Both William Williams and Oliver Wolcott were signers of the Declaration of Independence from Connecticut. This treasury note from 1780 deals with the House of Representatives of Connecticut hiring and paying a chaplain.
In the House of Representatives
This House grants to the Rev. Mr. Nathan Strong the sum of six pounds for his services as Chaplain to s’d (said) House in their of Oct 1780. The treasurer is ordered to pay the same accordingly.
Signed Wm Williams
(Superimposed) Oliver Wolcott
The following group of religious artifacts are from the Civil War. The first set of items were all found in an area in the vicinity of the Battle of Vicksburg (May 18-July 4, 1863). The medals include: a brass Virgin Mary figurine, two crosses, and three small religious tokens. The second religious item is a chaplain’s insignia from the Mexican War and the Civil War era.
The following documents written by an unknown soldier in the regiment outlining the organization of “Webster’s Regiment” (officially known as the 12th Massachusetts regiment), which was established under the command of Fletcher Webster (son of Daniel Webster), the second generation Founding Father who was known as the “Defender of the U.S. Constitution.” This regiment was formed in April of 1861, and was recognized as an official regiment by the Union in June of that year. This regiment was later declared by General Meade to be “the finest regiment in the service.” More information about Webster’s Regiment can be found in this WallBuilders article.
This document is Webster’s copy of a telegraph that was sent to President Lincoln requesting that the regiment be officially recognized by the Union.
The following document outlines the election of field officers (which were temporary positions assigned to the unofficial regiment), including the appointment of Gerald Fitzgerald as chaplain. In June of 1861, Edward Clark was appointed official Chaplain of the newly formed regiment.
The following document recounts a sermon given by Rev. Gerald Fitzgerald and mentions that “[t]he volunteers were present and seemed much interested in an eloquent sermon on the duties and responsibilities of the holy cause, which they were about going forth to defend.”
James Naismith is best known for his inventing the game of basketball, but he was also a WWI Chaplain. WallBuilders has his chaplain’s sewing kit that also contained crosses.
In February, 1943 an American ship, Dorchester, was torpedoed and was sinking. Four chaplains aboard the ship from different denominations and faiths gave life jackets to sailors and provided comfort. Find out more about this remarkable story here.
A Four Chaplains Card signed by Harry Truman in 1960.
Stamps honored the sacrifice of the four chaplains.
Below are several documents from Congressional records relating to pay for U.S. Army Chaplains. There is a “Memorial of Chaplains in the U.S. Army” dated January 17, 1862. Also, a “Letter from the Secretary of War” relating to pay for chaplains dated June 19, 1862. Finally, a “General Order” relating to pay for chaplains dated October 6, 1862.
We posted a video showing a document from the presidential election of 1928 demonstrating that the Democrats at that time were hard core racists.
Watch the short video here: “Who’s The Real Racist?”
Democratic apologists instantly posted comments dismissing that claim, arguing that everybody knows that in the 1960s and 1970s, the racists within the Democrat Party left and became Republicans.1 Is the claim true? Did the racist Democrats become the Republicans in the 1960s and 1970s who took over the south?
According to liberal Wikipedia, throughout the decades of Democratic racism, the South was known as The Solid Democratic South, composed of 16 states plus Washington, D.C., including Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia, Alabama, Kentucky, Mississippi, Tennessee, Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, and Texas.2 So did the racist Democrats switch in the 1960s and 1970s to become the Republicans who took over those states? Definitely not.
During the time of Reconstruction, as noted above with the Alabama poster, Republicans controlled the legislatures and were the Party of black Americans. But when Reconstruction ended in 1876, so, too, did Republican control of the South. The Democrats regained the control of those states that they held before the Civil War. So from the time of Reconstruction until the current time, did Republicans control the south in the 1960s and 1970s as critics claim?
Let’s start with Arkansas. It was not until 2012 that Arkansas state government again became Republican controlled.3 Imagine that! From 1874 until 2012 the Arkansas Legislature was Democrat!4 The Democrats controlled the state legislature for nearly half-a-century after the so-called shift supposed occurred in the 60s and 70s?
In Louisiana, it was not until 2011 that the state legislature again became Republican.5 For decades after the 60s and 70s, it, too, remained Democrat.
Alabama did not become Republican again until 2010.6 In Oklahoma, it was 2008.7 For Texas, it was 2002;8 1996 for Florida;9 1995 for Virginia;10 also the 2004 for Georgia; 11 and for North Carolina it was not until 2010 that Republicans controlled the legislature,12 and for West Virginia it was 2014.13
And Maryland, Delaware, and Washington DC continue to remain Democrat legislatures to this day – no alleged Democrat switch in the 1960s and 1970s ever put the Republicans in charge.14
If racists made a grand switch in parties from Democrat to Republicans we would certainly have many political leaders we could point to who made the change.
But bottom line is that there is not a big list of individuals in the 60’s and 70’s who switched parties – certainly not enough to shift control from racist Democrats to Republicans.
Many people who claim racist Democrats switched parties to become racist Republicans believe the change happened during the Civil Rights act under President Lyndon B Johnson.15 But this is simply not the case. We see no change in the parties during this time.
Martin Luther King Jr., for example, was fighting in the civil rights movement AFTER the laws under LBJ, and he encouraged blacks to support the Republican Party because it was the party of equality. And significantly it was Republicans in Congress, not Democrats, who authored and managed to pass the civil rights laws that LBJ signed.16
The point of the video was not to indicate that there are no racists in the Republican Party. We can easily acknowledge that racism is part of a sinful human nature and not limited to political parties. However, the Republican Party was not and is not the “Party” of racism.
Actual facts disprove the often repeated and ridiculous defense of Democrat apologists. The Republicans certainly have their own baggage, but these claims are not part of it.
1 Julian Drury, “Debunking the myth that Republicans love to repeat,” Quiet Mike, December 8, 2013; Lucinda, “How Dixiecrats Became Republicans,” CJOnline, February 5, 2013; Ian Haney-Lopez, “How the GOP became the ‘White Man’s Party’,” Salon, December 22, 2013; among others.
2 “Solid South,” Wikipedia (accessed on May 18, 2016).
3 Jim Hoft, “Arkansas Senate & House Goes Republican for the First Time Since Reconstruction,” The Gateway Pundit, November 6, 2012.
4 “Arkansas Senate Flips; First Time Since Reconstruction,” The Courier, November 7, 2012.
5 “Louisiana State Senate,” Wikipedia (accessed on May 18, 2016).
6 “Republicans claim majority in Alabama House and Senate for 1st time in 136 years,” al.com, November 2, 2010.
7 Michael McNutt, “Oklahoma’s legislative leaders pledge to work with Democrats,” NewsOK, November 7, 2010.
8 “Politics of Texas,” Wikipedia (accessed on May 18, 2016).
9 “Florida goes Republican,” The Free Library (accessed on May 18, 2016).
10 Frank B. Atkinson, “Republican Party of Virginia,” Encyclopedia Virginia (accessed on May 18, 2016).
11 Pema Levy, “Georgia Democrats are Seeing a Glimmer of a Blue Future,” Newsweek, November 4, 2014.
12 “Republican Party Takes Control Over NC General Assembly,” WECT, November 2, 2010.
13 Allan Taylor, “GOP Makes Historic Gains in State Legislature,” MetroNews, November 4, 2014.
14.“List of United States State Legislatures,” Wikipedia (accessed on May 18, 2016).
15 Patrick Louis Cooney, Ph. D., “A Racist Party with a Racist Strategy: The Republicans,” The Vernon Johns Society (accessed May 18, 2016); Allen Clifton, “No Longer the Party of Lincoln: Here’s Proof That the Modern Day GOP Built Itself on Racism,” Forward Progressives, June 27, 2015.
16 Congressional Quarterly (Washington, DC: Congressional Quarterly Service, 1965), Vol. 20, pp. 606, 696, 88th Congress, 2nd Session, vote on the Civil Rights Bill of 1964, February 10, 1964.
Founding Father Benjamin Rush’s handwritten personal Bible study booklet entitled “References to Texts of Scriptures Related to Each Other Upon Particular Subjects.” In it he listed scriptures under various topics and wrote his own notes on those scriptures. We have included excerpts of the booklet below.
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Booklet Cover
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Rush recorded three pages of scriptures and notes regarding
“Atonement”
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“Universal Salvation”
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Rush cataloged scriptures such as Exodus 32:11-12; Romans
5:3-4; Isaiah 49:6,8-9; Matthew 15:13; etc. under the title “Universal Salvation”
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“Objects of Prayer” & “Influences
of Religion on Family Prosperity” |
Rush’s notes on scripture passages related to prayer and
God’s blessings (Note: nail used in book seam)
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“Kindness to Strangers”
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Rush lists Leviticus 19:33, Exodus 12:49, Deuteronomy 23:7
and other verses under the heading “Kindness to Strangers”
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“Efficacy of Prayer”
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Rush’s scriptures on the effectiveness of prayer include
Genesis chapter 18 and 21:17 & 21.
(1745-1813) Rush was a physician, educator, philanthropist, and statesman. He graduated from Princeton (1760) and then studied medicine in Philadelphia, Edinburgh, London, and Paris. He served in the Continental Congress (1776-77) and signed the Declaration of Independence (1776). Rush also: suggested to Thomas Paine that he write Common Sense (1776) and supplied the title for it as well as helped publish it; was Surgeon-General of the Continental Army (1777-78); and was one of the founders of Dickinson College (1783). He was an influential delegate to the State ratification convention for the federal Constitution (1787), and along with James Wilson, one of the principal coauthors of the Pennsylvania constitution (1789-90). Rush served as Treasurer of the U. S. Mint under Presidents John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, and James Madison (1797-1813). He mediated a reconciliation between long time political rivals John Adams and Thomas Jefferson; was a founder of the Pennsylvania Society for Promoting the Abolition of Slavery (1774) and its president; founder and Vice-president of the Philadelphia Bible Society (1808-13); member of the First Day Society of Philadelphia (1790); and a member of the Abolition Society (1794-97). Benjamin Rush is called the “Father of American Medicine” for his numerous medical discoveries.
The Philadelphia Bible Society, America’s first Bible society, was officially organized on December 12, 1808. By 1816, 121 more Bible societies had been started across the nation. Below, from the WallBuilders library, is a group of reports from various 19th century Bible societies. At WallBuilders, we also have an original Bible published by the Philadelphia Bible Society.
See the below pay receipt documents from the WallBuilders library. These documents, from 1778, 1780, and 1782, are for three black soldiers who fought during the Revolutionary War.
