All the signers of the Declaration of Independence realized what the potential cost of their signature might be—to hang separately. They also knew that once Independence was secured by their act, that future generations would be celebrating and giving thanks for the Founder’s toil, blood, and treasure sacrificed for them. No one better realized the implications of their historic creation than John Adams who made the following comments in a letter to his wife Abigail:

“It ought to be commemorated as a Day of Deliverance by solemn acts of devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized by pomp and parade, with shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires and illuminations from one end of this continent to the other from this time forward for ever more.”

Adams and all the other fathers of Independence were forging a new Christian nation whose founding should include first and foremost “solemn acts of devotion to God Almighty.” Until modern times, many Independence Day celebrations included prayers of thanksgiving and recognition of the uncounted Acts of Providences which attended the birth of our nation.

Historian Bruce Feiler notes in his work entitled America’s Prophet, two of the greatest founders, not particularly known for Christian sentiments, Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson, finally settled on the phrase —Annuit Coeptis—Providence has favored our undertakings, on the Great Seal of the United States. Their first plan was to enshrine the motto, “Rebellion to Tyrants is Obedience to God,” a phrase most likely as unpopular among the ruling elites of today as it was to George III.

At the first Continental Congress in Philadelphia (1774), The Rev. Jacob Duche read Psalm 35—“Plead my cause, O Lord, with them that strive with me: fight against them that fight with me.” He then offered a powerful extemporaneous prayer, during which some of the delegates fell to their knees and wept.

This week the U.S. State Department put on their website for citizens, new and old, and for the millions of non-citizens awaiting their formal ordination as new citizens (without portfolio or the oh so difficult legal citizenship process), what they need to know about our 4th of July celebrations. They even quote from John Adams: It ought to be commemorated as a great day of deliverance . . . It ought to be solemnized with pomp and parade, with shows, games, sports, guns [!!!!], bells, bonfires etc.

Make no mistake about this country—it is atheistic, secular, and pluralistic as viewed from the fever swamps of Foggy Bottom (the location in D.C. where the State Department has been traditionally located). They even quote old John Adams on the celebration of Independence, minus of course the Christian faith that made it all possible and that undergird the Republic in every cultural, legal, moral, and religious sense. God Almighty is no longer needed. But don’t worry, the vacuum has been filled.

In a later quote on the America.gov—State Department web-page, Founder James Wilson’s address to a Philadelphia gathering celebrating the ratification of the Constitution clears everything up, celebrating “a people free and enlightened, establishing and ratifying a system of government. . .a whole people exercising its first and greatest power. . . performing an act of Sovereignty, Original, and Unlimited. . .”

The way the quote is structured, at first glance, seems to imply that the government–The State–possesses sovereign, original and unlimited power. That is what the State Department and the majority of the governing establishment actually thinks. I believe that Mr. Wilson intended that the American people were the locus of sovereign, original, and unlimited power. Either way, only God is Sovereign and has unlimited power and our nation needs to follow the dream of Adams and give prayers of thanks to God Almighty for our free Republic based on the rule of law, common and Constitutional, as our forefathers intended.

Have a great Independence Day celebration including pomp, guns, and parades but especially with prayers and thanksgiving.

Bill Potter
Historian and Curator
American History Guild