Categories: Historical Artifacts

American troops land at Omaha Beach during the D-Day landings of 1944.

America Responds to Victory

V-E (Victory in Europe) Day is commemorated on May 8, 1945. One day earlier, German forces unconditionally surrendered to the Allies, signaling the end of most fighting in Europe — although fighting would continue against Japan for an additional 3 months.

President Harry Truman addressed the nation, reading his proclamation calling for a day of prayer. (WallBuilders’ collection includes an original printing of this proclamation, signed by President Truman.) Truman’s proclamation acknowledged the work of God in winning the war and the continuing need for His help:

For the triumph of spirit and of arms which we have won, and for its promise to peoples everywhere who join us in the love of freedom, it is fitting that we, as a nation, give thanks to Almighty God, who has strengthened us and given us the victory.

Supervision over transitioning post-war Germany was divided among four major Allied nations — France, England, the Soviet Union, and the US. General Omar Bradley, commander of the Twelfth Army Group, oversaw the region leading up to the post war transition. He issued special orders (found in WallBuilders’ collection) that provide an interesting glimpse into American policy concerning Germany during this time:

4. To avoid acts of violence, except when required by military necessity.

For you are on American soldier, not a Nazi.

7. To be fair but firm with Germans.

a. Experience has shown that Germans regard kindness as weakness. Every soldier must prove by his actions that the Americans are strong. This will be accomplished if every soldier treats the Germans with firmness and stern courtesy at all times.

b. Firmness must be tempered with a strict justice. Americans do not resort to Nazi gangster methods in dealing with any people. Remember, your fair but firm treatment of the German people will command the proper respect due a member of a conquering nation.

Part of the rebuilding of Germany included pointed efforts to institute democratic policies, as demonstrated in a June 1946 letter by President Truman to a minister. (This letter is also in WallBuilders’ collection.)

As you set out in the capacity of a representative of the Protestant churches in the United States to serve as a liaison representative between German religious leaders and the United States Military Government, may I take this opportunity to express my personal interest in this undertaking.

I attach importance to its success as a contribution to the reestablishment of contacts between the German churches and those in other countries. It would, moreover, seem to me that the revival of German religious life would greatly promote the Allied program for the development of democratic principles in Germany.

The actions of America after fighting in Europe ended affirm that we openly embraced religious principles as part of our public policy — that America did not consider itself a secular nation. This is a lesson worth remembering today, and should encourage us to push back against efforts to secularize the country, whether those efforts occur at a local school or in the Supreme Court of the United States.

President Truman 1946 Letter

Germany surrendered to the Allied powers on May 7, 1945 thus ending major conflicts in  Europe.  As a result, the country was divided between four nations — England, France, the Soviet Union, and the US. A concerted effort was made by the Allied nations to institute democratic policies in Germany, as shown in the following letter from President Harry Truman to Rev. Samuel Cavert.

Harry Truman 1946 Letter to Rev. Cavert

Transcript

THE WHITE HOUSE
WASHINGTON

June 28, 1946

My dear. Dr. Cavert:

As you set out in the capacity of a representative of the Protestant churches in the United States to serve as a liaison representative between German religious leaders and the United States Military Government, may I take this opportunity to express my personal interest in this undertaking.

I attach importance to its success as a contribution to the reestablishment of contacts between the German churches and those in other countries. It would, moreover, seem to me that the revival of German religious life would greatly promote the Allied program for the development of democratic principles in Germany.

With every good wish for the success of your mission,

Very sincerely yours,
Harry Truman

Reverend Samuel McCrea Cavert, D.D.,
General Secretary,
The Federal Council of the Churches
of Christ in America,
297 Fourth Avenue,
New York 10, N.Y.

 

“Broncho” Charlie Miller Religious Letter

Charlie Miller, (1850-1955), nicknamed “Broncho Charlie” (this nickname came about as a result of his job of busting broncs for ranchers), was the youngest Pony Express rider at age 11. Later, he worked for Buffalo Bill’s Wild West show. He also fought in WWI at the age of 67; at age 81, delivered letters on horseback from New York City to San Fransisco to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the Pony Express; and at age 92, he applied to join the Army for WWII but was turned down.

In this letter from 1931, Charlie (sometimes spelled “Charley”) recounts his conversion to Christianity. [The transcript has added punctuation and paragraphs for easier reading, though the original spelling has been retained.]

 
  
  
 

Transcript

Oak Dale L N.Y.
Feb 16th 1931

Mr H Parsons

Dear Friend,

Your late letter I read with much joy. For in relating your friend Mead’s experience brought me in line of my early life with his struggles. I was a careless and unbelieving man and was indifferent to any thing – re the church. My wife was brought up in a Quaker surrounding and my mother was a meathodous {sic} but I would never attend any place of worship.

And one night I walked into a Salvation Army hall half drunk and sit way back in the last bench – Charley was well known by everybody that had seen my actions around the town. I had three little children than, and loved them. But when asked by two workers, one a lady that was a capt and an ensign, weather {sic} I was a Christian, I was very angry and left the hall and dammed them all. They were both splendid singers and I liked there {sic} singing. I went home but something told me that night I was wrong, and when I got home I was all put out, could not sleep. My wife thought I had had a row with someone and I never told her about going to the hall.

Some few days after that my children was taken sick and my little boy, that night, fell asleep and woke up screaming. And when he got quite, told me that he had dreamed the Devil had his papa and burned him up. I and my wife could see the fever coming. And so I called a doctor and he told us that Black Diphtheria had got a hold of them. And called another doctor in and they both told us that they could not save them but done all they could.

The next morning my house was quarantined and my wife was taken down. No help, only the visits of the doctors. And I drank all the wiskey {sic} I could git {sic} ahold of. My three children died the next night – and my wife layed {sic} in a comatose condition. And I raved and swor {sic} at God Allmighty {sic} for he had left my home bare. They put them in one grave, and my wife got better, and I was wickeder than ever.

One day when the band was lifted from the door and we were let out, my wife was weak, and I went down to see a doctor. Passing into a drug store, in front stood this same crowd of Salvationist singing, throwe {sic} out the life line. I stood and listened, tiers {sic} coming to my eyes and trembling all over. Then as the crowd stood, was asked if any one needed Christ. I broke down and then and there I kneeled down in the street and asked God to forgive me and show me the way, the life. And when the lode {sic} lifted, I was a new man and felt it too.

The crowd stood mute and silant {sic} for God cleaned me up. And men that kept saloons stood and listened when I was asked to say a few words. And when these words came to me, what I had heard my mother say, that God gave his only begotten son that whosoever believed on him should not perish but have ever lasting life. The crowd walked away like they did when the woman was to be stoned in the street. Bless his name.

I know that it is a safe way and I have seen menny {sic} people converted after that. They took me to New York and I preached, never knowing what I should say. And could have been a light, for surely God had called me. But I am sorry to say a preacher whom I knew told me that I was unlearned. And I went home and never preached again and lost a great deal of the Spirit that he gave me. And he tells us that he that knoweth the way and doeth it not, shall be beaten with many stripes. I often feel the call but since I left off I have lost in everything. I know it is so he can shut every door against us if he wants us for himself but I love him. Bless his name.

Now don’t’ feel hurt toward me and I shall do all I can for his kingdom.

My regards to all.

To my early friend,

H Parsons & Family

Broncho Charley

P.S. Don’t give up writing to me for I get comfort from you.

P.S. These last children God gave me, a boy & girl, he has kept to be [blessing] of in my old age & wife he gave back.

“Broncho” Charlie Artifacts

Charlie Miller (1850-1955), nicknamed “Broncho Charlie” (this nickname came about as a result of his job of busting broncs for ranchers), was the youngest Pony Express rider at age 11. Later, he worked for Buffalo Bill’s Wild West show; fought in WWI at the age of 67; at age 81, delivered letters on horseback from New York City to San Fransisco to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the Pony Express; and at age 92, he applied to join the Army for WWII but was turned down.

Below is a poem written about Miller by Howard Clinton Dickinson. Also shown are pictures excerpted from the 1935 book Broncho Charlie. A Saga of the Saddle. The Autobiography of Charlie Miller as told to Gladys Shaw Erskine. (See also a 1931 letter by Charlie detailing his conversion to Christianity.)


Pony Express Artifacts

The Pony Express lasted only nineteen months during 1860/ 1861. During that time about 200 riders covered over 600,000 miles carrying the mail from Missouri to points West (such as California). Below, see some artifacts from the WallBuilders library relating to the Pony Express, and you can also see a Pony Express Bible from our collection.

Here is an original Pony Express mail bag pouch.

 

 

This is a copy of a “Wanted” poster that outlines the qualifications needed to work for the Pony Express.

This is a cigar box label of a Pony Express rider (these types of images were placed on the inside of cigar boxes in the late 1800s & early 1900s).

President Eisenhower’s One Nation Under God

February 7 is a notable historical day for the acknowledgment of God in modern America: it is the day that a sermon was preached before President Dwight D. Eisenhower, suggesting that the words “under God” be added to the pledge. The sermon was preached by the Rev. George M. Docherty, pastor of New York Avenue Presbyterian Church in Washington, D. C.1

This sermon was preached for Lincoln Day, and it had a great impact on those listening, including President Eisenhower, who was seated in the same pew that Abraham Lincoln had regularly occupied in that church as President.2 In that sermon Docherty stated:

There was something missing in the pledge, and that which was missing was the characteristics and definitive factor in the American way of life. Indeed apart from the mention of the phrase, the United States of America, it could be the pledge of any republic. In fact, I could hear little Muscovites repeat a similar pledge to their hammer and sickle flag in Moscow with equal solemnity.3

He made the point that the American pledge as it then existed could just have been recited by citizens from any country, even those from communistic nations that hated God. The day following the sermon, U. S. Rep. Charles Oakman from Michigan introduced a Joint Resolution (H. J. Res 371) to add the words “Under God” into the pledge,4 explaining:

Mr. Speaker, I think Mr. Docherty hit the nail squarely on the head. One of the most fundamental differences between us and the Communists is our belief in God.5

Two days later, on February 10th, Senator Homer Ferguson from Michigan introduced the Senate Joint Resolution (S.J. 126),6 explaining to the Senate:

Our nation is founded on a fundamental belief in God, and the first and most important reason for the existence of our government is to protect the God-given rights of our citizens. . . . Indeed, Mr. President, over one of the doorways to this very Chamber inscribed in the marble are the words “In God We Trust.” Unless those words amount to more than a carving in stone, our country will never be able to defend itself.7

These resolutions were passed, and on June 14, 1954 (Flag Day), President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed the bill into law, officially adding the words “under God” into the Pledge of Allegiance, telling the nation:

From this day forward, the millions of our school children will daily proclaim in every city and town, every village and rural school house, the dedication of our nation and our people to the Almighty. To anyone who truly loves America, nothing could be more inspiring than to contemplate this rededication of our youth, on each school morning, to our country’s true meaning. . . . In this way we are reaffirming the transcendence of religious faith in America’s heritage and future; in this way we shall constantly strengthen those spiritual weapons which forever will be our country’s most powerful resource, in peace or in war.8

Who could have imagined that a single sermon could have such an impact? Yet American history is full of such accounts. On February 7th, take time to read this remarkable sermon, remembering that we are indeed “one nation under God.”

Endnotes

1 George M. Docherty, One Way of Living (Harper & Brothers, New York, 1958), 158, “One Nation Under God.”
2 “Lincoln and ‘Under God’,” Presbyterian Historical Society, February 7, 2014; “House Joint Resolution 243 to Amend the Pledge of Allegiance to Include the Phrase ‘Under God’: Extension of Remarks of Hon. Louis C. Rabaut,” Feb 12, 1954,  Congressional Record (Volume 100 Session 2), 1700.
3 “Abraham Lincoln: Extension of Remarks of Hon. Charles G. Oakman,” Feb 12, 1954, Congressional Record (Volume 100, Session 2), 1697; George M. Docherty, One Way of Living (Harper & Brothers, New York, 1958), 164; “House Joint Resolution 243 to Amend the Pledge of Allegiance to Include the Phrase ‘Under God’: Extension of Remarks of Hon. Louis C. Rabaut,” Feb 12, 1954,  Congressional Record (Volume 100 Session 2), 1700.
4 Feb 8, 1954, Congressional Record (Volume 100, Session 2), 1522.
5 “Abraham Lincoln: Extension of Remarks of Hon. Charles G. Oakman,” Feb 12, 1954, Congressional Record (Volume 100, Session 2), 1697.
6 Feb 10, 1954, Congressional Record (Volume 100, Session 2), 1600.
7 Feb 10, 1954, Congressional Record (Volume 100, Session 2), 1600-1601.
8 Dwight D. Eisenhower, “Statement by the President Upon Signing Bill To Include the Words “Under God” in the Pledge to the Flag,” June 14, 1954, The American Presidency Project.

The Four Chaplains

What these four have in common is that they were all chaplains; all four loved and served God; and all four voluntarily sacrificed their own lives to help soldiers survive the sinking of the U.S.A.T (United States Army Transport) Dorchester.

In the midst of World War II, the Dorchester, moving troops from America to Europe, was approaching Greenland when it was torpedoed by a German submarine just after midnight on February 3, 1943. Within twenty minutes of being struck, it plunged beneath the black and icy waters of the North Atlantic. 1

In those twenty minutes, with the pitch dark, the cries of the wounded coming from every direction, and the severe lurching of the ship as it filled with water, chaos and pandemonium reigned. But four chaplains (Lt. Alexander Goode, a Jewish Rabbi; Lt. Clark Poling, Dutch Reform; Lt. George Fox, Methodist; and Lt. John Washington, a Catholic priest) took charge and quickly brought a sense of calm and assurance to the soldiers aboard the sinking ship.

   
   (Goode)                 (Poling)                (Fox)                (Washington)

The chaplains moved among the soldiers, “calming the frightened, tending the wounded and guiding the disoriented toward safety.” 2 One survivor testified, “I could hear men crying, pleading, praying. I could also hear the chaplains preaching courage. Their voices were the only thing that kept me going.” 3 They helped the men get into life jackets and off the boat. And when the life jackets finally ran out, these four Army chaplains took off their own vests and gave them to other soldiers to make sure they would be safe 4 (only 230 of the 902 on board survived).

As the Dorchester finally slipped beneath the frigid Arctic waters, survivors in the lifeboats testified that the last thing they saw was the four chaplains standing together on the submerging deck – a Jew, a Methodist, a Catholic, and a Dutch Reformed – their arms locked together and their voices raised in prayer and song as the ship forever slipped beneath the freezing waters. 5

In 1948, President Harry Truman arranged for a special postage stamp to memorialize the four, 6 and three years later in 1951, he spoke at the dedication of the Chapel of the Four Chaplains in Philadelphia, 7 telling the nation:

This chapel commemorates something more than an act of bravery or courage. It commemorates a great act of faith in God. The four chaplains whose memory this shrine was built to commemorate were not required to give their lives as they did. They gave their lives without being asked. When their ship was sinking, they handed out all the life preservers that were available and then took off their own and gave them away in order that four other men might be saved. Those four chaplains actually carried out the moral code which we are all supposed to live by. They obeyed the Divine commandment that men should love one another. They really lived up to the moral standard that declares: “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends” [John 15:13]. They were not afraid of death because they knew that the Word of God is stronger than death. Their belief, their faith, in His word enabled them to conquer death. 8

WallBuilders’ Collection includes an original card signed by President Harry S. Truman with his declaration that the sacrifice of the four chaplains was “an heroic event without parallel.”

President Truman, throughout his administration, was outspoken about the importance of Biblical faith. A confirmation of this is evident in another of his documents that we own — his proclamation for a day of prayer and thanksgiving at the surrender of the German Army on V-E Day (May 8, 1945).

As part of that call to prayer, President Truman urged Americans:

I also call upon my countrymen to dedicate this day of prayer to the memory of those who have given their lives to make possible our victory. 9

We, too, should be grateful for the sacrifice of the valiant men and women from throughout our nation’s history who have been willing to lay down their lives to protect our nation and the God-given freedoms we enjoy.

Endnotes

1 John Brinsfield, “Chaplaincy History: The four chaplains,” U.S. Army, January 28, 2014. See also, “The Saga of the Four Chaplains,” The Four Chaplains Memorial Foundation, 2008.
2 John Brinsfield, “Chaplaincy History: The four chaplains,” U.S. Army January 28, 2014. See also, “The Story of the Four Immortal Chaplains,” United States Army War College Memorial Chapel (accessed on: February 7, 2014).
3 “The Saga of the Four Chaplains,” The Four Chaplains Memorial Foundation, 2008. See also, WWII Informational Fact Sheets (Department of Defense: 1995), p. 14, “Fact Sheet: Four Chaplains.”
4 “The Saga of the Four Chaplains,” The Four Chaplains Memorial Foundation, 2008. See also, Stanley Brewer, “S.S. Dorchester,” Great Ships (accessed on: February 7, 2014).
5 John Brinsfield, “Chaplaincy History: The four chaplains,” U.S. Army January 28, 2014. See also, Congressional Record (Government Printing Office: Washington, D.C., 1988), V. 144, Pt. 1, p. 72, January 27, 1988.
6 Harry S. Truman, “Informal Remarks in San Francisco,” The American Presidency Project, June 13, 1948.
7 Harry S. Truman, “Address in Philadelphia at the Dedication of the Chapel of the Four Chaplains,” The American Presidency Project, February 3, 1951. See also, Carol Devlin Gadsby, “My Memories of the Chapel of the Four Chaplains,” Grace Baptist Church of Blue Bell, March 2, 2008; James W. Hilty, Temple University: 125 Years of Service to Philadelphia, the Nation, and the World  (Temple University Press: Philadelphia, PA, 2010), p. 15.
8 Harry S. Truman, “Address in Philadelphia at the Dedication of the Chapel of the Four Chaplains,” The American Presidency Project, February 3, 1951.
9 Harry S, Truman, Proclamation of the President: Victory in Europe; Day of Prayer, WallBuilders, May 9, 1945.

Daniel Webster: The Defender of the U.S. Constitution

Daniel Webster, an ardent and outspoken Christian known as “the Defender of the US Constitution,” 1 was born on January 18, 1782. In fact, his ability to recite and memorize Scripture as a child was so well known that “it was customary for the teamsters to remark, as they pulled up their horses before the Webster tavern, ‘Come, let’s go in and hear a Psalm from Dan Webster!‘” 2

In fact, his early school teacher, Mr. Tappan, later recalled, “Daniel was always the brightest boy in the school.”  3 This became quite evident as Mr. Tappan recounted the following story:

He [Daniel] would learn more in five minutes than another boy in five hours. One Saturday, I remember, I held up a handsome new jack-knife to the scholars, and said, the boy who would commit to memory the greatest number of verses in the Bible by Monday morning should have it. Many of the boys did well; but when it came to Daniel’s turn to recite, I found that he had committed so much that, after hearing him repeat some sixty or seventy verses, I was obliged to give up, he telling me that there were several more chapters yet that he had learned. Daniel got that jack-knife. 4

This love and reverence of God’s Word carried over into adulthood. Daniel made it a practice to read through the Bible once a year. 5 His love and reverence for the Scripture is conveyed in this simple story:

This morning, when Mr. and Mrs. Webster, with their guests and servants, had assembled in the library for family prayers, Mr. Webster looked so weak and feeble, that Mrs. Webster asked him if I should not read the chapter. He preferred reading himself, and selected that beautiful chapter of St. Luke, the sixth, which contains a part of the Sermon on the Mount. His reading of the Scriptures is grand, slow, distinct, impressive, giving new force to every sentence. When he came to those verses which follow the twenty-sixth, it seemed as though they were the expression of his own inmost feelings. After each clause of these verses which he read—‘But I say unto you which hear, Love your enemies, do good to them which hate you, bless them that curse you, and pray for them which despitefully use you’—he passed, as if he were asking himself the question, if he read those words in the spirit of Him who first uttered them, and exhibited in his own life and example their practical application. There was an almost triumphant tone as he finished the verses, as though he had heartily forgiven those who had spoken ill of him, and who had despitefully used him. 6

Additionally, WallBuilders posted from our massive collection of original documents a letter that Daniel wrote in an attempt to help provide Bibles to the people of South America.7 For all of his accomplishments in life, however, it was not his works that he wanted remembered. As explained by the Rev. Otis Skinner in a sermon delivered after Webster death:

“Let those regard it as a mark of greatness to doubt, remember the faith of Webster! Great as he was, he asked to have engraved upon his tombstone, this simple sentence, He was a believer in Jesus.”8

As we honor the faith and character of Daniel Webster, let us remember the words of Rev. Henry Augustus Boardman:

Those who value our Constitution and who desire the perpetuity of the Union, have great reason to bless God that Daniel Webster loved and studied the Bible.”9

1 Charles F. Richardson, Daniel Webster for Young Americans (Boston: Little, Brown, and Company, 1903); Edwin Erle Sparks, The Men Who Made the Nation: An Outline of United States History from 1760 to 1865 (New York: The Macmillan Company, 1901), 318.
2 Charles Lanman, The Private Life of Daniel Webster (New York: Harper & Brothers, 1852), 22; Rev. Joseph Banvard, Daniel Webster: His Life and Public Services (Boston: D, Lothrop and Company, 1875) 37.
3 Lanman, Private Life of Daniel Webster (1853), 16; Banvard, Daniel Webster: His Life  (1875), 30, quoting Master Tappan.
4 Lanman, Private Life of Daniel Webster (1853), 15-16; Banvard, Daniel Webster: His Life  (1875), 30-31.
5 Lanman, Private Life of Daniel Webster (1853), 104.
6 G.J. Abbott to a friend, September 12, 1852, George Ticknor Curtis, Life of Daniel Webster (New York: D. Appleton and Co., 1870), II:666.
7 Daniel Webster handwritten letter, undated, WallBuilders.
8 Otis A. Skinner, The Death of Daniel Webster. A Sermon, Delivered in the Warren Street Church, Sunday, November 14, 1852 (Boston: A. Tompkins, 1852), 34.
9 H.A. Boardman, D.D., A Discourse on the Life and Character of Daniel Webster (Philadelphia, Joseph M. Wilson, 1852), 57.

American troops land at Omaha Beach during the D-Day landings of 1944.

The Heart Shield Bibles of World War II

A Shield of Righteousness

Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth,
having put on the breastplate of righteousness.
(Ephesians 6:14)

September marks the anniversary of the official beginning of WWII. On September 3, 1939, President Roosevelt addressed the nation with one of his famous “Fireside Chats” stating his resolve to remain a neutral nation in the war,1 which culminated in an American Proclamation of Neutrality declared on September 5th.2

the-heart-shield-bibles-of-world-war-ii-2 However, all of that changed with the bombing of Pearl Harbor in 1941. In his famous “date which will live in infamy” message to Congress requesting that the United States officially declare war on Japan, President Roosevelt stated, “With confidence in our armed forces — with the unbounding determination of our people — we will gain the inevitable triumph — so help us God.”3

the-heart-shield-bibles-of-world-war-ii-3This confidence in God and our military (along with his concern for individual American soldiers) was later evident in what is now known as The Heart-Shield Bible. These Bibles (used during World War II) were designed to fit securely into the chest pocket of a soldier’s uniform. The metal plates were securely attached to the front cover of the Bible to stop a bullet from reaching the soldier’s heart (which they did on several occasions). In our library at WallBuilders we have several of these World War II Bibles. In the back is a section of psalms and hymns, including “My Country ‘Tis of Thee,”  “America the Beautiful,” and “The Star Spangled Banner.”  In the front, there is a note to the soldiers directly from President Franklin D. Roosevelt.

the-heart-shield-bibles-of-world-war-ii-4 As Commander-in-Chief I take pleasure in commending the reading of the Bible to all who serve in the armed forces of the United States. Throughout the centuries men of many faiths and diverse origins have found in the Sacred Book words of wisdom, counsel and inspiration. It is a foundation of strength and now, as always, an aid in attaining the highest aspirations of the human soul.

Well before America joined World War II, on the 400th anniversary of the English Bible in 1935, President Roosevelt reminded the nation of the Bible’s importance in America’s formation and continuance:

the-heart-shield-bibles-of-world-war-ii-5We cannot read the history of our rise and development as a Nation without reckoning with the place the Bible has occupied in shaping the advances of the Republic. . . . Where we have been truest and most consistent in obeying its precepts we have attained the greatest measure of contentment and prosperity; where it has been to us as the words of a book that is sealed, we have faltered in our way, lost our range finders, and found our progress checked. It is well that we observe this anniversary of the first publishing of our English Bible. The time is propitious to place a fresh emphasis upon its place and worth in the economy of our life as a people.4

Many other presidents encouraged Americans to read the Bible — including President John Quincy Adams. Interestingly, before becoming president and while serving as a diplomat to Russia under President James Madison, Adams wrote his ten-year-old son nine letters on the importance of reading the Bible, how to read through the Bible once a year, and how to get the most application form what he read. Immediately after Adams’ death in 1847, these letters were published as a book to make his wise counsel on the Bible available to all Americans. This work is titled John Quincy Adams Letters to His Son, on the Bible and Its Teachings.

Endnotes

1 Franklin D. Roosevelt, “Fireside Chat,” September 3, 1939, The American Presidency Project.
2 “Proclamation of September 5, 1939, Proclaiming the Neutrality of the United States in the War Between Germany and France; Poland; and the United Kingdom, India, Australia, and New Zealand,” September 5, 1939, Department of the State: Office of the Historian.
3 Franklin D. Roosevelt, “Address to Congress Requesting a Declaration of War with Japan,” December 8, 1941, The American Presidency Project.
4 Franklin D. Roosevelt, “Statement on the Four Hundredth Anniversary of the Printing of the English Bible,” October 6, 1935, The American Presidency Project.

Charles Thomson – the Life of the Cause of Liberty

America’s founding was blessed by the contributions of many individuals who are little, or even completely unknown to us today. Charles Thomson is one such unsung patriot.

In 1774 he was beginning to make a name for himself as a patriotic leader in Philadelphia. John Adams noted, “This Charles Thompson is the Sam Adams of Philadelphia — the Life of the Cause of Liberty, they say.”1

secretary-of-the-continental-congress-charles-thomson-2Though never a member of that august body, as Secretary of the Continental Congress for over fifteen years, Thomson had a front-row seat to the birth of the nation and his fingerprints are all over America’s establishing documents. For example, the copy of the Declaration of Independence included with the official Journals of Congress were in Thomson’s handwriting, and he was one of only two people who actually signed it on July 4th.2

secretary-of-the-continental-congress-charles-thomson-3 Thomson is also responsible for the Great Seal of the United States, which he prepared and Congress approved in 1782.3

As the First Congress took its place under the new government created by the Constitution, Thomson retired from that long-term post. His last official act was personally notifying George Washington that he had been unanimously selected the President of the United States.4

But Thomson was not only a great patriot and supporter of the American cause, he was also a champion of the Word of God. In fact, his name is associated with some of America’s earliest Bible editions.

For example, his name, as Secretary of Congress, is found in the introduction to “The Bible of the Revolution,” which was the first Bible printed in English in America. That Bible was printed by Robert Aitken, the official printer of the Continental Congress. Aitken described his Bible as “a neat edition of the Holy Scriptures for the use of schools.”5 It was reviewed and approved by a committee of the Continental Congress, and published with the official congressional endorsement prominently in the front. (All of the original books pictured below that are associated with Charles Thomson are from our collection at WallBuilders.)

secretary-of-the-continental-congress-charles-thomson-5 Thomson was also responsible for the first American translation of the Greek Septuagint (the full Greek Bible) into English in 1808 – a labor of love that consumed nearly two decades of his life.6 Called Thomson’s Bible, it is a four volume-set that is considered one of the most scholarly of American Bible translations.

secretary-of-the-continental-congress-charles-thomson-7 Thomson also produced an eight-volume set in which every other page was blank, thus allowing readers space to write notes on the Scriptures as they studied them.
secretary-of-the-continental-congress-charles-thomson-6 In 1815, Thomson published his famous Synopsis of the Four Evangelists, in which he took all the passages from the four Gospels and arranged them chronologically, producing something like one super long Gospel, with all Jesus’ words and acts arranged sequentially. Today, we call such a work a synoptic Gospel.

George Washington praised Thomson’s dedication, “Your Services have been important, as your patriotism was distinguished” He added his belief that “Posterity will find your Name so honorably connected…”7 Sadly, today, Charles Thomson has become a forgotten Founding Father, but his influence, both politically and spiritually, permanently shaped the course of America and blessed American life.

February 14, 2024 This post has been updated to correct information regarding Thomson’s American translation of the Bible. 

Endnotes

1 John Adams, diary entry from August 30, 1774, Adams Family Papers, Massachusetts Historical Society, accessed November 1, 2023.
2 John Hancock was the second and the other delegates signed weeks later. Journals of the Continental Congress 1774-1779, edited from the original records in the Library of Congress by Worthington Chauncey Ford, Chief, Division of Manuscripts, Washington DC: Government Printing Office, 1905, The Avalon Project, Yale Law School, accessed November 1, 2023.
3  “Original Design of the Great Seal of the United States (1782),” Milestone Documents, National Archives, updated October 23, 2023.
4 Lewis R. Harley, Charles Thomson: Patriot and Scholar (Norristown, PA: Historical Society of Montgomery County, 1897), 28-29.
5 The Holy Bible as Printed by Robert Aitken and Approved & Recommended by the Congress of the United States of America in 1782, reprinted (New York: Arno Press, 1968), Introduction.
6 Harley, Charles Thomson: Patriot and Scholar (1897), 33-34.
7 George Washington to Charles Thomson, July 24, 1789, Founders Online, National Archives, accessed November 1, 2023.