The Truth About the Founding Fathers
Celebrating 250 Years of American Independence 🇺🇸
This past weekend, as we celebrated the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, we celebrated more than just a historical date. We commemorated a miracle of governance. Across the world, the average lifespan of a governing document is a mere 17 to 19 years. America’s Constitution is still going strong at 250, a world record that no other nation has ever experienced.
But how did we get here? Why has the United States enjoyed such unprecedented stability?
The Hidden Truth – A Systematic Attack on Our Heritage
The answer, according to the historical record, lies in a truth that has been systematically hidden from us. The narrative pushed for decades, that America’s Founding Fathers were secular deists who created a godless Constitution, is a myth that doesn’t hold up under the weight of primary sources.
This deception did not happen by accident. One of the primary tools employed by Marxists to undermine a nation is to discredit its heritage of founding fathers. In his book, Rules for Radicals, communist advocate Saul Alinsky sows the seeds of class warfare, in part, by creating “disillusionment with past ways and values.” Creating dissatisfaction with a nation’s history has been a tactic employed by Marxists around the world, from the defacement of historic sites to the rewriting of textbooks.
From the very beginning of America as an independent nation, forces have conspired, including French Infidelity and the Illuminati, to deny America’s Christian origin. But none have enjoyed the degree of success as has been realized by the disciples of Karl Marx. The erosion of confidence in America’s religious foundation began in earnest with the rise of the “Great Agnostic,” Robert Ingersoll, and was carried forward by socialists and communists of every Marxian hue throughout the twentieth century.
Sadly, many Americans, including pastors, have bought into the lie that America’s Founding Fathers were Deists who believed in a God who created the world but walked away from it. Deists deny divine inspiration, the Virgin Birth, and the deity of Christ. But as we shall see, the Founders’ own words paint a very different picture.
Reclaiming the Spirit of the Law
One of the great deceptions of the modern era is the attempt to separate the Declaration of Independence from the Constitution. The Progressive Era of the 1920s began this work, arguing that, because the Declaration is God-centered while the Constitution mentions God only sparingly, the two are distinct.
The Founders never saw it that way. Article 7 of the Constitution is directly tied to the Declaration. The Declaration is the spirit of the law, while the Constitution is the letter. Without the spirit, the letter fails. Today, we have separated these documents in our minds, but the Founders intended them to be woven together. ✝️
The Founding Fathers came up with a governing model that has outlasted every other nation, so where did they get their ideas? To find out, a group of professors at the University of Houston undertook a massive study. They analyzed over 1,000 founding documents, identifying 3,154 direct quotes to trace them back to their original sources.
The results are staggering. The most cited individual was Baron Charles Montesquieu, and the third was John Locke. However, the single most-cited source was the Bible, accounting for a full 34% of their political quotations.
The Founders didn’t just quote the Bible generically; they derived specific public policy from it. James Madison, George Washington, and John Adams pointed to Jeremiah 17:9 (“The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked”) as the primary reason for the separation of powers. They understood that man is flawed, and government must be structured to restrain that flawed nature.
The Founders’ Own Words
The best way to understand what the Founders believed is to let them speak for themselves. As you will see, the evidence is overwhelming and clear.
John Adams declared unequivocally: “The general principles on which the fathers achieved independence were the general principles of Christianity. I will avow that I then believed, and now believe, that those general principles of Christianity are as eternal and immutable as the existence and attributes of God.” He echoed this sentiment by stating: “Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate for the government of any other.” He understood that we would never pass enough laws to control a populace that couldn’t control itself.
George Washington, in his 1796 Farewell Address, stated unequivocally: “Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports.” He warned that anyone who attempts to subvert these pillars should not be considered a patriot. He knew a patriot when he saw one; he had them at Valley Forge.
In a letter to the governors, Washington further affirmed this principle, writing, “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.”
Even Benjamin Franklin, often cited as a deist, praised the teachings of Jesus. He wrote: “As to Jesus of Nazareth, my opinion of whom you particularly desire, I think the system of morals and His religion as He left them to us, the best the world ever saw or is likely to see.”
Meet the “Atheists” Who Signed the Declaration
We are often told the Founders were atheists, agnostics, or deists. Yet when we look at the 56 signers, they are among the most devout figures in American history.
SAMUEL ADAMS, the “Father of the American Revolution,” didn’t just rely on his political prowess. He wrote that he put his trust “upon the merits of Jesus Christ for a pardon of all my sins.” As Governor of Massachusetts, he called for a day of fasting and prayer, asking the people to pray “that the peaceful and glorious reign of our Divine Redeemer may be known and enjoyed throughout the whole family of mankind.”
BENJAMIN RUSH is considered the “Father of American Medicine” and started the first Sunday school in America. He also produced the first mass-produced Bible in the United States. His writings reflect a deep, evangelical faith: “My only hope of salvation is in the infinite transcendent love of God manifested to the world by the death of his son from the cross. Nothing but his blood will wash away my sins.” He also understood the connection between liberty and virtue: “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.”
RICHARD STOCKTON was captured by the British and tortured for signing the Declaration. As he lay dying, he wrote his last will and testament, not just to divide his property, but to impart a spiritual legacy to his six children. He wrote: “I think it proper... to exhort and charge my children that the fear of God is the beginning of wisdom, that the way of life held up in the Christian system is calculated for the most complete happiness that can be enjoyed in this mortal state.”
CHARLES CARROLL, the last surviving signer, gave his final testimony on the 50th anniversary of the Declaration. He wrote that he was “grateful to Almighty God for the blessings which through Jesus Christ our Lord has conferred on my beloved country.” 🇺🇸
ROGER SHERMAN, the only Founder to sign all four founding documents, wrote a doctrinal creed for his church, affirming his belief in the Trinity and salvation through Christ alone. He stated, “God commands all men everywhere to repent. He also commands them to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and has assured us that all who do repent and believe shall be saved.” ✝️
The Official Endorsement – Treaty of Paris
Perhaps the most damning evidence against the “secular founding” narrative is the Treaty of Paris. This was the treaty signed in 1783 that officially secured American independence. The treaty itself is titled: “In the name of the most holy and undivided Trinity.”
The document that made America a nation invokes the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. This was no accident. Even John Quincy Adams, the sixth president, connected the nation’s birth to its religious foundation, stating: “The Declaration of Independence laid the cornerstone of human government upon the first precepts of Christianity.”
The Bible in Public Education – A Foundational Mandate
The Founders’ commitment to Christian principles extended directly into the classroom. They did not merely tolerate the Bible; they believed its teachings were essential for producing virtuous citizens capable of sustaining a republic.
Fisher Ames, the congressman who helped shape the final language of the First Amendment, argued that the Bible “should be the principal text in our schools.” He asked, “Should not the Bible regain the place it once held as a schoolbook? Its morals are pure, its examples captivating and noble.”
Benjamin Rush, whom we mentioned earlier, was equally emphatic, warning that if the Bible were ever removed from schools, we would “waste so much time and money in punishing crimes and take so little pains to prevent them.” In his plan for public education, Rush explicitly defended the Bible as a schoolbook, believing it contained “the greatest portion of that kind of knowledge which is calculated to produce private and public happiness.”
Even the Continental Congress affirmed this principle in the Northwest Ordinance of 1787, declaring that “religion, morality, and knowledge, being necessary to good government and the happiness of mankind, schools and the means of education shall forever be encouraged.” To the Founders, the Bible was not merely a religious text but the very foundation of civic virtue and national stability.
The “Separation” Myth: Erasing the Bible from the Classroom
So why don’t we know these facts today? The answer lies in one of the most successful deceptions in American history: the myth of “separation of church and state.” Nowhere in the Constitution does that phrase appear. The First Amendment simply states that “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.”
The Founders intended this to keep the federal government from creating a national denomination like the Church of England, not to expel God from public life. Yet in 1947, in the case of Everson v. Board of Education, the U.S. Supreme Court borrowed the phrase “separation of church and state” from a private letter Thomas Jefferson wrote to the Danbury Baptists, a letter that was never a law, never voted on, and never intended to define the Constitution.
From that single misleading interpretation, the courts have systematically stripped the Bible from public schools, prayer from graduation ceremonies, and the Ten Commandments from courthouses. As a direct result, generations of Americans have grown up completely unaware that their own Founding Fathers insisted the Bible was essential to education. They do not know that the very schools they attend were originally founded to teach children how to read Scripture, nor that the Northwest Ordinance, one of the most important documents in early American law, mandated religion and morality as necessary to “good government.”
By erasing the Bible from the classroom, we have erased the very foundation of American civic virtue, leaving us with an ignorant population. As we mentioned earlier, John Adams warned, “Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate for the government of any other.” By removing the Bible from education, we have proven his prophecy true, and we are now paying the price in division, lawlessness, and historical amnesia.
Conclusion – Recovering Our Heritage
We have been sold a lie. Our schools and media have told us that Christians should stay out of politics, that the Bible has no place in public life, and that the Founders were secular. This could not be further from the truth. As Patrick Henry famously declared, “It cannot be emphasized too strongly or too often that this great nation was founded…on the gospel of Jesus Christ.”
If the Founding Fathers had believed Christians should stay out of politics, we would not be celebrating 250 years of freedom. We would be just like everyone else, with our government collapsing and reforming every 17 to 19 years.
As we celebrate our nation’s birth, let us recover the truth about our heritage. The 250th anniversary is a testament to what happens when we govern ourselves according to the principles of Christianity. As George Washington and John Adams knew, if we want political prosperity, we cannot separate religion and morality from the public square.
It is up to us to ensure this legacy lasts for the next 250 years.
This article was inspired by this message from David Barton and also this article.
It has been said that some of these men were Freemasons. Freemasons believe in a "higher power" and that is not necessarily a belief in Jesus Christ. It would be nice to know the whole truth.
Excellent article. Sometimes I have been frustrated with some of your criticisms of the Trump admin not because I believe he is a God, but because I know there is a greater mission, a higher power, and a higher purpose to everything he is doing. Even the "Iran war" which no is not Israel's bidding.
It has surprised me with your knowledge of the pharma takeover you don't see this. But again, you are only human.
This article restored my faith you do see there is a Marxist agenda and we are fighting a war to take over our great nation and thus the world.
Thanks for taking time to write it.