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While many Americans know at least that much about the Declaration of Independence, we may not know that of the 56 signers . . .

• 17 lost their fortunes;
• 12 had their homes destroyed;
• 5 became prisoners of war;
• 1 had two sons imprisoned on the British starving ship, Jersey;
• 1 had a son killed in battle;
• 1 had his wife die from harsh treatment in prison; and
• 9 lost their own lives during the War for Independence.

When Samuel Adams signed the Declaration, he said:

We have this day restored the Sovereign to whom all men ought to be obedient. He reigns in heaven and from the rising to the setting of the sun, let His kingdom come.

John Adams remarked:

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. I am well aware of the toil and blood and treasure that it will cost to maintain this Declaration. . . . Yet through all the gloom, I can see the rays of ravishing light and glory. . . . Posterity will triumph in that day’s transaction, even though we [may regret] it, which I trust in God we shall not.

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Adapted from www.AmericanMinute.com

AMERICAN MINUTE is a registered trademark copyrighted by William J. Federer. All rights reserved. No prior permission is necessary to reproduce provided acknowledgment given to: American Minute by William J. Federer. www.AmericanMinute.com P.O. Box 20163, St. Louis, MO 63123 1-888-USA-WORD 314-487-4395 voice/fax wjfederer@gmail.com

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 . . . ?

In the beginning of the Contest with Great Britain, when we were sensible of danger, we had daily prayer in this room for Divine protection. Our prayers, Sir, were heard and 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 . . .

And have we now forgotten that powerful Friend? or do we imagine we no longer need His assistance?. . .

We have been assured, Sir, in the Sacred Writings, that “except the Lord build the House, they labor in vain that build it.” . . . I also believe that without His concurring aid we shall succeed . . . no better than the Builders of Babel.

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Adapted from www.AmericanMinute.com

AMERICAN MINUTE is a registered trademark copyrighted by William J. Federer. All rights reserved. No prior permission is necessary to reproduce provided acknowledgment given to: American Minute by William J. Federer. www.AmericanMinute.com P.O. Box 20163, St. Louis, MO 63123 1-888-USA-WORD 314-487-4395 voice/fax wjfederer@gmail.com

In “A Letter to a Member of the National Assembly,” (1791) Burke wrote:

What is liberty without wisdom and without virtue? It is the greatest of all possible evils; for it is folly, vice, and madness, without restraint. Men are qualified for civil liberty in exact proportion to their disposition to put moral chains upon their own appetites; in proportion as they are disposed to listen to the counsels of the wise and good in preference to the flattery of knaves. . .

Society cannot exist, unless a controlling power upon will and appetite be placed somewhere; and the less of it there is within, the more there must be without. It is ordained in the eternal constitution of things, that men of intemperate minds cannot be free. Their passions forge their fetters.

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Adapted from www.AmericanMinute.com

AMERICAN MINUTE is a registered trademark copyrighted by William J. Federer. All rights reserved. No prior permission is necessary to reproduce provided acknowledgment given to: American Minute by William J. Federer. www.AmericanMinute.com P.O. Box 20163, St. Louis, MO 63123 1-888-USA-WORD 314-487-4395 voice/fax wjfederer@gmail.com

This fourth stanza of the National Anthem inspired Congress to place the motto “In God We Trust” on the nation’s coins beginning on March 3, 1865. House Speaker Schuyler Colfax noted at the time:

The last act of Congress ever signed by President Lincoln was one requiring that the motto . . . “In God We Trust” should hereafter be inscribed upon all our national coin.

On October 30, 1949, President Truman commented:

When the U.S. was established . . . the motto was “In God We Trust.” That is still our motto and we still place our firm trust in God.

On February 9, 1961, President Kennedy reaffirmed this:

The guiding principle of this Nation has been, is now, and ever shall be “In God We Trust.”

And on March 19, 1981, President Reagan asserted yet again:

Our Nation’s motto . . . reflects a basic recognition that there is a divine authority in the universe to which this nation owes homage.

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Adapted from www.AmericanMinute.com

AMERICAN MINUTE is a registered trademark copyrighted by William J. Federer. All rights reserved. No prior permission is necessary to reproduce provided acknowledgment given to: American Minute by William J. Federer. www.AmericanMinute.com P.O. Box 20163, St. Louis, MO 63123 1-888-USA-WORD 314-487-4395 voice/fax wjfederer@gmail.com

After the Declaration of Independence was read to his troops, General Washington ordered chaplains placed in each regiment. His troops were told:

The General hopes and trusts, that every officer and man, will endeavour so to live, and act, as becomes a Christian Soldier, defending the dearest Rights and Liberties of his country.

Later elected president, Washington again expressed his humble faith. In his first Inaugural Address, Washington said:

It would be peculiarly improper to omit, in this first official act, my fervent supplications to that Almighty Being who rules over the universe. . . . No people can be bound to acknowledge and adore the Invisible Hand which conducts the affairs of men more than the people of the United States. Every step by which they have advanced to the character of an independent nation seems to have been distinguished by some token of Providential agency.

After this Inauguration, Washington attended a worship service conducted by Congress’ chaplains in New York City’s St. Paul’s Chapel.

In The Lord of the Rings, author J. R. R. Tolkien tells of the human lust for “the ring of power.” The craving seems almost universal; Washington held enormous power—both as general and president—yet twice gave it up. This, despite the urging of many of his countrymen to retain the office he held.

On September 19, 1796, the world stood in awe as President George Washington delivered his Farewell Address. He said, in part:

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. . . . Let us with caution indulge the supposition that morality can be maintained without religion. . . . Reason and experience both forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle. . . . Morality is a necessary spring of popular government. . . . Who that is a sincere friend to it can look with indifference upon attempts to shake the foundation?

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Adapted from www.AmericanMinute.com

AMERICAN MINUTE is a registered trademark copyrighted by William J. Federer. All rights reserved. No prior permission is necessary to reproduce provided acknowledgment given to: American Minute by William J. Federer. www.AmericanMinute.com P.O. Box 20163, St. Louis, MO 63123 1-888-USA-WORD 314-487-4395 voice/fax wjfederer@gmail.com

• 26 Episcopalians;
• 11 Presbyterians;
• 7 Congregationalists;
• 2 Lutherans;
• 2 Dutch Reformed;
• 2 Methodists;
• 2 Roman Catholics;
• 2 Quakers; and
• 1 deist.

The deist was Dr. Franklin, who had called for prayer during the Constitutional Convention, June 28, 1787, in these words:

I therefore beg leave to move—that henceforth prayers imploring the assistance of Heaven, and its blessing on our deliberations, be held in this Assembly every morning.

The Journal of the U.S. House of Representatives, March 27, 1854, recorded the unanimous vote of the 33rd Congress to print Congressman James Meacham’s report, which stated:

At the adoption of the Constitution, we believe every State—certainly 10 of the 13— provided as regularly for the support of the Church as for the support of the Government. . . . Down to the Revolution, every colony did sustain religion in some form. It was deemed peculiarly proper that the religion of liberty should be upheld by a free people. . . . Had the people, during the Revolution, had a suspicion of any attempt to war against Christianity, that Revolution would have been strangled in its cradle.

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Adapted from www.AmericanMinute.com

AMERICAN MINUTE is a registered trademark copyrighted by William J. Federer. All rights reserved. No prior permission is necessary to reproduce provided acknowledgment given to: American Minute by William J. Federer. www.AmericanMinute.com P.O. Box 20163, St. Louis, MO 63123 1-888-USA-WORD 314-487-4395 voice/fax wjfederer@gmail.com