Original Intent: The Courts, the Constitution, and Religion

by David Barton

  It was not uncommon for subsequent American literacy laws to stress the need to know the Scriptures. For example, the 1690 Connecticut law declared:

  This [legislature] observing that … there are many persons unable to read the English tongue and thereby incapable to read the holy Word of God or the good laws of this colony … it is ordered that all parents and masters shall cause their respective children and servants, as they are capable, to be taught to read distinctly the English tongue.25

  The concern that caused this educational law to be passed was that many were illiterate and thereby “incapable to read the holy Word of God … ”

  The inseparability of Christianity from education, whether public or private, was evident at every level of American education. For example, the 1636 rules of Harvard declared:

  Let every student be plainly instructed and earnestly pressed to consider well the main end of his life and studies is to know God and Jesus Christ which is eternal life (JOHN 17:3) and therefore to lay Christ in the bottom as the only foundation of all sound knowledge and learning. And seeing the Lord only giveth wisdom, let every one seriously set himself by prayer in secret to seek it of Him (PROVERBS 2:3). Every one shall so exercise himself in reading the Scriptures twice a day that he shall be ready to give such an account of his proficiency therein.26

  Those Harvard requirements changed little over subsequent years. For example, the 1790 rules required:

  All persons of what degree forever residing at the College, and all undergraduates … shall constantly and seasonably attend the worship of God in the chapel, morning and evening…. All the scholars shall, at sunset in the evening preceding the Lord’s Day, lay aside all their diversions and…. it is enjoined upon every scholar carefully to apply himself to the duties of religion on said day.27

  So firmly was Harvard dedicated to this goal that its two mottos were “For the Glory of Christ” and “For Christ and the Church.”28 This school and its philosophy produced signers John Adams, John Hancock, Elbridge Gerry, John Pickering, William Williams, Rufus King, William Hooper, William Ellery, Samuel Adams, Robert Treat Paine, and numerous other illustrious Founders.

  In 1692, through the efforts of the Rev. James Blair, the College of William & Mary was founded in Williamsburg, Virginia, so that:

  [T]he youth may be piously educated in good letters and manners and that the Christian faith may be propagated … to the glory of Almighty God.29

  A century later, William & Mary was still pursuing this goal – as indicated by its 1792 requirements:

  The students shall attend prayers in chapel at the time appointed and there demean themselves with that decorum which the sacred duty of public worship requires.30

  In 1699, Yale was founded by ten ministers31 in order:

  [T]o plant, and under the Divine blessing, to propagate in this wilderness the blessed reformed Protestant religion.32

  When classes began in 1701, Yale required:

  [T]he Scriptures … morning and evening [are] to be read by the students at the times of prayer in the school … studiously endeavor[ing] in the education of said students to promote the power and purity of religion.33

  In 1720 Yale charged its students:

  Seeing God is the giver of all wisdom, every scholar, besides private or secret prayer, wherein all we are bound to ask wisdom, shall be present morning and evening at public prayer in the hall at the accustomed hour.34

  Then in 1743, and again in 1755, Yale instructed its students:

  Above all have an eye to the great end of all your studies, which is to obtain the clearest conceptions of Divine things and to lead you to a saving knowledge of God in his Son Jesus Christ.35

  Its 1787 rules declared:

  All the scholars are required to live a religious and blameless life according to the rules of God’s Word, diligently reading the holy Scriptures, that fountain of Divine light and truth, and constantly attending all the duties of religion…. All the scholars are obliged to attend Divine worship in the College Chapel on the Lord’s Day and on Days of Fasting and Thanksgiving appointed by public Authority.36

  It was this school and its philosophy which produced signers Oliver Wolcott, William Livingston, Lyman Hall, Lewis Morris, Jared Ingersoll, Philip Livingston, William Samuel Johnson, and numerous other distinguished Founders.

  In 1746, Princeton was founded by the Presbyterians with the Rev. Jonathan Dickinson as its first president. He was followed by a long line of illustrious ministers who served as presidents, including Aaron Burr, Sr., Jonathan Edwards, Samuel Davies, and Samuel Finley (all of whom were involved in America’s greatest revival – the Great Awakening).37 Its president immediately preceding the Revolution was the Rev. Dr. John Witherspoon, later a signer of the Declaration of Independence and a venerated leader among the patriots. Notice some of Princeton’s requirements while John Witherspoon was president:

  Every student shall attend worship in the college hall morning and evening at the hours appointed and shall behave with gravity and reverence during the whole service. Every student shall attend public worship on the Sabbath…. Besides the public exercises of religious worship on the Sabbath, there shall be assigned to each class certain exercises for their religious instruction suited to the age and standing of the pupils…. and no student belonging to any class shall neglect them.38

  Signers James Madison, Richard Stockton, Benjamin Rush, Gunning Bedford, Jonathan Dayton, and numerous other prominent Founders, graduated from Princeton (a seminary for the training of ministers).

  In 1754, Dartmouth College of New Hampshire (made especially famous by alumnus Daniel Webster’s defense of its charter before the U. S. Supreme Court in 181939) was founded by the Rev. Eleazar Wheelock. Its charter was very succinct as to its purpose:

  Whereas … the Reverend Eleazar Wheelock…. educated a number of the children of the Indian natives with a view to their carrying the Gospel in their own language and spreading the knowledge of the great Redeemer among their savage tribes. And … the design became reputable among the Indians insomuch that a larger number desired the education of their children in said school…. [Therefore] Dartmouth-College [is established] for the education and instruction of youths … in reading, writing and all parts of learning which shall appear necessary and expedient for civilizing and Christianizing the children.40

  That same year (1754), King’s College was founded in New York. Following the American Revolution, its name was changed to Columbia College; and in 1787, Constitution signer William Samuel Johnson was appointed its first president. Columbia’s admission requirements were straightforward:

  No candidate shall be admitted into the College … unless he shall be able to render into English … the Gospels from the Greek…. It is also expected that all students attend public worship on Sundays.41

  Johnson’s commencement speech to the Columbia graduates further affirmed the religious emphasis of American public education:

  You this day, gentlemen, …. have … received a public education, the purpose whereof hath been to qualify you the better to serve your Creator and your country….Your first great duties, you are sensible, are those you owe to Heaven, to your Creator and Redeemer. Let these be ever present to your minds and exemplified in your lives and conduct. Imprint deep upon your minds the principles of piety towards God and a reverence and fear of His holy name. The fear of God is the beginning of wisdom…. Remember, too, that you are the redeemed of the Lord, that you are bought with a price, even the inestimable price of the precious blood of the Son of God…. Love, fear, and serve Him as your Creator, Redeemer, and Sanctifier. Acquaint yourselves with Him in His Word and holy ordinances. Make Him your friend and protector and your felicity is secured both here and hereafter.42

  This philosophy of education remained constant at Columbia. In fact, in 1810, Rufus King (signer of the Constitution and President of the Board of Trustees at Columbia) issued a report from the Trustees reiterating:

  [I]
t shall be the duty of the president … to instruct the students of the junior and senior classes in the necessity, truth, and excellency of Divine revelation as contained in the Holy Scriptures.43

  In 1766, Rutgers University was founded through the efforts of the Rev. Theodore Frelinghuysen. Its official motto, “Sun of Righteousness, Shine upon the West Also,” was an extension of the Netherlands’ University of Utrecht motto: “Sun of Righteousness, Shine upon Us.”44

  Examination of other colleges and universities of the day reveals that the examples mentioned above were neither aberrations nor isolated selections – they represented the norm:

  [H]igher education in the United States before 1870 was provided very largely in the tuitional colleges of the different religious denominations, rather than by the State. Of the two hundred and forty-six colleges founded by the close of the year 1860 … seventeen were State institutions and but two or three others had any State connections.45

  Perhaps George Washington, “The Father of the Country,” provided the most succinct description of America’s educational philosophy when Chiefs from the Delaware Indian tribe brought him three Indian youths to be trained in American schools. Washington first assured the Chiefs that “Congress … will look upon them as their own children,”46 and then commended the Chiefs for their decision, telling them that:

  You do well to wish to learn our arts and ways of life, and above all, the religion of Jesus Christ. These will make you a greater and happier people than you are. Congress will do every thing they can to assist you in this wise intention.47

  By George Washington’s own words, what youths learned in America’s schools “above all” was “the religion of Jesus Christ.”

  The American Revolution and the Acts of the Continental Congress

  The seeds of separation between America and Great Britain had been sown as early as 1765 when Great Britain began to impose on the Colonies a number of tyrannical and, what the Colonists called, unlawful or “Intolerable Acts.” Although the Americans faithfully sought redress from these arbitrary and often capricious policies, the response from the Crown was frequently hardfisted. The fact that British troops had even fired on their own citizens in the 1770 “Boston Massacre” further deepened the rift. As a result, some individuals understandably began to incite open insurrection; however, America’s patriot leaders remained firmly committed both to lawful procedure and to a peaceful resolution of their differences with Great Britain.

  Some today contend that the American Revolution represented a complete violation of basic Biblical principles. They argue from Romans 13 that since government is of God, then all government decrees are to be obeyed as proceeding from God. Interestingly, it was this same theological argument which had resulted in the “Divine Right of Kings” philosophy which reasoned that since the King was Divinely chosen by God, therefore God expected all citizens to obey the King in all cases; anything less, they reasoned, was rebellion against God.

  The American Founding Fathers strenuously disagreed with this theological interpretation. For example, Founding Father James Otis (a leader of the Sons of Liberty and the mentor of Samuel Adams) openly struck against the “Divine Right of Kings” theology. In a 1766 work he argued that the only king who had any Divine right was God Himself; beyond that, God had ordained that the power was to rest with the people:

  Has it [government] any solid foundation? any chief cornerstone…? I think it has an everlasting foundation in the unchangeable will of God, the Author of Nature whose laws never vary…. Government…. is by no means an arbitrary thing depending merely on compact or human will for its existence…. The power of God Almighty is the only power that can properly and strictly be called supreme and absolute. In the order of nature immediately under Him comes the power of a simple democracy, or the power of the whole over the whole…. [God is] the only monarch in the universe who has a clear and indisputable right to absolute power because He is the only one who is omniscient as well as omnipotent…. The sum of my argument is that civil government is of God, that the administrators of it were originally the whole people.48

  Even John Dickinson (not only a signer of the Constitution and the Governor of Pennsylvania, but also a devout Quaker and thus a member of a denomination favorably disposed toward the King) recognized the spiritual basis for the position taken by the Americans:

  Kings or parliaments could not give the rights essential to happiness…. We claim them from a higher source – from the King of kings, and Lord of all the earth. They are not annexed to us by parchments and seals. They are created in us by the decrees of Providence, which establish the laws of our nature. They are born with us; exist with us; and cannot be taken from us by any human power without taking our lives. In short, they are founded on the immutable maxims of reason and justice. It would be an insult on the Divine Majesty to say that he has given or allowed any man or body of men a right to make me miserable.49

  Despite their rejection of the theory that the King spoke for God, a generally submissive attitude prevailed among the Americans. Stephen Hopkins, a signer of the Declaration and the Governor of Rhode Island, confirmed this in his work, The Rights of the Colonies Examined. Hopkins explained:

  We finally beg leave to assert that the first planters of these colonies were pious Christians; were faithful subjects; who, with a fortitude and perseverance little known and less considered, settled these wild countries by God’s goodness and their own amazing labors [and] thereby added a most valuable dependence to the crown of Great-Britain; were ever dutifully subservient to her interests; so taught their children that not one has been disaffected to this day; but all have honestly obeyed every royal command and cheerfully submitted to every constitutional law; … have carefully avoided every offensive measure … have never been troublesome or expensive to the mother country; have kept due order and supported a regular government; have maintained peace and practiced Christianity; and in all conditions and in every relation have demeaned themselves as loyal, as dutiful, and as faithful subjects ought; and that no kingdom or state hath, or ever had, colonies more quiet, more obedient, or more profitable, than these have ever been.50

  The evidence is clear that for years the Founders pursued peaceful reconciliation and entreaty and that it was Great Britain which terminated the discussions. In fact, separation from Great Britain was not selected as the American course of action until two years after King George III had drawn the sword and sent armed troops against his own citizens in America. As signer of the Declaration John Witherspoon made clear:

  On the part of America, there was not the most distant thought of subverting the government or of hurting the interest of the people of Great Britain; but of defending their own privileges from unjust encroachment; there was not the least desire of withdrawing their allegiance from the common sovereign [King George III] till it became absolutely necessary – and indeed, was his own choice.51

  When the decision for a separation was made, the Founders still maintained their strong entreaty to God for the justness of their actions. For example, in a letter to British officials, Samuel Adams, the Father of the American Revolution, declared:

  There is One above us who will take exemplary vengeance for every insult upon His majesty. You know that the cause of America is just. You know that she contends for that freedom to which all men are entitled – that she contends against oppression, rapine, and more than savage barbarity. The blood of the innocent is upon your hands, and all the waters of the ocean will not wash it away. We again make our solemn appeal to the God of heaven to decide between you and us. And we pray that, in the doubtful scale of battle, we may be successful as we have justice on our side, and that the merciful Saviour of the world may forgive our oppressors.52

  Adams also authored a manifesto for the Continental Congress which reflected a similar tone:

  We, therefore, the Congress of the United States of America, do solemnly declare and proclaim that…. [w]e appeal to the God who
searcheth the hearts of men for the rectitude of our intentions; and in His holy presence declare that, as we are not moved by any light or hasty suggestions of anger or revenge, so through every possible change of fortune we will adhere to this our determination.53

  After the separation occurred, despite the years of peaceful entreaties, some British leaders specifically accused the Americans of anarchy and rebellion. To this charge, John Quincy Adams forcefully responded:

  [T]here was no anarchy…. [T]he people of the North American union, and of its constituent States, were associated bodies of civilized men and Christians in a state of nature, but not of anarchy. They were bound by the laws of God, which they all, and by the laws of the Gospel, which they nearly all, acknowledged as the rules of their conduct.54

  Francis Hopkinson, a signer of the Declaration of Independence (and a church choir leader, musician, noted poet and literary figure), similarly discounted any notion of anarchy or rebellion in his 1777 work “A Political Catechism”:

  Q. What is war?

  A. The curse of mankind; the mother of famine and pestilence; the source of complicated miseries; and the undistinguishing destroyer of the human species.