Some were Christians, Some were Deists, NONE were Atheists
IN CONGRESS, JULY 4, 1776
The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America
hen in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation. 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. ? That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, ? That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security. ? Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world. (Excerpt From The Declaration of Independence)
Benjamin Franklin
-I never doubted, for instance, the existence of the Deity; that He made the world, and governed it by His providence; that the most acceptable service of God was the doing good to man; that our souls are immortal; and that all crime will be punished, and virtue rewarded, either here or hereafter. (Excerpt from the Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin)
John Adams
-On March 6, 1789, President Adams called for a national day of fasting and prayer for the country could "call to mind our numerous offenses against the most high God, confess them before Him with the sincerest penitence, implore his pardoning mercy, through the Great Mediator and Redeemer, for our past transgression, and that through the grace of His Holy Spirit, we may be disposed and enabled to yield a more suitable obedience. . ."
-On April 18, 1775, a British soldier ordered him, John Hancock, and others to ?disperse in the name of George the Sovereign King of England. Adams responded to him:
?We recognize no sovereign but God, and no king but Jesus!?
-"We have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion. Avarice, ambition, revenge, or gallantry would break the strongest cords of our Constitution as a whale goes through a net. Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other."
-In a letter to Thomas Jefferson dated June 28, 1813, he said
"The general principles on which the fathers achieved independence were the general principles of Christianity"
Alexander Hamilton
-In an 1802 letter to co-founder James Bayard, he said:
"I now offer you the outline of the plan they have suggested. Let an association be formed to be denominated 'The Christian Constitutional Society,' its object to be first: The support of the Christian religion. Second: The support of the United States.
-?I have carefully examined the evidences of the Christian religion, and if I was sitting as a juror upon its authenticity I would unhesitatingly give my verdict in its favor. I can prove its truth as clearly as any proposition ever submitted to the mind of man.?
He was fatally shot in a duel with Burr in July of 1804. His last words were:
I have a tender reliance on the mercy of the Almighty, through the merits of the Lord Jesus Christ. I am a sinner. I look to Him for mercy; pray for me.
Thomas Jefferson
-Written in the front of his personal Bible, he wrote:
"i] I am a real Christian,[ that is to say, a disciple of the doctrines of Jesus. I have little doubt that our whole country will soon be rallied to the unity of our creator."
-On April 21, 1803, Jefferson wrote this to Dr. Benjamin:
?My views...are the result of a life of inquiry and reflection, and very different from the anti-Christian system imputed to me by those who know nothing of my opinions. To the corruptions of Christianity I am, indeed, opposed; but not to the genuine precepts of Jesus himself. I am a Christian in the only sense in which He wished any one to be; sincerely attached to his doctrines in preference to all others.?
-In a letter to William Short on October 31, 1819, he wrote:
?But the greatest of all the reformers of the depraved religion of His own country, was Jesus of Nazareth.?
Noah Webster
-On December 20, 1808, he wrote in a letter to Thomas Dawes:
?About a year ago, an unusual revival of religion took place in New Haven...and I was lead by a spontaneous impulse of repentance, prayer, and entire submission of myself to my Maker and Redeemer. In the month of April last, I made a profession of faith.?. This unusual revival was a part of the Great Awakening that shook America in the early 19th Century.?
-As evidenced in his textbook, ?History of the United States, published in 1832, he believed that Christianity and government could not and should not be separated:
"The religion which has introduced civil liberty is the religion of Christ and His apostles, which enjoins humility, piety, and benevolence; which acknowledges in every person, a brother or a sister, and a citizen with equal rights. This is genuine Christianity, and to this we owe our free constitutions of government."
Other Quotes
-Patrick Henry: ?Doctor, I wish you to observe how real and beneficial the religion of Christ is to a man about to die . . .? In his will he wrote: ?This is all the inheritance I give to my dear family. The religion of Christ which will give them one which will make them rich indeed.?
-John Owen: ?I am going to Him whom my soul loveth, or rather who has loved me with an everlasting love, which is the sole ground of all my consolation.?
-William Shakespeare: ?I commend my soul into the hands of God my Creator, hoping and assuredly believing, through the only merits of Jesus Christ my Savior, to be made partaker of life everlasting; and my body to the earth, whereof it was made.?
Andrew Jackson: ?My dear children, do not grieve for me . . . I am my God?s. I belong to Him. I go but a short time before you, and ...I hope and trust to meet you all in heaven.?
Some Quotes taken from
www.faithofourfathers.net,
https://www.renewnetwork.org/A%20New%20Religious%20America.pdf
And from the Book The Founding Fathers and the Place of Religion in America
By Frank Lambert
Published by Princeton University Press, 2003