Categories: Articles

Celebrating Abigail Adams

Abigail Adams is the first of only two women in American history to be the wife of one President and the mother of another. Born in 1744 to a Congregationalist minister, her formal education was limited, but her self-education was extensive, and her wisdom and advice caused her to be a trusted adviser to significant Founding Fathers, especially her famous husband, John Adams. 1

Probably the most profound influence in guiding and shaping her life was her strong Christian faith. Her knowledge of the Scriptures was intimate, evidenced not only in her life but especially in her letters. Consider just a few from the year 1775 when she was personally witnessing the start of the American Revolution. For example, following the Battles of Lexington and Concord, she told her husband, John:

Nor doth the eye say unto the hand, “I have no need of thee” [1 Corinthians 12:21]. The Lord will not cast off His people, neither will He forsake his inheritance [Psalm 94:14]. Great events are most certainly in the womb of futurity, and if the present chastisements which we experience have a proper influence upon our conduct, the event will certainly be in our favor. . . . Pharaoh’s [i.e., King George III’s] heart is hardened, and he refuseth to hearken to them and will not let the people go [Exodus 8:32]. May their deliverance be wrought out for them, as it was for the children of Israel [Exodus 12]. 2

Several weeks later in describing the 1775 burning of Charlestown and Battle of Bunker Hill, she told him:

“The race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong; but the God of Israel is He that giveth strength and power unto His people. Trust in Him at all times, ye people, pour out your hearts before Him; God is a refuge for us” [Ecclesiastes 9:11 and Psalm 62:8]. Charlestown is laid in ashes. The battle began upon our entrenchments upon Bunker’s Hill, Saturday morning about three o’clock, and has not ceased yet, and it is now three o’clock Sabbath afternoon. 3

A week later, she wrote:

We live in continual expectation of hostilities. Scarcely a day that does not produce some; but like good Nehemiah, having made our prayer unto God and set the people with their swords, their spears, and their bows, we will say unto them “Be not ye afraid of them; remember the Lord, who is great and terrible, and fight for your brethren, your sons, and your daughters, your wives and your houses” [Nehemiah 4:14]. 4

She later told John:

And unto Him who mounts the whirlwind and directs the storm [Nahum 1:3] I will cheerfully leave the ordering of my lot; and whether adverse or prosperous days should be my future portion, I will trust in His right hand to lead me safely through [Psalm 139:10], and after a short rotation of events, fix me in a state immutable and happy. 5

By the end of 1775, a number of their friends had been killed in the conflict with Great Britain, and her own mother had also passed away. She told John:

How long, O Lord, shall the whole land say, I am sick! [Isaiah 33:24] Oh show us wherefore it is that Thou art thus contending with us [Job 10:2]. In a very particular manner I have occasion to make this inquiry, who have had breach upon breach – nor has one wound been permitted to be healed ere it is made to bleed afresh. In six weeks I count five of my near connections laid in the grave. . . . But the heavy stroke which most of all disturbs me is my dear mother. . . . He who deigned to weep over a departed friend [John 11:35] will surely forgive a sorrow which at all times desires to be bounded and restrained by a firm belief that a Being of infinite wisdom and unbounded goodness will carve out my portion in tender mercy to me. Yea, though He slay me, I will trust in Him, said holy Job [Job 13:15]. What though His corrective hand hath been stretched against me; I will not murmur. Though earthly comforts are taken away, I will not repine [1 Corinthians 10:10]. He who gave them has surely a right to limit their duration, and He has continued them to me much longer than I deserve. I might have been stripped of my children, as many others have been. I might – oh, forbid it Heaven – I might have been left a solitary widow! 6

By the close of the year, Abigail told John her personal conviction that:

[H]e who neglects his duty to his Maker may well be expected to be deficient and insincere in his duty towards the public. 7

Around that time, she also wrote her close friend, Mercy Otis Warren, America’s first female historian who is called “The Conscience of the American Revolution,” and similarly told her:

A patriot without religion in my estimation is as great a paradox as an honest man without the fear of God. 8

Her strong faith was just as apparent in her writings to her young son, John Quincy Adams. In 1778, John was dispatched to France and took with him their ten year old son. 9 After they arrived in Europe, Abigail told her young son:

It is almost four months since you left your native land and embarked upon the mighty waters, in quest of a foreign country. . . . [Y]ou have constantly been upon my heart and mind. . . . Great learning and superior abilities, should you ever possess them, will be of little value and small estimation, unless virtue, honor, truth, and integrity are added to them. Adhere to those religious sentiments and principles which were early instilled into your mind and remember that you are accountable to your Maker for all your words and actions. . . . I would much rather you should have found your grave in the ocean you have crossed, or that any untimely death crop you in your infant years, than see you an immoral, profligate, or graceless child. 10

In 1780 when her son John Quincy Adams was in Paris, she reminded him:

You have seen how inadequate the aid of man would have been if the winds and the seas had not been under the particular government of that Being Who “stretched out the heavens as a span” [Isaiah 40:12], Who “holdeth the ocean in the hollow of His hand” [Isaiah 40:12], and “rideth upon the wings of the wind” [Psalm 104:3]. . . . The only sure and permanent foundation of virtue is religion. Let this important truth be engraven upon your heart. And also that the foundation of religion is the belief of the only one God, and a just sense of His attributes as a Being infinitely wise, just, and good, to Whom you owe the highest reverence, gratitude, and adoration; Who superintends and governs all nature, even to clothing the lilies of the field [Matthew 6:28] and hearing the young ravens when they cry [Psalm 147:9]; but more particularly regards man, Whom he created after His own image [Genesis 1:26], and breathed into him an immortal spirit [Genesis 2:7], capable of a happiness beyond the grave. 11

What Abigail taught the young John Quincy Adams never departed him. In fact, when he was quite elderly, he reminisced of her impact upon him, recalling:

[In the] spring and summer of 1775, she taught me to repeat daily, after the Lord’s Prayer, before rising from bed, the Ode of Collins [a patriotic poem] on the patriot warriors who fell in the war. . . . Of the impression made upon my heart by the sentiments inculcated in these beautiful effusions of patriotism and poetry, you may form an estimate by the fact that now, seventy-one years after they were thus taught me, I repeat them from memory. 12

From his mother, this great Christian patriot early learned a love of God and a love of his country. But such was the Christian influence of Abigail Adams, a Godly heroine of the American Revolution.

WallBulders’ Collection includes an original Abigail letter which references her faith. For more about Abigail, get the book Wives of the Signers.

Endnotes

1 “John Adams and the Massachusetts Constitution,” Mass.gov, accessed May 8, 2025; Elizabeth Ellet, Women of the Revolution (New York; Baker and Scribner, 1849), II:31.
2 Abigail Adams to John Adams, May 7, 1775, Familiar Letters of John Adams and His Wife Abigail Adams, During the Revolution, ed. Charles Francis Adams (Boston: Houghton, Mifflin and Company, 1875), 54.
3 Abigail to John Adams, June 18, 1775, Letters of Mrs. Adams, the Wife of John Adams. With an Introductory Memoir by Her Grandson Charles Francis Adams (Boston: Charles C. Little and James Brown, 1840), I:40.
4 Abigail to John Adams, June 25, 1775, Letters of Mrs. Adams (1840), I:45.
5 Abigail Adams to John Adams, September 16, 1775, Familiar Letters, ed. Adams (1875), 98.
6 Abigail to John Adams, October 9, 1775, Familiar Letters, ed. Adams (1875), 106.
7 Abigail to John Adams on November 5, 1775, Familiar Letters, ed. Adams (1875), 122.
8 Abigail Adams to Mercy Warren in November, 1775, Warren-Adams Letters: Being Chiefly a Correspondence Among John Adams, Samuel Adams, and John Warren (The Massachusetts Historical Society, 1917), I:180.
9 William H. Seward, The Life and Public Services of John Quincy Adams, Sixth President of the United States, with the Eulogy Delivered Before the Legislature of New York (Auburn: Derby, Miller and Company, 1849), 30-32.
10 Abigail Adams to John Quincy Adams, June 1778, Letters of Mrs. Adams (1840), I:122-125.
11 Abigail to John Quincy Adams, March 20, 1780, Letters of Mrs. Adams (1840), I:146- 147.
12 John Quincy Adams to Mr. Sturge in 1846, Memoirs of John Quincy Adams, ed. Charles Francis Adams (Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott and Company, 1874), 1:5-6.

Celebrating Black History Month: The Rev. Francis J. Grimke

“Washington is a hard training ground for preachers.”

This quote probably remains as accurate today as it was 100 years ago when it was made by famous black pastor Francis James Grimké. 1

Grimké was born to a slave mother in South Carolina in 1850. When his guardian tried to sell him into slavery, he escaped and served as a valet in the Confederate Army. He was taken hostage and almost died, but was nursed back to health by his mother only to be sold into slavery to a Confederate officer, spending the rest of the Civil War as a slave. 2

When emancipation was finally achieved, Francis first attended Lincoln University in Pennsylvania, and then graduated from Princeton Theological Seminary as an ordained Presbyterian minister,  3 becoming pastor of Fifteenth Street Presbyterian Church in Washington, D. C. 4 As famous black historian Carter Woodson reported, his ministry had a definite impact:

During the first years of the ministry of Mr. Grimké, which began in the spring of 1878, there was a great spiritual awakening as the result of his forceful preaching. 5

Grimké pastored this church for almost 50 years,6 and during one of his sermons, he reminded his congregation:

It is now no longer a question as to whether we are a nation, or a confederation of sovereign and independent states. That question is settled, and settled once for all by the issue [outcome] of the [Civil] War. …The Stars and Stripes, the old flag, will float, as long as it floats, over all these states, from the Atlantic to the Pacific, from the Lakes to the Gulf. If the time ever comes when we shall go to pieces, it will not be form any desire or disposition on the part of the states to pull apart, but from inward corruption — from the disregard of right principles, from the spirit of greed, from the narrowing lust of gold, from losing sight of the fact that “righteousness exalteth a nation, but that sin is a reproach to any people” [Proverbs 14:34]. It is here where our real danger lies – not in the secession of the States from the Union, but in the secession of the Union itself from the great and immutable principles of right, of justice, of fair play for all regardless of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.7

This same principle applies to America today. Let us remember to seriously regard the warning issued by Rev. Grimké and to continue to walk in those “immutable principles of right” that are found in the Holy Scriptures.

Endnotes

1 William H. Ferris, The African Abroad (New Haven: Tuttle, Morehouse & Taylor, 1913), 2:889.
2 William J. Simmons, Men of Mark: Eminent, Progressive, and Rising (Cleveland: Geo. M. Rewell & Co., 1887), 608-609.
3 “Grimke, Francis J.,” Who’s who of the Colored Race: A General Biographical Dictionary of Men and Women of African Descent, ed. Frank Lincoln Mather (Chicago, 1915), 1:125.
4 Simmons, Men of Mark (1887), 610.
5 The Journal of Negro History, ed. Carter G. Woodson (Lancaster, PA: The Association for the Study of Negro Life and History, Inc., 1922), 7:81.
6 Dictionary of American Negro Biography, s.v. “Grimke, Francis James.”
7 Rev. Francis J. Grimke, from “Equality of Right for All Citizens, Black and White, Alike,” March 7, 1909, Masterpieces of Negro Eloquence, ed. Alice Moore Dunbar (New York: Dover Publications, Inc., 2000), 246.

Duel Hamilton and Burr 1894 Book

The Founders on the Second Amendment

The Second Amendment to the Constitution has become a target for Progressives and Liberals, who are determined to dismantle it. The Founders recognized the “right to keep and bear arms” as an inalienable right of self-defense to be protected by government rather than infringed or abridged by it. As Constitution signer John Dickinson affirmed, inalienable rights such as self-defense were rights “which God gave to you and which no inferior power has a right to take away.” [1]

Significantly, the Second Amendment did not grant or bestow any right on the people; instead, it simply recognized and provided what Constitution signer James Wilson called “a new security” for the right of self-defense that God had already bestowed on every individual. [2]

Numerous Founders affirmed the God-given right to self-defense and personal safety:

[T]he said Constitution [should] be never construed . . . to prevent the people of the United States, who are peaceable citizens, from keeping their own arms. Samuel Adams, Signer of the Declaration, “Father of the American Revolution” [3]

The right . . . of bearing arms . . . is declared to be inherent in the people. Fisher Ames, A Framer of the Second Amendment in the First Congress [4]

[T]he advantage of being armed [is an advantage which] the Americans possess over the people of almost every other nation. . . . [I]n the several kingdoms of Europe . . . the governments are afraid to trust the people with arms. James Madison, U.S. President, Signer of the Constitution, a Framer of the Second Amendment in the first congress [5]

[T]o preserve liberty, it is essential that the whole body of the people always possess arms, and be taught alike, especially when young, how to use them. Richard Henry Lee, Signer of the Declaration, A Framer of the Second Amendment in the First Congress [6]

To learn the history of this historic Amendment and the Founders’ clear views on it, see our short book The Second Amendment. Also, The Founders’ Bible shows not only the Founders’ position on self-defense and the Second Amendment but it also gives the Biblical basis for that right — as in Exodus 22, which helps explain the “Castle Doctrine.”

Endnotes

[1] John Dickinson, Letters from a Farmer in Pennsylvania, R. T. H. Halsey, editor (New York: The Outlook Company, 1903), p. xlii, letter to the Society of Fort St. David’s, 1768; see also John Quincy Adams, An Oration Delivered Before the Cincinnati Astronomical Society on the Occasion of Laying the Cornerstone of an Astronomical Observatory on the 10th of November, 1843 (Cincinnati: Shepard & Co., 1843), pp. 13-14.
[2] James Wilson, The Works of the Honorable James Wilson, Bird Wilson, editor (Philadelphia: Bronson and Chauncey, 1804), Vol. II, p. 454.
[3] Debates and Proceedings in the Convention of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Held in the Year 1788 (Boston: William White, 1856), pp. 86, 266, February 6, 1788; see also William V. Wells, The Life and Public Service of Samuel Adams (Boston: Little, Brown, & Co., 1865), Vol. III, p. 267.
[4] Fisher Ames, Works of Fisher Ames, Seth Ames, editor (Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1854), Vol. I, p. 54, to George Richards Minot on June 12, 1789.
[5] Alexander Hamilton, John Jay, and James Madison, The Federalist on the New Constitution (Philadelphia: Benjamin Warner, 1818), p. 259, Federalist No. 46 by James Madison.
[6] Richard Henry Lee, An Additional Number Of Letters From The Federal Farmer To The Republican (New York: 1788), p.170, Letter XVIII, January, 25, 1788.

Addressing Mass Murder and Violent Crime

In the wake of the heart-rending massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School, a cry has arisen for gun control. But such calls are misdirected. The lessons of Scriptures and history are clear that the key is controlling what is in one’s heart, not what is in one’s hand. As the great Daniel Webster reminded a crowd at the U. S. Capitol:

[T]he cultivation of the religious sentiment represses licentiousness . . . inspires respect for law and order, and gives strength to the whole social fabric. 1 Whatever makes men good Christians, makes them good citizens. 2

The Founders understood that the inside was the most important focus, not the outside. This is why Thomas Jefferson believed the teachings of Jesus were so effective, explaining:

The precepts of philosophy, and of the Hebrew code, laid hold of actions only. He [Jesus] pushed his scrutinies into the heart of man, erected his tribunal in the region of his thoughts, and purified the waters at the fountain head.3

While civil law prohibits murder, the Bible addresses it before it occurs—while it is still only a thought in the heart (see Matthew 5:22-28). As John Quincy Adams explained:

Human legislators can undertake only to prescribe the actions of men: they acknowledge their inability to govern and direct the sentiments of the heart. . . . It is one of the greatest marks of Divine favor . . . that the Legislator gave them rules not only of action but for the government of the heart.4

The Founders were clear that only the Scriptures provide effective “rules for the government of the heart” and thus help prevent the crimes which originate internally:

Love to God and love to man is the substance of religion; when these prevail, civil laws will have little to do.5 John Witherspoon, Signer of the Declaration

Without the restraints of religion and social worship, men become savages. 6 Benjamin Rush, Signer of the Declaration

I have always said, and always will say, that the studious perusal of the Sacred Volume will make better citizens, better fathers, and better husbands. 7 Thomas Jefferson, President, Signer of the Declaration

In vain, without the Bible, we increase penal laws and draw entrenchments around our institutions. Bibles are strong entrenchments. Where they abound, men cannot pursue wicked courses. 8 James McHenry, Signer of the Constitution

Men, in a word, must necessarily be controlled either by a power within them or by a power without them; either by the Word of God or by the strong arm of man; either by the Bible or by the bayonet.9 Robert Winthrop, Early Speaker of the U.S. House

So . . . if Congress and the media want to have a debate, let it be over what is put into the heart, not the hand – over returning instruction in moral and religious principles to schools and the public arena. In the meantime, there are already some measures that are completely legal and which you can help expand across the country:

  1. Get a Bible course in public schools around you
  2. Start a Good News Club in a nearby public school
  3. Get your legislature to pass a law authorizing an elective course on the Bible, such as those already passed in Texas, Tennessee, Arizona, and other states.

1 Daniel Webster, Address Delivered at the Laying of the Cornerstone of the Addition to the Capitol, July 4, 1851 The Works of Daniel Webster (Boston: Little, Brown, & Co., 1853), II:615.
2 Webster, “Discourse Delivered at Plymouth,” December 22, 1820, Works of Webster (Boston: Little, Brown, & Co., 1853), I:44.
3 Thomas Jefferson to Benjamin Rush, April 21, 1803, Jefferson’s “Syllabus of an Estimate of the Merit of the Doctrines of Jesus, Compared with Those of Others,” Memoir, Correspondence, and Miscellanies, From the Papers of Thomas Jefferson, ed. Thomas Jefferson Randolph (Boston: Gray and Bowen, 1830), III:509. See also William Linn, The Life of Thomas Jefferson (Ithaca, New York: Mack & Andrus, 1834), 265.
4 John Quincy Adams, Letters of John Quincy Adams to His Son, on the Bible and Its Teachings (Auburn, New York: Derby, Miller, and Co., 1848), 62.
5 John Witherspoon, The Works of John Witherspoon (Edinburgh: 1805), VII:119.
6 Benjamin Rush, “To American Farmers About to Settle in New Parts of the United States,” March 1789, Letters of Benjamin Rush, ed. L. H. Butterfield (Princeton: The American Philosophical Society, 1951), I:505.
7 Daniel Webster to Professor Pease on June 15, 1852, The Writings and Speeches of Daniel Webster Hitherto Uncollected (Boston: Little, Brown, & Company, 1903), IV:656-657, originally appearing in The National Magazine: Devoted to Literature, Art, and Religion. July to December, 1858, ed. James Floy (New York: Carolton & Porter, 1858), XIII:178-179
8 Bernard C. Steiner, One Hundred and Ten Years of Bible Society Work in Maryland, 1810-1920 (Baltimore: The Maryland Bible Society, 1921), 14.
9 Robert Winthrop, Address Delivered at the Annual Meeting of the Massachusetts Bible Society in Boston, May 28, 1849 Addresses and Speeches on Various Occasions (Boston: Little, Brown and Co., 1852), 172.

* This article concerns a historical issue and may not have updated information.

The USS Arizona sinks after it's bombed during the Pearl Harbor attacks in 1941.

Remembering Pearl Harbor

 

       

For Americans today, the account of Pearl Harbor and America’s entry into World War II is nothing more than a subject of academic study. But there are still a handful of veterans alive today who were actually part of that epic event. In yesterday’s program on WallBuilders Live, Chief Petty Officer (Ret.) James Womack recounted his remarkable experiences aboard the U.S.S. St.Louis on that fateful day as they battled the Japanese in that devastating American defeat. It is inspiring to hear about the bravery and courage of those who stood in harm’s way on that fateful morning. (If you missed this, or any program on the more than 180 stations across the nation that air WallBuilders Live, you can hear those previous programs on our Archives page.)

As we commemorate this famous “date which will live in infamy,” an excellent prayer to offer on this day is an official Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day Prayer:

Dear Father, on this annual recollection of the Pearl Harbor tragedy, we pray for thy benign blessings and guidance. Enable us to reflect clearly and conscientiously upon our priceless heritage. Let us be determined to guard and preserve it through all trials and difficulties. Help us to be worthy of the lofty ideals for which so many courageous men and women sacrificed so much. Grant us steadfast spirits always to defend our great inheritance for the countless generations yet unborn. Cast thy countenance upon our beloved country, the United States of America. Shelter the inhabitants of our land from all anguish, peril, and gloom. May this blessed haven ever be the citadel of justice, freedom, and brotherhood. May the time not be distant O God, when mankind will live in security and confidence as it is written in the book of thy Prophet Isaiah: “Nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore.” Then the glory of God shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together. Amen

And during this season of giving, some simple ways you can give back to the veterans who have sacrificed so much on behalf of us all include:

 

A Soldier and a President

November 11th, Veteran’s Day, is the day America has set aside to remember and honor those who have been part of our Armed Forces.

As the Supreme Commander of the Allied troops in Europe, Dwight D. Eisenhower’s bold leadership on the beaches of Normandy during the D-Day invasion of France gained the admiration of the nation. This popularity would later contribute to the slogan “I like Ike” and he was eventually elected and inaugurated as America’s 34th President.

While many Americans today are familiar with General Eisenhower, few know much about his strong faith. For example, the day before his presidential inauguration in 1953, he wrote his own inaugural prayer, which he personally delivered the next day, dedicating himself before God to the service of the people.

During his presidency, he signed into law the bill that added the words “under God” to the Pledge of Allegiance, established the National Prayer Breakfast, made “In God We Trust” the national motto, placed “In God We Trust” on paper currency and not just coinage, and a Congressional Prayer Room was added to the U. S. Capitol.

An inspirational account of God’s providential intervention in the life of a young Dwight Eisenhower was published and distributed nationally during his presidency, and was even circulated during his presidential campaign.

General Eisenhower is one of America’s better known veterans, but the others are no less important. So please take the time to find veterans around you and thank them for their service, and their willingness to sacrifice so much to preserve liberty for all of us.

Their Lives, Fortunes and Sacred Honor: Richard Stockton

The signers of the Declaration of Independence pledged their “lives, fortunes, and sacred honor” so that they and their posterity (us!) could enjoy both spiritual and civil liberties to a degree unknown in the world at that time. That pledge literally cost many of them their lives and fortunes. Some of the 56 signers who sacrificed much include John Hancock, Robert Morris, and John Hart. Richard Stockton was another who paid a great price.

Born October 1, 1730, near Princeton, New Jersey, 1 he attended what we now know as Princeton College and became one of their trustees, having been trained as an attorney. His commitment to advance and strengthen the College brought him to the British Isles before the Revolution, where he was consulted by many British leaders as to the condition of affairs in America. 2 He was also presented to King George III, who was very impressed with Stockton. 3 Upon his return to America, he became a leader in state government and then a justice on the New Jersey Supreme Court. 4 When the king’s assault on American liberties increased, Stockton sided with the Americans and was chosen a delegate to the Continental Congress, 5 where he signed the Declaration of Independence as a representative for New Jersey. 6

Stockton was kidnapped from his home by neighbors who were Loyalists (Americans who supported the King of England). 7 He was “dragged from his bed by night, stripped and plundered of his property” 8 and “treated with the utmost rigor and indignity.” 9 He was placed in a notoriously brutal prison in the middle of winter and was denied even the basic necessities, subjected to the most cruel treatment. 10

When the Continental Congress learned of his plight, they interceded on his behalf. 11He was eventually released but never regained his health. 12 While imprisoned, Stockton’s library, papers and other property was burned or destroyed, and his farm left desolate and inoperable. 13 As a result of his cruel treatment, Stockton died on February 28, 1781, 14 never getting to experience the national freedom for which he had sacrificed so much.

Richard Stockton left us a legacy of patriotism, bravery, and of unwavering devotion to the Christian faith. 15 In fact, in his last will and testament, he pointedly set forth for his children, who at that point were being deprived of their father as a result of the cruel British treatment, the central tenets of Christianity, strongly encouraging them to embrace and follow them.

Richard Stockton is one of the forgotten heroes of American history. To learn more about him and other Founding Fathers, be sure to check out the WallBuilders store for Lives of the Signers of the Declaration of Independence.

Endnotes

1 Rev. Charles A. Goodrich, Lives of the Signers of the Declaration of Independence (Hartford: R.G.H. Huntington, 1842), 204-205. See also, Robert W. Lincoln, Lives of the Presidents of the United States; with Biographical Notices of the Signers of the Declaration of Independence (New York: William W. Reed, 1833), 393.
2 Alexander Leitch, “Stockton, Richard,” Princeton Companion (1978). See also, Carroll Judson, A Biography of the Signers of the Declaration of Independence, and of Washington and Patrick Henry (Philadelphia: J. Dobson, and Thomas, Cowperthwait & Co., 1839), 68; John C. Glynn, Jr. and Kathryn Glynn “Richard Stockton,” The Society of the Descendents of the Signers of the Declaration of Independence (2008); Goodrich, Lives of the Signers (1842), 205.
3 John Sanderson, Sanderson’s Biography of the Signers to the Declaration of Independence, ed. Robert T. Conrad (Philadelphia: Thomas, Cowperthwait & Co., 1846), 220.
4 Judson, Biography of the Signers (1839), 68. See also, Lincoln, Lives of the Presidents (1833), 393.
5 Goodrich, Lives of the Signers (1842), 207.
6 Sanderson, Sanderson’s Biography of the Signers, ed. Conrad (1846), 219-220.
7 Sanderson, Sanderson’s Biography of the Signers, ed. Conrad (1846), 222.
8 Sanderson, Sanderson’s Biography of the Signers, ed. Conrad (1846), 222.
9 Lincoln, Lives of the Presidents (1833), 393.
10 Goodrich, Lives of the Signers (1842), 207. See also, Judson, Biography of the Signers (1839), 69.
11 Sanderson, Sanderson’s Biography of the Signers , ed. Conrad (1846), 222-223. See also Judson, Biography of the Signers (1839), 69-70.
12 Lincoln, Lives of the Presidents of the United States (1833), 393.  See also Goodrich, Lives of the Signers (1842), 208.
13 Judson, Biography of the Signers (1839), 70.
14 Judson,  Biography of the Signers (1839), 70. See also, Sanderson, Sanderson’s Biography of the Signers, ed.Conrad (1846), 223; Lincoln, Lives of the Presidents (1833), 393; Goodrich, Lives of the Signers (1842), 208.
15 Judson, Biography of the Signers (1839), 70.

Who was known as “First in war, First in peace, First in the hearts of his countrymen”?

This month marks the 217th anniversary of George Washington’s famous Farewell Address ending his remarkable career of public service. To understand the impact of Washington’s unique leadership, it is worth reviewing a few incidents from his life.

George Washington began his military career as an officer over the Virginia militia and then later as an aide-de-camp to British General Edward Braddock during the French and Indian War.1

Washington’s military advice in that War was very wise, but was rejected by the British.2 During the famous Battle of the Monongahela outside of Pittsburgh, Washington repeatedly escaped death through what he later described as miraculous intervention by God. In fact, an Indian chief who fought against him in that battle3 later traveled a long distance to meet Washington, whom he described as one who “cannot die in battle”4 because he clearly was “under the protection of the Great Spirit.”5 (For the full story of God’s Divine intervention in this battle, be sure to get the audiobook Bulletproof George Washington, read by famous Disney legend Dean Jones.)

Washington’s strong religious faith was evident on numerous occasions throughout the French and Indian War, and early artists later made lithographs capturing some of those reported incidents. One was a lithograph showing George reading the Bible to his troops, and another was Washington fulfilling the role of chaplain at the death of British commander Edward Braddock.

His firm reliance on God was evident throughout all of his endeavors, including in his General Orders to his troops during the American Revolution. And just as had occurred during the French and Indian War, God’s protection of Washington’s life was also evident during the American War for Independence.6

Following the end of the Revolution and the writing and adoption of the Constitution, Washington was unanimously chosen as the nation’s first President — the only president to receive a unanimous electoral college vote.7 From his inauguration (which included seven distinctly religious activities) to his retirement from public service, George Washington repeatedly demonstrated his firm reliance on God, openly acknowledging Him in public prayer proclamations (such as those of 1789 and 1795), speeches 8 and messages. 9 So well established was Washington’s Christian character, that decades after his death, sermons were still being preached to honor his life.

Washington affirmed his strong religious beliefs in his final public message to Americans: his “Farewell Address” of September 17, 1796. That message is considered to be among the most significant political speeches ever delivered by any president,10 and subsequent presidents recommended to Americans that they read and study that Address.11 (We have it available in Documents of Freedom.)

Because of his significant influence, it is no surprise that Washington was lovingly titled by his contemporaries as the man who was “First in war, First in peace, First in the hearts of his countrymen.”12

Endnotes

1 David Ramsay, The Life of George Washington (Baltimore: Joseph Jewett and Cushing & Sons, 1832), 13; John S.C. Abbott, American Pioneers and Patriots. George Washington, or Life in America One Hundred Years Ago (New York: Dodd & Mead Publishers, 1875), 82, James K. Paulding, A Life of Washington (Alberdeen: George Clark and Son, 1848), 41-42.
2 Ramsay, Life of Washington (1832), 13-14; Abbott, American Pioneers (1875), 85-86; Paulding, Life of Washington (1848), 43-44.
3 Ramsay,Life of Washington (1832), 14-15; Abbott, American Pioneers (1875), 91-93, Paulding, Life of Washington (1848), 44-45.
4 George Washington Parke Custis, Recollections and Private Memoirs of Washington by His Adopted Son (New York: Derby & Jackson, 1860), 375; Eugene Parsons, Great Americans of History George Washington: A Character Sketch (Milwaukee, WI: H.G. Campbell Publishing Company, 1898), 30-31, Washington Irving, Life of George Washington (New York: G. P. Putnam & Co., 1856), I:368.
5 Custis, Recollections (1860), 375; Irving, Life of Washington (1856), I:368; Parsons, Great Americans of History (1898), 31.
6 See for example, Jared Sparks, The Life of George Washington (Boston: Ferdinand Andrews, 1839) 205-217; Hon. J. T. Headley, The Illustrated Life of Washington (New York: G. & F. Bill, 1859) 214-216.
7 James Grant Wilson and John Fiske, Appletons’ Cyclopedia of American Biography (New York: D. Appleton and Company, 1889), 6, “Washington, George.”
8 See for example, George Washington, A Compilation of the Messages and Papers of the Presidents, ed. James D. Richardson (New York: Bureau of National Literature, Inc., 1897), I:179, Reply of the President to an Address of the Senate, December 12, 1795.
9 See for example, George Washington, Messages and Papers of the Presidents, ed. Richardson (1897), I:44., First Inaugural Address in the City of New York, April 30, 1789.
10 “Washington’s Farewell Address,” Library of Congress: Religion and the Founding of the American Republic, (July 23, 2012); “February 22, 1862: Washington’s Farewell Address,” United States Senate.
11 See for example, James Madison, The Writings of James Madison, Letter to Thomas Jefferson, February 8, 1825.
12 Eulogies and Orations on the Life and Death of General George Washington, First President of the United States of America (Boston: Manning & Loring, 1800), 17, “Funeral Oration on the Death of General Washington. Delivered at the Request of Congress, Dec. 26, 1799. By Major-General Henry Lee.”

Dr. Rush’s Eternal Hope

The Lesser Known Boudinot

At the time of his death in 1813, Dr. Benjamin Rush was heralded as one of America’s three most notable Founders, along with George Washington and Benjamin Franklin.1 He was a signer of the Declaration of Independence, served under three Presidents, helped found five universities and colleges, is titled “The Father of American Medicine,” led both the abolition and prison reform movements, and founded American Sunday Schools and the nation’s first Bible Society. His Christian faith was not only the driving motivation for doing good, but also his hope for the future.

Rush composed this letter to friend and fellow patriot, Elisha Boudinot (1749-1819) of Newark. (Elisha’s older brother was the better known, Elias Boudinot, president of the Continental Congress and a framer of the Bill of Rights during the first federal Congress.)

Elisha was also active in the Patriot cause, serving on the Council of Safety and later as a justice of the Supreme Court of New Jersey.2 He helped a slave win his freedom,3 worked to prepare men for the Gospel ministry, 4 and was an active member of the First Presbyterian Church of Newark.

Elisha Boudinot was so loved and respected in his community that when his home burned in January 1797, the neighbors not only turned out en masse to rebuild it5 but also established the city’s first fire department to prevent similar future losses.6

Condolences

In this inspiring letter Rush offers his friend comfort following the loss of his wife, Catharine. He looks forward to a time when “there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying” (Revelation 21:4) and reminds his friend that they do not grieve “as those who have no hope” (I Thessalonians 4:13).

The hope of resurrection was especially important to Dr. Rush in Philadelphia in 1797. During the notorious Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1793, 5,000 people (10% of the city’s population) had fallen victim to the disease, and an additional 20,000 had fled the city. The mosquito-borne illness struck again in 1797, prompting President Adams to consider temporarily moving the seat of government out of Philadelphia.7 Rush, who had courageously treated the city’s victims in 1793, again felt the eerie effects of the epidemic, describing “the passing hearse, the shut up houses, and the silent streets of our city.”

This letter, sold at auction in 2011,8 is yet another striking example of the living faith of America’s Founding Fathers.

Autograph letter signed, Benjamin. Rush, Philadelphia, September 8, 1797, to Elisha Boudinot, Newark, New Jersey.

Transcript

My dear Sir:

Permit me to join in the general sympathy your late bereavement has excited in the breasts of all your friends. “Is Dr. Mather still in the land of the living” said one of his friends who inquired after him at his door in his last illness. “No (said the aged saint who overheard the inquiry) he is in the land of the dead, but he is going to the land of the living.” Yes – my dear friend, we live among the dead; and in a valley of human bones. Every newspaper we pick up is an obituary of departed friends, or fellow citizens. At the present awful moment, the passing hearse, the shut up houses, and the silent streets of our city, all proclaim that we are made of the dust, & that we are doomed to return to it. But let us not complain as those who have no hope. The grave shall ere long be robbed of its prey. Even Hell itself shall give up its prisoners. The Conquests & Grace of Jesus Christ extend to the utmost limits of fire & misery, & all, all shall in due time be made to partake of the benefits of this infinite Atonement. Your late excellent consort will I doubt not be among the first fruits of his glorious resurrection. Let those considerations comfort you under your present affliction. My dear Mrs. Rush shares deeply in your grief, and joins with me in respectful & affectionate [comforts] to your aged and afflicted parents Mr. & Mrs. Smith. She joins likewise in love to all the children9 with my Dr Sir, your sincere friend.

Benjm Rush

PS: The fever increases, but it is confined chiefly to one part of the city. I have hitherto been preserved, except from a light attack of it, which confined me but one day. “Brethren pray for us.” – Mrs. Bradford continues to mend but slowly.10

Endnotes

1. John Adams to Richard Rush on May 5, 1813, Founders Online, National Archives, accessed June 10, 2026, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Adams/99-02-02-6020.

2. W. Wallace Atterbury, Elias Boudinot: Reminiscences of the American Revolution (Read Before the Hugenot Society, February 15, 1894), 38; David Lawrence Pierson, Narratives of Newark, (Newark: Pierson Publishing Co., 1917), 190;  Frank J. Urquhart, History of the City of Newark (New York: The Lewis Historical Publishing Co., 1913), 2:604.

3. Urquhart, History of the City of Newark (1913), 2:606.

4. Minutes of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church of the United States (Philadelphia: William Bradford, 1822), 166-167.

5. Historic Newark (Newark: Fidelity Trust Company, 1916), 24.

6. William H. Shaw, History of Essex and Hudson Counties, New Jersey (Philadelphia: Everts & Peck, 1884), 1:458.

7. John Adams, First Annual Address to Congress, November 22, 1797.

8. Lot 996, Rush, Benjamin, Signer of the Declaration of Independence from Pennsylvania, Sotheby’s, accessed June 10, 2026, https://www.sothebys.com/en/auctions/ecatalogue/2011/the-james-s-copley-library-magnificent-american-historical-documents-third-selection-n08708/lot.996.html.

9. Elisha and Catherine had eleven children prior to her death.
10. This was likely Susan Vergereau Boudinot Bradford, daughter of Elias Boudinot. In 1784, she married William Bradford, an aide to General Washington during the War and later Pennsylvania’s attorney general. Colonel Bradford died in the yellow fever epidemic of 1795. Mrs. Bradford, widowed at thirty years old, never remarried.

The Barbary Powers Wars

What important American victory in the Barbary Powers Wars occurred on this date in 1801?

(*See below for the answer.)

Barbary Powers Map, 1732

The Barbary Powers Wars were the first wars officially declared against America following our victory in the War for Independence. 1 Muslim terrorists from five different Islamic nations (Turkey, Tunis, Morocco, Algiers, and Tripoli) were making indiscriminate attacks against the property and interests of what they claimed to be “Christian” nations (America, England, France, Spain, Portugal, Denmark, Sweden, etc.). 2 These Muslim terrorists (called Barbary, that is, barbaric “pirates” by most Americans) attacked American civilian and commercial merchant ships wherever they found them, seizing the cargo and enslaving the crew. 3

In 1784, Congress dispatched three diplomats – John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, and Thomas Jefferson – to negotiate with these Muslim nations and end the unprovoked attacks. 4 They found this to be a difficult task, for the attacking of ships and the taking of Christians by Muslims had been a widespread problem for centuries. 5

The Muslims found they could finance their wars and terror operations by enslaving and then selling captured seamen. (The Muslims took 1.25 million captive slaves in that period. 6) Because this was such a widespread and recurring problem, other Christian nations formed standing organizations to raise money to purchase enslaved seamen. As Jefferson explained:

There is here an order of priests called the Mathurins, the object of whose institutions is the begging of alms for the redemption of captives. About eighteen months ago, they redeemed three hundred, which cost them about fifteen hundred livres [$1,500] apiece. They have agents residing in the Barbary States, who are constantly employed in searching and contracting for the captives of their nation, and they redeem at a lower price than any other people can. 7

Ransoming Americans was no less expensive, and therefore was a very profitable trade for the Muslim terrorists. 8 Additionally, the Muslim nations would sign treaties with the attacked nations, including America, providing that for an annual “tribute” (perhaps $1 million a year, along with the “gift” of several frigates), that they would perhaps refrain from further attacks. By 1795, such “peace” payments to Muslim terrorists comprised a full sixteen percent of the entire federal budget!  9

Among the many treaties signed with Muslim nations during this period was the famous 1797 treaty with Tripoli. It was one of the many treaties in which each country officially recognized the religion of the other in an attempt to prevent further escalation into a “Holy War” 10 such as had existed between Christians and Muslims in the Middle Ages.

The Muslims considered that all Christian nations were like those of the Crusades, when Christians fought Muslims simply because they were Muslims. 11  However, America was definitely not like the European Christian nations from medieval times, for we did not kill Muslims, Jews, or any one else for their faith. In fact, many Founding Fathers talked about how different America as a Christian nation was from the European Christian nations; 12 and the American treaties, including the Treaty of Tripoli, made this very point.

Significantly, secularists regularly cite one clause from that treaty in devious attempts to make it appear that the Founding Fathers emphatically avowed that America was not a Christian nation. They thus quote from that treaty the line declaring “The government of the United States is in no sense founded on the Christian religion . . . ” This declaration certainly seems to be straightforward – until you discover that the critics only used part of the quote. Notice what the full, unedited clause states:

As the government of the United States of America is not in any sense founded on the Christian religion as it has in itself no character of enmity against the laws, religion or tranquility of Musselmen [Muslims]. and as the said States [America] have never entered into any war or act of hostility against any Mahometan nation, it is declared by the parties that no pretext arising from religious opinions shall ever produce an interruption of the harmony existing between the two countries. 13 (emphasis added)

This clause from the Treaty of Tripoli simply affirms that America was not one of the European Christian nations with an inherent hostility toward Muslims, and that America had never been part of arbitrary wars against Muslims such as had characterized the Crusades. This clause definitely does not deny or undermine America’s strong Christian heritage – unless you wrongly place a period in the middle of the sentence, as secularist critics do.

When Thomas Jefferson became president in 1801, he decided that it was time to take military action to end the two-decades-old unprovoked Muslim terrorist attacks against Americans. 14 Using the brand new American Navy to transport the U. S. Marines overseas (President George Washington had called for the construction of a navy in 1795, and President John Adams had overseen its construction 15), General William Eaton took the American military and proceeded to the same region of the world where Americans are still being attacked today. He then led a successful five-year campaign to free captured Americans and crush Muslim terrorist forces. 16 Tripoli (now called Libya) finally capitulated and signed a treaty on America’s terms in 1805, thus ending their aggressions – at least for a while. 17

(By the way, it was from the Marine’s role in that first War on Terror from 1801-1805 that the U. S. Marines derive part of the opening line of their hymn: “From the halls of Montezuma to the shores of Tripoli . . .”)

Shortly after President James Madison took office, he became engulfed in the War of 1812. With America preoccupied in a second war against the British, Algerian Muslim terrorists again began attacking Americans. But upon concluding the war with the British, President James Madison dispatched the American military and warships against three Muslim nations: Algiers, Tunis, and Tripoli. 18 America (with the assistance of Great Britain and the Netherlands) subdued those Muslim nations and brought them to the peace table, where they freed all the enslaved Christians. 19

*On this date in history, the U.S.S. Enterprise captured the Trioplitan ship known as the Tripoli. While the terrorists sustained heavy losses, the Americans did not lose a single man in the battle. 20

Endnotes

1 Thomas Clark, Naval History of the United States, from the Commencement of the Revolutionary War to the Present Time (Philadelphia: M. Stiles, 1814), 1:140; James H. Morgan, Register of the Military Order of Foreign wars of the United States (New York: The National Commandery, 1900), 11-19.
2 Richard O’Brian to Thomas Jefferson, June 8, 1786, Naval Documents Related  to the United States Wars with the Barbary Powers, ed. Claude A. Swanson (Washington: United States Government Printing Office, 1939), 1:1-6; A General View of the Rise, Progress, and Brilliant Achievements of the American Navy Down to the Present Time (Brooklyn: 1828), 70-71; “Barbary Pirates,” The Encyclopedia Britannica, ed. Hugh Chisholm (New York: The Encyclopedia Britannica Company, 1910), 383.
3 Julian Hawthorne et. al., United States from the Discovery of the North American Continent up to the Present Time (New York: James Schouler, 1894), 3:17-20; Forward written by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, December 30, 1958, Naval Documents, ed. Swanson (1939), 1; Theodore Lyman, The Diplomacy of the United States (Boston: Wells and Lilly, 1828), 2:338-342.
4 Thomas Jefferson to William Carmichael, November 4, 1785, The Writings of Thomas Jefferson, ed. Andrew A. Lipscomb (Washington, D. C.: The Thomas Jefferson Memorial Association, 1903), V:195; Garner W. Allen, Our Navy and the Barbary Corsairs (Boston: Houghton, Mifflin, and Company, 1905) 28.
5 “Barbary Pirates,” The Encyclopedia Britannica, ed. Hugh Chisholm (New York: The Encyclopedia Britannica Company, 1910), 383.
6 Robert Davis, Christian Slaves, Muslim Masters: White Slavery in the Mediterranean, the Barbary Coast and Italy, 1500-1800 (Palgrave Macmillan, 2004).
7 Thomas Jefferson to John Adams, January 11, 1787, The Writings of Thomas Jefferson, ed. Andrew A. Lipscomb (Washington, D. C.: The Thomas Jefferson Memorial Association, 1903), VI:47-48.
8 No. 43: Prisoners at Algiers, American State Papers: Documents, Legislative and Executive, of the Congress of the United States (Washington: Gales and Seaton), 1:100-101.
9 The federal budget was $6,115,000 in 1795; a payment of nearly $1 million was given that year to Algiers alone, not including what was given to the other Barbary Powers.  See US Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census, Historical Statistics of the United States (White Plains, NY: Kraus International Publications, 1989), 1106; George Washington to the Secretary of the Treasury, May 29, 1794, The Writings of George Washington, ed. John C Fitzpatrick (Washington: Government Printing Office, 1940), 33:385.
10 See, for example, the 1786 Treaty with Morocco: Articles 10, 11, 17 and 24; the 1795 Treaty with Algiers: Article 17; the 1815 Treaty with Algiers: Article 13; the 1816 Treaty with Algiers: Articles 14 and 15; the 1796 Treaty with Tripoli: Article 11; the 1805 Treaty with Tripoli: Article 14; and the 1797 Treaty with Tunis: Forward.
11 Thomas Edward Watson, The Life and Times of Thomas Jefferson (New York: D. Appleton and Company, 1903), 247-249.
12 See for example, John Jay, “Address to the Annual Meeting of the American Bible Society,” May 8, 1823, Correspondence and Public Papers of John Jay, ed. Henry Johnston (New York: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1893), IV:491; John Quincy Adams, An Oration Delivered Before the Inhabitants of the Town of Newburyport at Their Request on the Sixty-First Anniversary of the Declaration of Independence (Newburyport: Charles Whipple, 1837), 17; John Adams in a speech to both  houses of Congress, November 23, 1797, The Works of John Adams, ed. Charles Francis Adams (Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1854), IX:121; Noah Webster, History of the United States (New Haven: Durrie & Peck, 1832), 339, “Advice to the Young”; Daniel Webster, Mr. Webster’s Speech in Defence of the Christian Ministry and In Favor of the Religious Instruction of the Young. Delivered in the Supreme Court of the United States, February 10, 1844, in the Case of Stephen Girard’s Will (Washington, DC: Gales and Seaton, 1844), 12-13.
13 Acts Passed at the First Session of the Fifth Congress of the United States of America (Philadelphia: William Ross, 1797), 43-44.
14 Thomas Jefferson, “Second Annual Message,” December 15, 1802, The Writings of Thomas Jefferson (Washington, D.C.: Taylor & Maury, 1854), 8:17; Thomas Jefferson, “Autobiography,” 1821, The Writings of Thomas Jefferson, ed. Paul Leicester Ford (New York: G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 1892), I:91-93; Elizabeth Huff, “The First Barbary War,” Monticello, accessed December 1, 2023.
15 “The Reestablishment of the Navy, 1787-1801,” Naval History Bibliography.
16  William Grimshaw, The History of the United States, From Their First Settlement as Colonies to the Cession of Florida, in Eighteen Hundred and Twenty-One, (Philadelphia: Benjamin Warner, 1821), 194-195; Charles Prentiss, The Life of the Late Gen. William Eaton; Several Years an Officer in the United States’ Army, Consul at the Regency of Tunis on the Coast of Barbary, and Commander of the Christian and Other Forces That Marched from Egypt Through the Desert of Barca, in 1805, and Conquered the City of Derne, Which Led to the Treaty of Peace Between the United States and the Regency of Tripoli; Principally Collected from His Correspondence and Other Manuscripts (Brookfield: E. Merriam & Co., 1813).
17 “The Barbary Wars, 1801-1805,” National Museum of the US Navy, accessed October 7, 2025.
18 John Quincy Adams, The Lives of James Madison and James Monroe (Buffalo: Geo. H. Derby and Co., 1850), 93; “Barbary Wars, 1801-1805 and 1815-1816,” US Department of State: Office of the Historian, accessed October 7, 2025.
19  James Madison, “Seventh Annual Message,” December 5, 1815, The Writings of James Madison, ed. Gaillard Hunt (United States: G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 1908), VIII:33; Perceval Barton Lord, Algiers, with Notices of the Neighbouring States of Barbary, (London: Whittaker & Co., 1835), 50-60.
20 Garner W. Allen, Our Navy and the Barbary Corsairs (Boston: Houghton, Mifflin, and Company, 1905), 96; Naval Documents, ed. Swanson (1939), 1:538-540.