Almost all the world's constitutions are documents in which governments tell the people what their privileges are. Our Constitution is a document in which "We the people" tell the government what it is allowed to do. "We the people" are free. This belief has been the underlying basis for everything I've tried to do these past eight years. …

we're about to enter the '90s, and some things have changed. Younger parents aren't sure that an unambivalent appreciation of America is the right thing to teach modern children. And as for those who create the popular culture, well-grounded patriotism is no longer the style. Our spirit is back, but we haven't reinstitutionalized it. We've got to do a better job of getting across that America is freedom--freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom of enterprise. And freedom is special and rare. It's fragile; it needs protection. … If we forget what we did, we won't know who we are. I'm warning of an eradication of the American memory that could result, ultimately, in an erosion of the American spirit. Let's start with some basics: more attention to American history and a greater emphasis on civic ritual.  … So, we've got to teach history based not on what's in fashion but what's important. …And so, good-bye, God bless you, and God bless the United States of America.

Ronald Reagan's Farewell Address Text - January 11, 1989

Ronald Reagan's Farewell Address Video - January 11, 1989
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The Ten Commandments

     “We have staked the whole future of American civilization, not upon the power of government, far from it. We have staked the future of all our American institutions upon the capacity of each and all of us to govern ourselves, to sustain ourselves, according to the Ten Commandments of God.”
— James Madison (1751-1836) Fourth President of the United States

     “The Ten Commandments and the Sermon on the Mount contain my religion...”
— John Adams (1797-1801) Second President of the United States and Patriot

   “If the time ever comes when we shall go to pieces, it will ... be ... from inward corruption - from the disregard of right principles ... from losing sight of the fact that ‘Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people.’ [Proverbs 14:34 RSV]. ...T]he secession of the Southern States in 1860 was a small matter with the secession of the Union itself from the great principles enunciated in the Declaration of Independence, in the Golden Rule, in the Ten Commandments, in the Sermon on the Mount. Unless we hold, and hold firmly to these great fundamental principles of righteousness, ...our Union ... will be ‘only a covenant with death and an agreement with hell.’” “The race that puts its trust in God has always, under all circumstances, more for it than against it.”
— Francis Grimke (1852-1937) Black Presbyterian minister & leader who helped organize American Negro Academy.

     “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! For this very reason peoples of other faiths have been afforded asylum, prosperity, and freedom of worship here.”
— Patrick Henry (1736-1799) Patriot, Lawyer and Orator

     “The Law given from Sinai [The Ten Commandments] was a civil and municipal as well as a moral and religious code.”  
— John Quincy Adams, (1767-1848)  6th President of the United States  
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The Seven Deadly Sins

     “Those things doth the Lord hate: A proud Look, a lying Tongue, and Hands that shed innocent Blood.”
— Jonas Clark (1730-1805) Minute Men Leader, Patriot Pastor at the Church of Lexington & Author

      “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 (1737-1832) Founding Father and Leader from Maryland

     “As piety and virtue support the honor and happiness of every community, they are peculiarly requisite in a free government. Virtue is the spirit of a republic; for where all power is derived from the people, all depends on their good disposition. If they are impious ... all is lost.”
— Samuel Cooper (1725-1783) Pastor of the Brattle Street Church Boston, Pastor of  John Hancock, James Bowdoin, and John Adams

 “It is only what is written upon the soul of man that will survive the wreck of time.”
— Francis Grimke (1852-1937) Black Presbyterian minister & leader who helped organize American Negro Academy.  - 
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The Seven Gifts of the Holy Spirit

     “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, inscription on the Jefferson Memorial

     “No people ought to feel greater obligations to celebrate the goodness of the Great Disposer of Events and of [the] destiny of nations than the people of the United States ... And to the same Divine Author of every good and perfect gift we are indebted for all those privileges and advantages, religious as well as civil, which are so richly enjoyed this favored land.”

— James Madison (1751-1836) Fourth President of the United States

     “I believe the Bible is the best gift God has ever given man. All the good from the Saviour of the world is communicated to us through this book.”
— Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865) Sixteenth President of the United States  
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The Nine Supernatural Gifts of the Holy Spirit

    “And whatever you ask in prayer, you will receive, if you have faith.”

— Matthew 21:22 RSV

     “Freedom is not a gift bestowed upon us by other men, but a right that belongs to us by the laws of God.”

— Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790) Statesman, Scientist, Inventor, Printer and Philosopher

     “No people ought to feel greater obligations to celebrate the goodness of the Great Disposer of Events and of [the] destiny of nations than the people of the United States ... And to the same Divine Author of every good and perfect gift we are indebted for all those privileges and advantages, religious as well as civil, which are so richly enjoyed this favored land.”
— James Madison (1751-1836) Fourth President of the United States 
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The Twelve Fruits of the Holy Spirit

     “The Christian religion, in its purity, is the basis and 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.”
— Noah Webster (1758-1843)  Father of the Dictionary & American Patriot

    “Therefore I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a nation producing the fruits of it.”
— Matthew 21:43 RSV

     “To the character of hero and patriot, this good man added that of Christian. Although the greatest man upon earth, he disdained not to humble himself before his God and to trust in the mercies of Christ.”
— Gunning Bedford (1747-1812 )  Patriot, Lawyer, & Signer of the Constitution from Delaware 
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Six things the Lord hates

    “Those who wish well to the State ought to choose to places of trust men of inward principle, justified by exemplary conversation. Is it reasonable to expect wisdom from the ignorant?  fidelity from the  profligate?  assiduity and application to public business from men of a  dissipated life? Is it reasonable to commit the management of public revenue to one who hath wasted his own  patrimony? Those, therefore, who pay no regard to religion and sobriety in the persons whom they send to the legislature of any State are guilty of the greatest absurdity and will soon pay dear for their folly.”
— John Witherspoon (1722-1794) Educator, Economist, Minister, Writer & Founding Father

    “I have been alternately called an aristocrat and a democrat. I am neither. I am a Christocrat. I believe all power ... will always fail of producing order and happiness in the hands of man. He alone who created and redeemed man is qualified to govern him.”
— Benjamin Rush (1745-1813) Founding Father& signer of the Declaration of Independence

    “Amongst other strange things said of me, I hear it is said by the deists that I am one of their number; and, indeed, that some good people think I am no Christian. This thought gives me much more pain than the appellation of Tory; because I think religion of infinitely higher importance than politics; and I find much cause to reproach myself that I have lived so long and have given no decided and public proofs of my being a Christian. But, indeed, my dear child, this is a character which I prize far above all this world has, or can boast.”
— Patrick Henry (1736-1799) Patriot, Lawyer and Orator 
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The Report of Pontius Pilate, Governor of Judea; sent to August Caesar in Rome

   “And at the time he was crucified there was darkness over all the world, the sun being darkened at mid-day, and the stars appearing, but in them there appeared no lustre; and the moon, as if turned into blood, failed in her light.”

    To the most mighty, venerable, most divine, and most terrible, the august Cæsar, Pilate the governor of the East sends greeting. I have, O most mighty, a narrative to give you, on account of which I am seized with fear and trembling. For in this government of mine, of which one of the cities is called Jerusalem, all the people of the Jews have delivered to me a man named Jesus, bringing many charges against him, which they were not able to convict him of by the consistency of their evidence. And one of the heresies they had against him was, that Jesus said that their Sabbath should not be a day of leisure, and should not be observed. For he performed many cures on that day: he made the blind receive their sight, the lame walk; Download - PDF

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The Report of Pontius Pilate, Governor of Judea; sent to Tiberius Ceasar in Rome

     “And amid the terror dead men were seen rising again, so that the Jews who saw it said, We beheld Abraham and Isaac, and Jacob, and the twelve patriarchs, who died some two thousand five hundred years before, and we beheld Noah clearly in the body.”

     I HAVE undertaken to communicate to thy goodness by this my writing, though possessed with much fear and trembling, most excellent king, the present state of affairs, as the result hath shown. For as I administered this province, my lord, according to the command of thy serenity, which is one of the eastern cities called Jerusalem, wherein the temple of the nation of the Jews is erected, all the multitude of the Jews, being assembled, delivered up to me a certain man called Jesus, bringing many and endless accusations against him; but they could not convict him in anything. But they had one heresy against him, that he said the sabbath was not their proper rest. Download - PDF

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“Where there is no prophecy the people cast off restraint, but blessed is he who keeps the law.”
Proverbs 29:18 RSV



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Through God’s blessing, grace and assistance,

Washington made our Country and Lincoln saved our Country. 
For our God and our Union ....

Who will be the Third Protector of our Liberties and Freedoms?
Will there be a Third Protector of our Liberties and Freedoms?

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No authority on earth supersedes God’s Word and Law.
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www.GodTheOriginalIntent.com

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When a people lose their history, they lose a part of who they are.
Reclaim your heritage, pass this on to a friend or family member.

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