Our Founding Fathers’ Beliefs

Our nation’s heritage is firmly rooted in religious principles. This truth is clearly seen in our pledge of allegiance, our national anthem, our money, our unique form of government and in our founding fathers’ beliefs.

Our founding fathers believed that national prosperity and morality were inseparably linked to religious principles. This fact is evidenced by the following founding fathers quotes:

Our Founding Father’s Principles

Clearly, our nation’s heritage is deeply rooted in religious principles. This was at the core of our founding fathers’ beliefs. Our forefathers took God’s Word seriously. They established a nation founded on biblical principles that publicly acknowledged God’s headship and providential protection.

Our founding fathers understood fundamental biblical truths and structured our government accordingly. They established three branches of government to protect against unrestrained pursuit of self-interest and abuse of power.

Our founding fathers debated at length whether good government was a function of good laws or a function of good men. William Penn determined that although good laws were important, good leaders were paramount to good government when he said:

“Governments, like clocks, go from the motion men give them… Wherefore governments rather depend upon men, than men upon governments. Let men be good, and the government cannot be bad… But if men be bad, the government [will] never [be] good.” ⁽⁵⁾

Our forefathers realized that neither good laws nor the Constitution could restrain wicked men and corrupt leaders. They understood that the corrupt nature of man’s heart, left unrestrained, would inevitably lead to moral decline. As John Adams eloquently stated:

Founding Father’s Warnings

Our forefathers left us numerous warnings concerning what would happen if we violated the principles that they had put in place. They warned that our nation’s future depended its citizens acknowledging God and submitting to His principles. To do otherwise would result in rampant immorality and deteriorating political prosperity. Finally, they warned this would ultimately lead to a national denial of God’s headship and bring with it God’s judgment on America and her people.

Consider the following warnings from our founding fathers:

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1. George Washington; William J. Federer, America’s God and Country Encyclopedia of Quotations, FAME Publishing, Inc., 1996, p. 661; David Barton, America To Pray? Or Not to Pray?, (Aledo, TX: WallBuilder Press, 1995), p.23

10. John Adams; William J. Federer, America’s God and Country Encyclopedia of Quotations, FAME Publishing, Inc., 1996, pp. 10, 11; David Barton, America To Pray? Or Not to Pray?, (Aledo, TX: WallBuilder Press, 1995), p.87; Michael R. Myers, It’s Time to Remember America!, Horizon Books, 1999, p. 72
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Other Warnings

John Adams (1735-1826) Second President of the United States

“…If ‘Thou shalt not covet,’ and ‘Thou shalt not steal,’ were not commandments of Heaven, they must be made inviolable precepts in every society, before it can be civilized or made free.” ⁽¹¹⁾

Elias Boudinot (1740-1821)

“If the moral character of a people once degenerate, their political character must soon follow…..These considerations should lead to an attentive solitude…to be religiously careful in our choice of all public officers…. and judge of the tree by its fruits.” ⁽¹²⁾

Edmund Burke (1729-1797) Leader in Great Britain during American Revolution

“The people never give up their liberties but under some delusion.” ⁽¹³⁾

“The true danger is when liberty is nibbled away, for expedience, and by parts.” ⁽¹⁴⁾

“No one could make a greater mistake than he who did nothing because he could only do a little.” ⁽¹⁵⁾

“When bad men combine, the good must associate else they will fall one by one, and unpitied sacrifice in a contemptible struggle.” ⁽¹⁶⁾

“All that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing.” ⁽¹⁷⁾

Whitaker Chambers (1901-1961) American Journalist

“Humanism is not new. It is in fact, man’s second oldest faith. It’s promise was whispered in the first days of creation under the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil: Ye shall be as gods.” ⁽¹⁸⁾

Rev. Charles Finney (1792- 1875) Attorney Turned Evangelist

“The Church must take right ground to politics… The time has come for Christians to vote for honest men, and take consistent ground in politics or the Lord will curse them…God cannot sustain this free and blessed country, which we love and pray for, unless the church will take right ground. Politics are a part of religion in such a country as this, and Christians must do this duty to their country as part of this duty to God…God will bless or curse this nation according to the course Christians take in politics.” ⁽¹⁹⁾

Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790) Signer of the Constitution and Declaration of Independence

“They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.” ⁽²⁰⁾

“I also believe that without His concurring aid, we shall succeed in the political building no better than the builders of Babel; we shall be divided by our partial local interests; our projects will be confounded, and we, ourselves shall become a reproach and a bye word down to future ages.” ⁽²¹⁾

Patrick Henry (1736-1799) American Revolutionary Leader

“Whether this [new government] will prove a blessing or a curse will depend upon the use our people make of the blessings, which a gracious God hath bestowed on us. If they are wise they will be great and happy… If they are of a contrary character, they will be miserable. Righteousness alone can exalt them as a nation [Proverbs 14:34]. Reader! Whoever thou art, remember this, and in thy sphere practice virtue.” ⁽²²⁾

Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826) Third President of the United States

“… if we are to guard against ignorance and remain free, it is the responsibility of every American to be informed.” ⁽²³⁾

“I predict future happiness for Americans if they can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of taking care of them” ⁽²⁴⁾

“No man shall ever be debarred the use of arms. The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government.” ⁽²⁵⁾

“Should things go wrong at any time, the people will set them to right by the peaceable exercise of their elective rights.” ⁽²⁶⁾

C.S. Lewis (1898-1963) Twentieth Century Christian Knight

“There are only two kinds of people in the end: those who say to God, ‘Thy will be done,’ and those to whom God says, in the end, ‘Thy will be done.’ All that are in Hell, choose it. Without that self-choice there could be no Hell.” ⁽²⁷⁾

James Madison (1751-1836) Fourth President of the United States & Chief Architect of the Constitution

“I believe there are more instances of the abridgement of the freedom of the people by gradual and silent encroachment of those in power than by violent and sudden usurpations.” ⁽²⁸⁾

Peter Marshall (1902-1949) Chaplin of U.S. Senate

“The choice before us is plain, Christ or chaos, conviction or compromise, discipline or disintegration. I am rather tired of hearing about our rights and privileges as American citizens. The time is come, it now is, when we ought to hear about the duties and responsibilities of our citizenship. America’s future depends upon her accepting and demonstrating God’s government.” ⁽²⁹⁾

H.L. Mencken (1880-1956) Writer

“The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary.” ⁽³⁰⁾

Jedediah Morse (1761-1826) Patriot & “Father of American Geography”

“To the kindly influence of Christianity we owe that degree of civil freedom, and political and social happiness which mankind now enjoys…whenever the pillars of Christianity shall be over thrown, our present republican forms of government, and all blessings which flow form them must fall with them” ⁽³¹⁾

Benjamin Rush (1745-1813) Signer of the Declaration of Independence & “Father of Public Schools”

“Remember that national crimes require national punishments, and without declaring what punishment awaits this evil, you may venture to assure them that it cannot pass with impunity, unless God shall cease to be just or merciful.” ⁽³²⁾

“Let the children… be carefully instructed in the principles and obligations of the Christian religion. This is the most essential part of education. The great enemy of the salvation of man, in my opinion, never invented a more effectual means of extirpating [removing] Christianity from the world than by persuading mankind that it was improper to read the Bible at schools.” ⁽³³⁾

Gene Edward Veith, Jr. (1951 – ) Professor of English

“Instead of preaching that leads to the conviction of sin and salvation through the cross of Jesus Christ, churches preach “feel-good” messages designed to cheer people up. Some have described postmodernist culture as a “therapeutic culture,” in which a sense of psychological well-being, not truth, is the controlling value. The contemporary church likewise faces the temptation to replace theology with therapy.” ⁽³⁴⁾

Daniel Webster (1782-1852) American Politician and Diplomat

“…if we abide by the principles taught in the Bible, our country will go on prospering and to prosper; but if we and our posterity neglect its instruction and authority, no man can tell how sudden a catastrophe may overwhelm us and bury all our glory in profound obscurity.” ⁽³⁵⁾

Noah Webster (1758-1843) Author of Webster’s Dictionary

“…the principles of all genuine liberty, and of wise laws and administrations are to be drawn from the Bible and sustained by its authority. The man therefore who weakens or destroys the divine authority of that book may be accessory to all the public disorders which society is doomed to suffer…” ⁽³⁶⁾

“…if a republican government fails to secure public prosperity and happiness, it must be because the citizens neglect the divine commands, and elect bad men to make and administer the laws.” ⁽³⁷⁾

Woodrow Wilson (1856-1924) Twenty-Eighth President of the United States

“A nation which does not remember what it was yesterday, does not know what it is today, nor what it is trying to do. We are trying to do a futile thing if we do not know where we came from or what we have been about…” ⁽³⁸⁾

John Witherspoon (1723-1794) Signer of Declaration of Independence

“The people in general ought to have regard to the moral character of those whom they invest with authority either in the legislative, executive, or judicial branches.” ⁽³⁹⁾

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11. John Adams; John Adams, The Works of John Adams, Second President of the United States, Charles Francis Adams, editor (Boston: Charles C. Little and James Brown, 1851, Vol. VI, p. 9)

39. John Witherspoon; www.wallbuilders.com, Issues and Articles, Importance of Voting, citing The Works of John Witherspoon, (Edinburgh: J. Ogle, 1815, p. 267