Founders Understood the Nature of Man

I have found common ground for liberals and conservatives. In general, most liberals have a significant distrust of corporate America, as well as a somewhat healthy distrust of capitalism. As a recent rather liberal blogger noted, “Industry after industry after industry and within them big corporation after big corporation after big corporation has acted recklessly and with only their narrow interests and avarice in mind. Often killing, maiming and poisoning tens of thousands of people without consequence or justice. That is why we have an EPA. That is why we have a CPSC. That is why we have federal oversight (supposedly) of the crooks and thieves on Wall Street and Main Street.”

Similarly, on the whole, conservatives have considerable distaste for big government and are rather suspicious of government in general. Attorney/writer Tommy De Seno highlights this in his definition of conservatism: “Conserving the rights of the individual against the trespasses of government, and the trespasses of others.”

These institutional misgivings are not without merit and they are very much rooted in the Christian view of human nature. As I wrote a few weeks ago, Christianity teaches that it is in the basic nature of each of us to be selfish. I submit to you that this take on humanity was well understood by our founders, is reflected in the founding documents of the United States, and thus is further evidence of the Christian heritage of our nation.

“There is a degree of depravity in mankind,” wrote James Madison in The Federalist Papers, “which requires a certain degree of circumspection and distrust.” Over a period of 11 months between 1787 and 1788, to persuade the state of New York to ratify the Constitution, Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay authored The Federalist Papers.

In Federalist 51 Madison summarized the misgivings of both today’s liberal and conservative: “But what is government itself, but the greatest of all reflections on human nature? If men were angels, no government would be necessary. If angels were to govern men, neither external nor internal controls on government would be necessary.”

The first governing documents in this nation, the Mayflower Compact (1620) which united the Pilgrims, and the Fundamental Orders of Connecticut (1638), considered the first Constitution written in America, both were contracts adopted by Christians and were predicated upon the Christian view of mankind.

The Fundamental Orders of Connecticut was such a significant work that it served as a model of government for the other colonies and eventually as a model for the U.S. Constitution. As noted in The Light and the Glory, “the (U.S.) Constitution…was constructed on the realistic and Scriptural assumption that the natural self-interest and self-love of man has to be checked. The checks and balances were ingenious: there would be three separate branches of government—legislative, executive, and judicial.”

For further evidence of the influence of Christianity on U.S. government, consider the work of French social philosopher Alexis de Tocqueville. In the early 1830s, Tocqueville toured the U.S. seeking to discover why the representative democracy present in America was so successful here while failing in so many other places. His efforts produced Democracy in America, an early classic account of the democratic system of U.S.government.

Tocqueville devoted a significant portion of his work to the effects of Christianity on American life. Upon his arrival in the United States he declared that, “the religious aspect of the country was the first thing that struck my attention.”

Having noted the direct influence of religion upon politics in America, Tocqueville concluded that “In the United States the sovereign authority is religious…there is no country in the whole world in which the Christian religion retains a greater influence over the souls of men than in America, and there can be no greater proof of its utility, and of its conformity to human nature, than that its influence is most powerfully felt over the most enlightened and free nation of the earth…The Americans combine the notions of Christianity and of liberty so intimately in their minds, that it is impossible to make them conceive the one without the other.”

Human beings are cursed with a sinful nature that, while yearning for freedom, requires significant accountability. Our founders understood this well and gave us the finest documents ever produced by man for his own self government which has resulted in the most enduring form of government that the world currently knows.

Copyright 2009, Trevor Grant Thomas

At the Intersection of Politics, Science, Faith, and Reason.

Trevor and his wife Michelle are the authors of: Debt Free Living in a Debt Filled World

tthomas@trevorgrantthomas.com

The Constitution and the Commandments

In declaring government religious (mainly Christian) expression unconstitutional, the courts refer to the First Amendment, and they interpret that amendment through the words of Jefferson penned to the Danbury Baptists, which declared “a wall of separation between Church and State.” Our current Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, William Rehnquist, says of this interpretation, “It is impossible to build sound constitutional doctrine upon a mistaken understanding of constitutional history,…the [Jefferson] ‘wall’ has proved all but useless as a guide to sound constitutional adjudication.”

It is interesting that Jefferson, considered by many to be an expert on the First Amendment, did not sign the Constitution, was not present at the Constitutional Convention of 1787, and was not present when the First Amendment was debated in the first session of Congress in 1789. The principal authors of the First Amendment were Fisher Ames and Elbridge Gerry of Massachusetts, not Thomas Jefferson.

It is also interesting to look at other writings and deeds of Jefferson, of which many today would be declared “unconstitutional” using our current courts’ frequent interpretation of the First Amendment. While Jefferson was President, Christian worship services were held in the capital, local governments were urged to make land available specifically for Christian purposes, and President Jefferson provided $300 to “assist the said Kaskaskia tribe in the erection of a church” and to provide “annually for seven years $100 towards the support of a Catholic priest.”

Fisher Ames, who, as stated above, was one of the principal authors of the First Amendment, said this in a magazine article published on September 20, 1789:

“We have a dangerous trend beginning to take place in our education. We’re starting to put more and more textbooks into our schools… We’ve become accustomed of late of putting little books into the hands of children containing fables and moral lessons… We are spending less time in the classroom on the Bible, which should be the principal text in our schools… The Bible states these great moral lessons better than any manmade book.”

Does it sounds like Mr. Ames, one of the authors of the First amendment, would be for removing prayer from school or the Ten Commandments from government buildings? Maybe our current justices should consider this article instead of Jefferson’s letter in “interpreting” the First Amendment.

However, that is really the problem: For the past five or six decades judges have been “interpreting” our Constitution instead of honoring the original words and intent of the text. Liberal judges have “interpreted” the First Amendment beyond recognition. The words are plain enough, but a bit of history makes things more obvious.

The initial draft of the First Amendment was made by James Madison on June 8, 1789. His wording was:

The civil rights of none shall be abridged on account of religious belief or worship, nor shall any national religion be established, nor shall the full and equal rights of conscience be in any manner, or on any pretext infringed.

The House Select Committee on August 15, 1789 revised Madison’s statement to read:

No religion shall be established by law, nor shall the equal rights of conscience be infringed.

A representative from New York, Peter Sylvester, objected to the revised statement, declaring:

It might be thought to have a tendency to abolish religion altogether.

Madison changed the wording slightly, but Congressman Benjamin Huntington still objected saying,

The words might be taken in such latitude as to be extremely hurtful to the cause of religion.

Madison later responded to Congressman Huntington and Congressman Sylvester agreeing that he,

…believes that the people feared one sect might obtain a preeminence, or two combine and establish a religion to which they would compel others to conform.

The House agreed on the following, proposed by Ames on August 20, 1789:

Congress shall make no law establishing religion, or to prevent the free exercise thereof, or to infringe the rights of conscience.

The Senate then took up the debate with versions that read:

Congress shall not make any law infringing the rights of conscience, or establishing any religious sect or society.

Congress shall make no law establishing any particular denomination of religion in preference to another…

Congress shall make no law establishing one religious society in preference to others…

Both houses agreed on the wording we have today:

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof…

Given this small bit of history, one can see that what our Founders were trying to accomplish with the initial part of the First Amendment was to prevent an “official” government denomination/religion, one that people could be required to follow, not the removal of God and His Word from our government. This becomes more obvious when one examines the summary of words and deeds of all our Founders and not just the eight words of Jefferson’s letter. I can imagine that hardly any, much less a majority, of our Founders would intend for the First Amendment to be used to remove a display of the Ten Commandments from a public courthouse. I think to conclude otherwise, one would have to rewrite our history.

Copyright 2015, Trevor Grant Thomas
At the Intersection of Politics, Science, Faith, and Reason.
www.trevorgrantthomas.com
Trevor and his wife Michelle are the authors of: Debt Free Living in a Debt Filled World
tthomas@trevorgrantthomas.com

The Faith of the Founders

I would like to take issue with several of the things Bo Turner said in his December 23 article; however, at this time I will take issue with only one. In his article he said that most of the framers of the U.S. Constitution were “deists, agnostics, Unitarians, and free-thinkers.” First of all let’s define some of these: 1) In certain dictionaries the terms “deist,” “agnostic,” and “atheist” appear as synonyms. So a deist can range from someone who believes there is no God, to those who believe in a distant, impersonal creator, to those who believe there is no way to know if God exists. The most common definition of deism is the belief in a distant, impersonal creator. 2) Deism gave rise to Unitarianism. A Unitarian is defined as “A monotheist who rejects the doctrine of the Trinity.”

Mr. Turner said that “most” of the framers fell into one of the categories named above. While it can be argued that a few of the framers fit into his description, including Thomas Jefferson, it is very misleading to say that “most” did. In fact, hardly any of the notable Founders can be called anything but orthodox evangelical Christians. Noted historian David Barton claims that “52 of the 55 founding fathers were orthodox evangelical Christians.” Actually there were over 200 “Founders”(55 at the Constitutional Convention, to which Mr. Barton refers, 90 who framed the First Amendment and the Bill of Rights, and 56 who signed the Declaration of Independence). Let’s briefly examine some of the words of a few of the more significant, or popular, Founders.

George Washington was an open promoter of Christianity. In a speech on May 12, 1779, he stated that what children needed to learn “above all” was the “religion of Jesus Christ.” He charged his soldiers at Valley Forge that, “To the distinguished character of patriot, it should be our highest glory to add the more distinguished character of Christian.” He also said, “It is impossible to govern the world without God. He must be worse than an infidel that lacks faith, and more than wicked that has not gratitude enough to acknowledge his obligation.” In the Yale Divinity School Library there is a book by William Johnson entitled George Washington, the Christian. In it are many words from Washington which reveal that he was a devout Christian. Washington certainly doesn’t fit Mr. Turner’s description of a Founder.

Neither does Benjamin Franklin. At a very crucial point at the Constitutional Convention in May, 1787, Franklin gave a short, but resounding speech. (The debate over representation was becoming very bitter, and the Convention was on the verge of breaking up.) In it he said, “In the beginning of the contest with Britain, when we were sensible of danger, we had daily prayers in this room for Divine protection. Our prayers, Sir, were heard, and they were graciously answered…I have lived, Sir, a long time, and the longer I live, the more convincing proofs I see of this truth: ‘that God governs in the affairs of man.’ 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 labor in vain that build it. I firmly believe this…” In a letter to the French ministry he said, “He who shall introduce into public affairs the principles of primitive Christianity will change the face of the world.” Franklin also chose a biblical inscription for the Seal of the United States and was instrumental in the establishment of a paid chaplain in Congress.

On the subject of the Bible Patrick Henry said, “There is a Book worth all other books which were ever printed.” We’ve all heard of Henry’s famous line “Give me liberty or give me death!” In that same speech he also said, “God presides over the destinies of nations and will raise up friends for us.” In his will it reads, “I have now disposed of all my property to my family; there is one more thing I wish I could give them, and that is the Christian religion. If they had this, and I had not given them one shilling, they would be rich; but if they had not that, and I had given them all the world, they would be poor.” Does Henry sound like a Unitarian?

John Adams said, “I believe in God and in His wisdom and benevolence.” Of the day that the Declaration was passed Adams wrote to his wife saying that that day “ought to be commemorated, as the Day of Deliverance, by solemn acts of devotion to God Almighty.”

James Madison’s writings are full of declarations of his faith in God and Christ. In a letter to Attorney General Bradford he said that public officials should be “fervent advocates for the cause of Christ.”

John Jay, who was the first Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, and along with Madison and Alexander Hamilton wrote the Federalist Papers, said this: “Providence has given to our people the choice of their rulers and it is the duty as well as the privilege and interest of our Christian nation to select and prefer Christians for their rulers.” Imagine that! The Chief Justice of the Supreme Court telling us that we ought to elect Christians!

Consider some of the lesser known Founders, as noted by David Barton: “Charles Pickney and John Langdon—founders of the American Bible Society; James McHenry—founder of the Baltimore Bible Society; Rufus King—helped found a Bible society for Anglicans; Abraham Baldwin—a chaplain in the Revolution and considered the youngest theologian in America; Roger Sherman, William Samuel Johnson, John Dickinson, and Jacob Broom—also theological writers; James Wilson and William Patterson—placed on the Supreme Court by President George Washington, they had prayer over juries in the U.S. Supreme Court room; and the list could go on. This does not even include the huge number of thoroughly evangelical Christians who signed the Declaration or who helped frame the Bill of Rights.” I think Mr. Turner should be more careful than to make such sweeping statements that would label men such as these to be deists, agnostics, or Unitarians.

I’ll end with a quote from Mr. Turner’s favorite Founder, Thomas Jefferson: “Ignorance is preferable to error; and he is less remote from the truth who believes nothing, than he who believes what is wrong.”

Copyright 2015, Trevor Grant Thomas
At the Intersection of Politics, Science, Faith, and Reason.
www.trevorgrantthomas.com
Trevor and his wife Michelle are the authors of: Debt Free Living in a Debt Filled World
tthomas@trevorgrantthomas.com