Regrettably, I didn't do well in history (too many dates and details to remember). But my ancestors fought in the Revolutionary War (also, my husband's ancestors did too) so we've had a lot of fun reading about that time period.
PLEASE KNOW THAT I AM SHARING THESE REFERENCES FOR INFORMATION'S SAKE ONLY.
Our forefathers WERE religious men. There may have been a few athiests, but for the most part, religion was the driving force behind them. These are just a FEW examples of how these men used their religious influence to forge the foundation of the nation over a period of 50 years. This is NOT a complete list. There are MANY more examples. And these views do NOT mean that ONE specific religion or religious sect was officially sanctioned. It is a fact, however, that most of the founders pertained to one form of Christianity or another.
I truly believe that the most wonderful thing about our country is that we can believe however we want to believe -- that we have a right to do so. And that, no matter what we believe, we are still equals.
(Sorry for the book...) :)
Example 1)
As delegates from the states met to craft a national constitution in the summer of 1787, Benjamin Franklin, governor of Pennsylvania, addressed the group: "If a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without His [God's] 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 labor in vain that build it.'"
Franklin then called on the group to offer regular, daily prayer to ask for God's assistance and blessings in their deliberations (William Federer, America's God and Country Encyclopedia of Quotations, 1996, pp. 248-249).
Example 2)
On September 6, 1774 -- less than two years before the colonies formally declared independence from Great Britain -- the Continental Congress made its first official act a call for prayer. And on May 16, 1776, the Continental Congress appointed an official national day of fasting and prayer for the colonies:
"The Congress....Desirous...to have people of all ranks and degrees duly impressed with a solemn sense of God's superintending providence, and of their duty, devoutly to rely...on His aid and direction...Do earnestly recommend Friday, the 17th day of May be observed by the colonies as a day of humiliation, fasting, and prayer; that we may, with united hearts, confess and bewailed our manifold sins and transgressions, and, by sincere repentance and amendment of life, appease God's righteous displeasure, and, through the merits and mediation of Jesus Christ, obtain this pardon and forgiveness."
Example 3)
Declaration of Independence (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"
Madison built these "God-given" rights into the Constitution.
Example 4)
Please note that the Continental Army was NOT a Federal Army because the Federal Government or Constitution did not exist at that time. It was a confederation of colonial armies. In fact, Jefferson was very concerned that a National or Federal army was something to be feared. As such need for strict morals in the military was sanctioned by our forefathers so that atrocities and injustices would not be perpetrated.
Congress was apprehensive about the moral condition of the American army and navy and took steps to see that Christian morality prevailed in both organizations. In the Articles of War, seen below, governing the conduct of the Continental Army (seen above) (adopted, June 30, 1775; revised, September 20, 1776), Congress devoted three of the four articles in the first section to the religious nurture of the troops. Article 2 earnestly recommended to all officers and soldiers to attend divine services." Punishment was prescribed for those who behaved "indecently or irreverently" in churches, including courts-martial, fines and imprisonments. Chaplains who deserted their troops were to be court-martialed.
Congress particularly feared the navy as a source of moral corruption and demanded that skippers of American ships make their men behave. The first article in Rules and Regulations of the Navy (below), adopted on November 28, 1775, ordered all commanders "to be very vigilant . . . to discountenance and suppress all dissolute, immoral and disorderly practices." The second article required those same commanders "to take care, that divine services be performed twice a day on board, and a sermon preached on Sundays." Article 3 prescribed punishments for swearers and blasphemers: officers were to be fined and common sailors were to be forced "to wear a wooden collar or some other shameful badge of distinction."
Extracts from the Journals of Congress, relative to the Capture and Condemnation of Prizes, and filling out Privateers, together with the Rules and Regulations of the Navy, and Instructions to Private Ships of War [page 16] -[page 17] Philadelphia: John Dunlap, 1776
The Continental Congress on September 11, 1777, ordered the importation of 20,000 Bibles for the American troops. The law read as follows:
The use of the Bible is so universal and its importance so great that your committee refers the above to the consideration of Congress, and if Congress shall not think it expedient to order the importation of types and paper, the Committee recommends that Congress will order the Committee of Commerce to import 20,000 Bibles from Holland, Scotland, or elsewhere, into the different parts of the States of the Union.
Whereupon it was resolved accordingly to direct aid Committee of Commerce to import 20,000 copies of the Bible.
Indeed, the Congress authorized its endorsement to be printed on the front page of the edition of the Bible approved for the American people:
Whereupon, Resolved, that the Unites States in Congress assembled...recommend this edition of the Bible to the inhabitants of the Unites States, and hereby authorize [Robert Aitken] to publish this recommendation in the manner he shall think proper.
Example 5)
On July 13, 1787, the Continental Congress passed "An Ordinance for the Government of the Territory of the United States." This law was passed again by the United States Congress and signed into law by President George Washington on August 4, 1789:
Article III
Religion, morality, and knowledge being necessary to good government and the happiness of mankind, schools and the means of education shall be forever encouraged.
Example 6)
James Madison (Father of the US Constitution) once stated, "We have staked the whole future of our new nation, not upon the power of government; far from it.
"We have staked the future of all our political constitutions upon the capacity of each of ourselves to govern ourselves according to the moral principles of the Ten Commandments."
On another occasion James Madison wrote about the relationship between religion and civil government, "Religion is the basis and foundation of Government.