Era or Event: 1780s-1850s: Early Republic

In God We Trust

In God We Trust

[*]
Over recent years there has been strident opposition to displays acknowledging God.[1] The opposition stems largely from a 1971 Supreme Court decision that produced what is known as The Lemon Test.[2]

Under this test, a public religious acknowledgment is constitutional only if its primary purpose is secular. Of course, on its face, this is oxymoronic, for nearly no religious expression can meet the standard of being primarily secular. This is why, over the past 50 years, more than 5,000 previously acceptable public acknowledgments of God or religion have been deemed unconstitutional.[3]

The History and Tradition of Official Public Acknowledgments of God

The secularization of the American public square gradually grew so extreme that in May 2022, Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer, perhaps the most Progressive justice on the Court at that time, penned a unanimous 9-0 decision going against the Lemon Test and upholding the right for a Christian flag to be flown at Boston City Hall.[4] In that decision, fellow justice Neil Gorsuch acknowledged that the Lemon Test was the result of “a ‘bygone era’ when this Court took a more freewheeling approach to interpreting legal texts.”[5] Thus, in a separate decision the following month (June 2022), the Court officially vacated The Lemon Test and replaced it with the “History and Tradition Test.”[6]

The Court had laid the groundwork for this return to history in 2019 when it explained that  “retaining established, religiously expressive monuments, symbols, and practices…. gives rise to a strong presumption of constitutionality.”[7] So today, if something with religious associations or of religious character can be shown to be historical and traditional, it now carries a “strong presumption of constitutionality.”

So, what is the history and tradition of official public acknowledgments of God?

1776: God in the Declaration of Independence

Let’s start with 1776: our national birth certificate, the Declaration of Independence. Of course, this document and the political philosophy it introduced is what the nation is celebrating for the entire year of the 250th anniversary of that document.

The Declaration’s opening 126 words set forth the philosophy of American government in five succinct points. Significantly, four of those five points focus on God: 1. There is a God; 2. God establishes moral right and wrongs; 3. God is the source of the inalienable rights of every individual; and 4. Government exists first and foremost to protect our God-given rights. This is the official philosophy around which our Founding Fathers rallied, and on which this nation was built.

Early Mottoes and Founding-Era Acknowledgments

On the same day the Declaration of Independence was approved, Benjamin Franklin proposed in Congress America’s first national motto.[8] It was “Rebellion to tyrants is obedience to God.” Thomas Jefferson then made that God-centered phrase the motto of the state of Virginia during his governorship in the War for Independence.[9] He also carried it with him to the White House when he became president.[10]

By the way, before the American War for Independence, Ben Franklin was involved in the French and Indian wars. At that time, he raised a volunteer militia, one of whose companies made its motto “In God We Trust.”[11]

When George Washington became president, one of Congress’ first tasks was to create a Bill of Rights for the nation. The result was the first Ten Amendments to the Constitution, which protect the individual and civil liberties of all Americans.

Washington, Adams, and the Duty of Nations to Acknowledge God

When President Washington was notified the Bill of Rights was completed, on that very day he issued a national call for a day of prayer and thanksgiving. Why? He told the nation that:

It is the duty of all nations [that is, of political bodies] 1. to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, 2. to obey His will, 3. to be grateful for His benefits, and 4. humbly to implore His protection and favor.[12] [emphasis added]

George Washington said it was the duty of governing political bodies to acknowledge God. President John Adams agreed. He reminded the nation:

The safety and prosperity of nations ultimately and essentially depend on the protection and the blessing of Almighty God, and the national acknowledgment of this truth is…an indispensable duty which the people owe to Him.[13]

Clearly, those who created our Constitution considered public acknowledgments of God to be an official duty of government.

From the Star-Spangled Banner to Civil War Coinage

In the War of 1812, a young attorney, Francis Scott Key, witnessed the Battle of Fort McHenry. He penned a literary description of that battle, which he called “The Defense of Fort McHenry.”[14] That title was later changed to “The Star-Spangled Banner,”[15] and its closing stanza affirmed what Americans strongly believed:

Blest with vict’ry and peace, may the Heav’n-rescued land

Praise the Pow’r that hath made and preserved us a nation.

Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,

And this be our motto –“In God is our trust.”[16]

Over following years, America got off track with the expansion and growth of slavery. The country became divided between those who supported slavery and those who opposed it. As the polarization and violence increased, Abraham Lincoln sought to heal the growing divide, urging Americans to remember the fundamental God-centered truths in the Declaration of Independence.[17]

Then during the Civil War, Lincoln lamented “we have forgotten God.”[18] He therefore issued a national call urging Americans to come back to the God-consciousness and God-dependency that had been part of our public life for so many previous generations.[19]

During the Civil War is when “In God We Trust” was first added to our national coinage. As explained by Secretary of the Treasury Salmon Chase:

No nation can be strong except in the strength of God, or safe except in His defense. The trust of our people in God should be declared on our national coins.[20]

Under President Ulysses S. Grant, “In God We Trust” was added to American peace medals and trade coins,[21] thus further expanding public acknowledgments of God outward into other realms of public affairs.

Mid-20th Century: National Anthem, Official Motto, and the Pledge

In 1931, Congress made the Star-Spangled Banner the official National Anthem, thus incorporating the line “this be our motto, ‘In God is our trust!’” directly into federal law.[22]

By 1938, “In God We Trust” appeared on all our coinage.[23]

In the 1950s, as nations across the world were becoming overtly and even militantly secularist, America chose to set forth an opposite model. President Harry Truman signed a federal law establishing an annual “National Day of Prayer,” urging Americans to stop and seek God.[24]

His successor, President Dwight D. Eisenhower, expressed his concern that in America “we were getting too secular.” He therefore added many other public religious acknowledgments, including:

  • Establishing an annual official National Prayer Breakfast to gather world leaders to Washington to pray.[26]
  • A federal law making “In God We Trust” the official motto of the nation,[27] even though it had been the unofficial motto for several generations previous.
  • A federal law that expanded the use of “In God We Trust” to include paper currency, not just coinage.[28]
  • A federal law adding “Under God” to the Pledge of Allegiance.[29]

In signing the Pledge law, President Eisenhower proudly announced:

From this day forward, the millions of our school children will daily proclaim in every city and town, every village and rural schoolhouse, the dedication of our nation and our people to the Almighty….[I]n 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.[30]

Given this history (including much more not covered here), it is hard to imagine how displaying the national motto in public buildings has become controversial.

Congressional Response to Secularization

Historically, the current hostility to expressing our religious heritage and traditions in public was officially introduced in June 1962, when the US Supreme Court, for the first time in history, disallowed traditional religious expressions and practices in public settings,[31] thus beginning the war on faith that has continued over recent decades.

Following that Court decision, in December 1962, the US House boldly engraved “In God We Trust” in gold letters over the Speaker’s Rostrum in the US House Chamber.[32] Missouri Democrat Congressman  William Randall acknowledged that the action was “a not-so-subtle way…[to] answer to the recent decision of the US Supreme Court order banning…prayer from the New York State schools.”[33] He further explained

We sincerely believe the House, by its historic action today calling for this inscription to be placed constantly before the eyes of every Member, emphasized anew that we are a not only a God-fearing people but that we all realize that only by faith and trust in God can there be any hope for the solution of what seems to be the endless problems facing Congress in world affairs and within our country. The House, in providing for the inscription, put our great national motto in the most prominent place in the greatest legislative hall in the world. By this we speak out to the entire world that we are not an atheistic country or a Godless nation. [34]

Minnesota Democrat Congressman Fred Marshall rejoiced that people who “visit our Chamber…will all be reminded of our great reliance upon Almighty God and will thrill to the words of our motto.” He also pointed out that “We Members…will constantly be reminded of the faith of our fathers who formed our great Republic and who asked God’s Divine blessing on those actions.”[35]

In January 1963, John F. Kennedy became the first president to deliver his annual address with the golden inscribed words “In God We Trust” clearly visible above him.[36] Every president since has delivered the nation’s State of the Union Address standing directly under “In God We Trust.”

(Today, thankfully the Court’s former overt religious hostility has finally been reversed by the Supreme Court’s 2022“History and Tradition Test.” The Court now holds that where there is an “original meaning and history” to support religious actions,

Upholding History, Tradition, and the Foundations of Government

Public displays of “In God We Trust” are the simple but profound acknowledgement of what every previous generation of American leaders officially recognized: that God and His standards and principles are not only  invaluable but are an essential element of American constitutional government.

It is worthwhile to hearken back to a passage from what is considered the most significant political address in American history: President George Washington’s “Farewell Address”—his final official advice to the nation. For 45 years his public service had been essential to America becoming an independent nation and a world leader. On his retirement, he offered fatherly advice to the nation which he loved, and for which he had sacrificed so much.

In these last words, not only did he provide a litmus test for determining true American patriotism, but he also identified the two things that would cause our government and our nation to prosper. He said:

Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports. In vain would that man claim the tribute of patriotism, who should labor to subvert these great pillars of human happiness.[38]

George Washington measured patriotism by whether or not there was open support for religion and morality, which were the two elements that made America’s culture prosper.

The display of our national motto in its various forms is simply upholding the path of  religious “history and tradition” regarding the most important and indispensable foundations of our government.

[*] This was a public address delivered on January 12, 2026, by David Barton at the dedication of the “In God We Trust” inscription added to the exterior of Cleveland Country Courthouse in Norman, Oklahoma, as well as to its various courtrooms inside.

Endnotes

[1] See, for example, “Oklahoma House approves bill that would require ‘In God We Trust’ display in state buildings,” March 2, 2021, KOCO News, https://www.koco.com/article/oklahoma-house-approves-bill-that-would-require-in-god-we-trust-display-in-state-buildings/35694319; “Measure Placing National Motto on Public Building passes Oklahoma House of Representatives,” March 2, 2021, CapitolBeatOK, https://www.capitolbeatok.com/reports/measure-placing-national-motto-on-public-buildings-passes-oklahoma-house-of-representatives/.

[2] Lemon v. Kurtzman, 403 U.S. 602 (1971).

[3] See examples in David Barton, Original Intent (Aledo, TX: WallBuilder Press, 2025), chapter 9.

[4] Shurtleff v. City of Boston, 596 U.S. ___ (2022).

[5] Shurtleff v. City of Boston, 596 U.S. ___ (2022), Neil Gorsuch concurring opinion.

[6] Kennedy v. Bremerton School District, 597 U.S. ___ (2022).

[7] American Legion v American Humanist Association, 588 U.S. ___ (2019).

[8] “Franklin’s Proposal,” August 20, 1776, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/01-01-02-0206-0001.

[9] “Virginia “Happy While United” Indian Peace Medal,” 1780, Colonial Williamsburg, https://emuseum.colonialwilliamsburg.org/objects/90494/virginia-happy-while-united-indian-peace-medal; Dumas Malone, Jefferson the Virginian (Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1948), 156, 226, 242.

[10] “Personal Seal,” October 4, 2007, Monticello, https://www.monticello.org/encyclopedia/personal-seal; Dumas Malone, Jefferson the Virginian (Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1948), 156, 226, 242.

[11] “Colors of the Associator Companies,” January 12 & April 16, 1748, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Franklin/01-03-02-0105.

[12] George Washington, Proclamation for a Day of Thanksgiving, issued October 3, 1789, printed in The Providence Gazette and Country Journal (October 17, 1789), from the WallBuilders Collection, https://wallbuilders.com/resource/proclamation-thanksgiving-day-1789/.

[13] John Adams, Proclamation for a Day of Fasting, issued March 23, 1798, The American Presidency Project, https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/203279.

[14] “Defence of Fort McHenry,” 1814, Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/resource/music.musihas-100010457/.

[15] “The Star-Spangled Banner: The Lyrics,” Smithsonian, accessed April 30, 2026, https://amhistory.si.edu/starspangledbanner/the-lyrics.aspx.

[16] “Defence of Fort McHenry,” 1814, Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/resource/music.musihas-100010457/.

[17] “Let me entreat you to come back…come back to the truths that are in the Declaration of Independence:” Abraham Lincoln, “Back to the Declaration: Speech at Lewiston, Illinois,” August 17, 1858, The Works of Abraham Lincoln: Speeches and Debates, ed. John H. Clifford (New York: The University Society Inc., 1908), 3:126-127.

[18] Abraham Lincoln, Proclamation for a Day of Fasting, issued March 30, 1863, The American Presidency Project, https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/203143; see that proclamation in the WallBuilders Collection, https://wallbuilders.com/resource/proclamation-fasting-humiliation-and-prayer-1863/.

[19] Abraham Lincoln, Proclamation for a Day of Fasting, issued March 30, 1863, The American Presidency Project, https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/203143; see that proclamation in the WallBuilders Collection, https://wallbuilders.com/resource/proclamation-fasting-humiliation-and-prayer-1863/.

[20] Salmon P. Chase to James Pollock, November 20, 1861, Thirty-Fourth Annual Report of the Director of the Mint to the Secretary of the Treasury (Washington: Government Printing Office, 1897), 107.

[21] The motto appeared on Trade Dollars authorized by the Coinage Act of 1873 (signed February 12, 1873). See also U.S. Mint production of presidential/Indian peace medals (e.g., 1871 Grant Peace Medal examples).

[22] Act of March 3, 1931, Public Law 71-810, 46 Stat. 1508.

[23] The motto had first appeared on the two-cent piece in 1864 and was gradually added to other denominations. It was restored to gold and silver coins by the Act of May 18, 1908 (35 Stat. 164). The five-cent nickel was the final denomination to receive it, with the introduction of the Jefferson nickel in 1938.

[24] “Joint Resolution to provide for setting aside an appropriate day as a National Day of Prayer,” Public Law 324-April 17, 1952, https://www.congress.gov/82/statute/STATUTE-66/STATUTE-66-Pg64-3.pdf.

[25] Dwight D. Eisenhower, The White House Years. Mandate for Change: 1953-1956 (NY: Doubleday & Company, 1963), 100.

[26] Diane Winston, “The History of the National Prayer Breakfast,” February 2, 2017, Smithsonian Magazine, https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/national-prayer-breakfast-what-does-its-history-reveal-180962017/.

[27] “Joint Resolution to Establish a National Motto of the United States,” July 30, 1956, https://uscode.house.gov/statviewer.htm?volume=70&page=732.

[28] Law passed on July 11, 1955, https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/STATUTE-69/pdf/STATUTE-69-Pg290-2.pdf.

[29] Act of June 14, 1954, Pub. L. No. 83-396, 68 Stat. 249 (H.J. Res. 243), https://www.congress.gov/bill/83rd-congress/house-joint-resolution/243/text.

[30] Dwight 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, https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/statement-the-president-upon-signing-bill-include-the-words-under-god-the-pledge-the-flag.

[31] Engel v. Vitale, 370 US 421 (1962). Other 1960s court cases addressing religion in public include: Abington School District v. Schempp, 374 US 203 (1963) and Murray v. Curlett, 228 Md. 239, 179 A.2d 698 (Md. 1962).

[32] “House Chamber: Furniture,” United States House of Representatives, accessed April 30, 2026, https://history.house.gov/Exhibitions-and-Publications/House-Chamber/Rostrum/.

[33] Congressional Record, 87th Cong., 2d Sess., vol. 108, at 21101–02 (Sept. 27, 1962).

[34] Congressional Record, 87th Cong., 2d Sess., vol. 108, at 21101–02 (Sept. 27, 1962).

[35] Congressional Record, 87th Cong., 2d Sess., vol. 108, at 22274 (October 4, 1962).

[36] “January 14, 1963: State of the Union Address,” The Miller Center, https://millercenter.org/the-presidency/presidential-speeches/january-14-1963-state-union-address.

[37] Kennedy v. Bremerton School District, 597 U.S. ___ (2022).

[38] Address of George Washington, President of the United states and Late Commander in Chief of the American Army to the People of the United States, Preparatory to His Declination (Baltimore: Christopher Jackson, 1796), 22-23.

Thomas Jefferson Quiz

Thomas Jefferson Quiz

Did you know that Thomas Jefferson was given two baby bear cubs as president of the United States?

Zebulon Pike was part of an expedition that explored the Louisiana Purchase. On his trip, he discovered two grizzly bear cubs that he sent to President Thomas Jefferson. (Interestingly, Pike’s Peak was named after Zebulon Pike.) Zebulon Pike wrote a letter to Thomas Jefferson when he sent the cubs and Thomas Jefferson later acknowledged the gift with a letter of his own.

Take the quiz below to find out more about Thomas Jefferson!

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THOMAS JEFFERSON

From unusual animals to giant wheels of cheese, the third President of the United States carved out a prominent place in American history. Take this quiz to see how much you know about Thomas Jefferson!

1 / 10

About how much did the giant Mammoth Cheese sent to Thomas Jefferson in 1802 weigh?

2 / 10

Where is Thomas Jefferson's book collection now?

Guess the three word answer! Click the "Check" button to see if you are right!

3 / 10

Which document did Thomas Jefferson write?

4 / 10

Who helped Thomas Jefferson and John Adams become friends again?

5 / 10

Thomas Jefferson was President during which American war?

6 / 10

Thomas Jefferson died on the same day as _____.

Enter first & last name, then click the "Check" button.

7 / 10

True or False. Thomas Jefferson believed that churches and religion should stay out of the government.

8 / 10

What position did Thomas Jefferson hold while George Washington was president?

9 / 10

True or False. Jefferson cut out parts of the Bible he didn't like to make "The Jefferson Bible."

10 / 10

What colony/state was Thomas Jefferson from?

Your score is

The average score is 66%

The Revelatory Source for the Constitutional Separation of Powers

Thoughts on Jeremiah 17:9 

The separation of powers and reciprocal checks and balances incorporated throughout the Constitution is still heralded as one of the most important features of American government, enabling it not only to survive but to thrive for over two centuries. History is filled with opposite examples showing that when government power was centralized in one body or leader, that government always became abusive and resulted in national ruin. The Founding Fathers not only had these examples of history to guide them, but they had the wisdom found in the Bible.

The love of power, and our propensity to abuse it, finds its root in the human heart. Jeremiah 17:9 declares: “The heart is more deceitful than all else and is desperately sick; who can understand it?” This wellknown verse encapsulated what Calvinistic ministers and theologians termed the “depravity of man” (that the natural heart of man easily embraced moral and civil degradation). It was a frequent topic for sermons in the Founding Era. The Founding Fathers understood the significance of this verse and openly cited it, as when John Adams reminded Americans:

Let me conclude by advising all men to look into their own hearts, which they will find to be “deceitful above all things and desperately wicked” [Jeremiah 17:9].1

Those ignorant of the Bible often believe in the innate goodness of man—that man will naturally do what is right. However, experience regularly confirms the opposite: without a heart regenerated by the power of God, man will routinely do what is wrong. Adams specifically rejected any notion of the innate goodness of man, especially when it came to government:

To expect self-denial from men when they have a majority in their favor, and consequently power to gratify themselves, is to disbelieve all history and universal experience – it is to disbelieve revelation and the Word of God, which informs us “the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked” [Jeremiah 17:9]. . . . There is no man so blind as not to see that to talk of founding a government upon a supposition that nations and great bodies of men left to themselves will practice a course of self-denial is either to babble like a newborn infant or to deceive like an unprincipled impostor.2

And even those who had experienced a regenerated heart through the power of God in Christ nevertheless knew enough about the truth of this verse and human nature to not even fully trust themselves to be above corruption. As John Quincy Adams confessed:

I believe myself sincere; but the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked [Jeremiah 17:9]. I do not believe the total depravity of man, but I am deeply conscious of the frailty of my own nature.3

Understanding this principle from Jeremiah 17—a principle that was accepted by all sides of the theological spectrum—the Founders knew that government would be much safer if all power did not repose in the same authority. Making practical application of this Biblical truth, they divided and checked power between branches so that if one branch behaved wickedly, the other two might still check and stop it. As George Washington explained:

A just estimate of that love of power and proneness to abuse it which predominates in the human heart is sufficient to satisfy us of the truth of this position. The necessity of reciprocal checks in the exercise of political power by dividing and distributing it into different depositories . . . has been evinced [demonstrated] by experiments ancient and modern, some of them in our country and under our own eyes.4

James Madison agreed:

What is government itself but the greatest of all reflections on human nature? If men were angels, no government would be necessary. In framing a government which is to be administered by men over men, the great difficulty lies in this: you must first enable the government to control the governed, and in the next place oblige it to control itself.5

This remarkable feature of American government—the separation of powers and reciprocal checks and balances—can be attributed to the Founders’ understanding of Jeremiah 17:9.

Endnotes

1 John Adams, “On Private Revenge III,” published in the Boston Gazette, September 5, 1763, The Works of John Adams, ed. Charles Francis Adams (Boston: Charles C. Little and James Brown, 1851), 3:443.

2 John Adams, A Defense of the Constitutions of Government of the United States of America (London: John Stockdale, 1794), 3:289, “Letter VI. The Right Constitution of a Commonwealth, examined.”

3 John Quincy Adams, diary entry of November 16, 1842, Memoirs of John Quincy Adams, ed. Charles Francis Adams (Philadelphia: J.B. Lippincott & Co, 1876), XI:270.

4 George Washington, Address of George Washington, President of the United States, and Late Commander in Chief of the American Army, to the People of the United States, Preparatory to His Declination (Baltimore: Christopher Jackson, 1796), 13.

5 Alexander Hamilton, John Jay, & James Madison, The Federalist on the New Constitution; Written in 1788 (Philadelphia: Benjamin Warner, 1818), 281, Federalist #51 likely by James Madison.

What Good Can I Do This Day?

Thoughts on Acts 10:38

Founding Father John Quincy Adams gave his life to his faith, his family, and his country. He lived to be eighty years old and actively worked more than sixty of those years for the benefit of others. His service included diplomatic missions to five nations, serving as a state senator, US senator, secretary of state, and US president. And while every other president before and after him permanently retired from public life after leaving office, John Quincy Adams did not. On retirement, he was elected to the US House of Representatives, where he would spend nine terms. He eventually died in the US Capitol. Although he declared “I had not the slightest desire to be elected to Congress,”1 he still served because his neighbors desired his leadership and elected him for that purpose. Adams believed that it was his Christian duty to serve when called upon rather than indulging a personal wish to retire to a quiet unencumbered life.

In Congress, he took up the fight to end slavery at a time when the overwhelming majority in Congress did not want to even discuss the subject. He undertook a relentless personal crusade to secure the Declaration of Independence’s promise of “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” for all individuals, regardless of race. But by choosing that path, he walked a difficult road. As he lamented, “The best actions of my life make me nothing but enemies.”2 Yet he did not quit, for he believed that “his service belonged to the nation.”3

He was consistently on the front lines in any quest to improve the lives of citizens and combat injustice. When he was seventy-four and had been fighting brutal congressional battles for over a decade, he wrote:

I deem it the duty of every Christian man, when he betakes himself to his nightly pillow, in self-examination to say, “What good have I done this day? Ay! And what evil have I done that may be repaired or repented of?” Nor should he rise from that pillow the next morning till after the inquiry, “What good can I do, and to whom, this day?” I have made this my rule for many years, with superadded prayer to the Lord of all—the Giver of every good gift for light [James 1:17]—for discernment, for guidance, for self-control, for a grateful heart to feel and acknowledge all His blessings, for humble resignation to His will, and submission to His chastisements. . . .Jesus Christ went about doing good [Acts 10:38]; I would do the same.4

John Quincy Adams understood that God places each of us here not to pursue own pleasure, but so that we might glorify God through serving and helping others. May the Spirit of God anoint us as well to imitate Jesus and personally “go about doing good.”

Endnotes

1 John Quincy Adams, diary entry for September 18, 1830, Memoirs of John Quincy Adams, ed. Charles Francis Adams (Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott & Co., 1876), 8:240.

2Adams, diary entry for October 25, 1833, Memoirs of John Quincy Adams, ed. Adams (1876), 9:26.

3 Dictionary of American Biography, ed. Allen Johnson (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1928), 1:92.

4 Adams, diary entry for November 16, 1842, Memoirs of John Quincy Adams, ed. Adams (1876), 2:269-270.

 

Calling the Nation to Prayer and Fasting

Thoughts on Ezra 8

In Ezra 7, Babylonian King Artaxerxes commissioned the priest Ezra to gather Jewish captives, return to their ancient homeland, and set up a civil government. They were also to rebuild the holy temple in Jerusalem, which had lain in ruins for decades. In chapter 8, Ezra assembled the people. But before they set out on their dangerous trek:

Then I proclaimed a fast there at the river of Ahava, that we might humble ourselves before our God to seek from Him a safe journey for us, our little ones, and all our possessions. For I was ashamed to request from the king troops and horsemen to protect us from the enemy on the way, because we had said to the king, “The hand of our God is favorably disposed to all those who seek Him, but His power and His anger are against all those who forsake Him.” So we fasted and sought our God concerning this matter, and He listened to our entreaty (vv. 21–23).

He called for a time of fasting and prayer to beseech the Lord’s intervention and assistance. And as Ezra attested, God answered their prayers. They journeyed safely to Jerusalem and successfully restored both the temple and civil government in their homeland.

The practice of calling the nation to a time of corporate prayer and fasting is repeated frequently throughout the Scriptures. For example, when the Ammonites came against Israel, King Jehoshaphat “turned his attention to seek the Lord, and proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah. So Judah gathered together to seek help from the Lord” (II Chronicles 20:3–4). Esther called the people to a time of prayer and fasting before she begged the king to save the Jews from the death decree issued by wicked Haman (Esther 4:16). And when Jonah warned the people of Nineveh of God’s intended judgment on them, “the people of Nineveh believed in God; and they called a fast and put on sackcloth from the greatest to the least of them” (Jonah 3:5), and their destruction was averted.

This Biblical model was repeated hundreds of times in early America.1 In fact, on eight separate occasions during the American Revolution, the Continental Congress called the nation to a time of humiliation, fasting, and prayer.2 Founding Fathers who were state governors likewise called their own states to prayer and fasting. These included signers of the Declaration Matthew Thornton,3 Samuel Adams,4 John Hancock,5 Samuel Huntington,6 Caesar Rodney,7 and signers of the Constitution John Dickinson,8 John Langdon,9 John Gilman,10 William Livingston,11 and others. This pattern—repeated so often before, during, and after the American Revolution—continued under the Constitution by U.S. presidents.

The XYZ Affair

During Washington’s presidency, France and Great Britain were at war with each other. So Great Britain blockaded American ships coming to Europe for fear they might be aiding the French. In 1794, John Jay negotiated a treaty (aka: the Jay Treaty) with the British to ease the growing tensions. But when the Jay Treaty was ratified in 1796, the French (still at war with Great Britain) responded by seizing 300 American ships to prevent supplies from reaching the British.

The following year in an attempt to prevent war with France, President John Adams dispatched three diplomats to negotiate with French officials. But before they could meet, the French agents demanded as preconditions: (1) a formal apology from President Adams, (2) a $10-million low-interest loan to the French government, and (3) a $250,000 personal bribe to the French foreign minister, Charles Tallyrand. Of course, the Americans refused.

The French continued to seize American ships and threatened an invasion of the United States. Congress therefore authorized a military buildup and began preparations for war. Adams’ political opponents believed he was exaggerating the situation and demanded proof of his claims. For which he released a report including the official diplomatic correspondence, but with the French agents’ names redacted (they were identified only as W, X, Y, and Z).

On seeing the documents, Americans were outraged. A formal declaration of war against France was narrowly averted. But an unofficial naval war (now called the Quasi-War), was unavoidable. Before France eventually signed a treaty with America in 1800, and war with France loomed, President Adams called the nation to a time of prayer and fasting:

Seasons of difficulty and of danger . . . are a loud call to repentance and reformation; and as the United States of America are at present placed in a hazardous and afflictive situation by the unfriendly disposition, conduct, and demands of a foreign power, evinced [proved] by repeated refusals to receive our messengers of reconciliation and peace, by depredations [attacks] on our commerce, and the infliction of injuries on very many of our fellow citizens while engaged in their lawful business on the seas. . . . I have therefore thought it fit to recommend . . . a day of solemn humiliation, fasting, and prayer.12

War of 1812

Nearly three decades after the American Revolution, the British had not kept many of the promises made at the end of the war. In fact, British encroachments on American ships and property were increasing. The result was the War of 1812, sometimes called the Second American Revolution. President James Madison regularly called the nation to prayer and fasting throughout the war, explaining on one of those occasions:

I do therefore recommend [a day of prayer and fasting] . . . for the devout purposes of . . . acknowledging the transgressions which might justly provoke the manifestations of His Divine displeasure; of seeking His merciful forgiveness and His assistance in the great duties of repentance and amendment; and especially of offering fervent supplications that in the present season of calamity and war, He would take the American people under His peculiar care and protection—that He would guide their public councils, animate their patriotism, and bestow His blessing on their arms . . . and, finally, that turning the hearts of our enemies from the violence and injustice which sway their councils against us, He would hasten a restoration of the blessings of peace.13

Civil War

In late 1860, it appeared that a national conflict was imminent. President James Buchanan called the nation to a time of prayer and fasting, reminding the country:

In this the hour of our calamity and peril, to Whom shall we resort for relief but to the God of our fathers? His omnipotent arm only can save us from the awful effects of our own crimes and follies—our own ingratitude and guilt towards our Heavenly Father. Let us, then, with deep contrition and penitent sorrow, unite in humbling ourselves before the Most High, in confessing our individual and national sins. . . . Let our fervent prayers ascend to His Throne that He would not desert us in this hour of extreme peril, but remember us as He did our fathers in the darkest days of the Revolution and preserve our Constitution and our Union, the work of their hands, for ages yet to come. . . .Let me invoke every individual, in whatever sphere of like he may be placed, to feel a personal responsibility to God and his country for keeping this day holy.14

And while in the midst of that bloody Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln called the nation to a day of humiliation, fasting, and prayer, explaining in most profound terms:

It is the duty of nations as well as of men to own their dependence upon the overruling power of God, to confess their sins and transgressions in humble sorrow yet with assured hope that genuine repentance will lead to mercy and pardon, and to recognize the sublime truths announced in the Holy Scriptures and proven by all history that those nations only are blessed whose God is the Lord. And insomuch as we know that by His Divine law, nations, like individuals, are subjected to punishments and chastisements in this world, may we not justly fear that the awful calamity of civil war which now desolates the land may be but a punishment inflicted upon us for our presumptuous sins, to the needful end of our national reformation as a whole people? We have been recipients of the choicest bounties of Heaven. We have been preserved these many years in peace and prosperity. We have grown in numbers, wealth, and power as no other nation has ever grown. But we have forgotten God—we have forgotten the gracious hand which preserved us in peace and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us, and we have vainly imagined in deceitfulness of our hearts that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own. Intoxicated with unbroken success, we have become too self-sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace—too proud to pray to the God that made us! It behooves us, then, to humble ourselves before the offended Power, to confess our national sins, and to pray for clemency and forgiveness. . . . All this being done in sincerity and truth, let us then rest humbly in the hope authorized by the Divine teachings that the united cry of the Nation will be heard on high and answered with blessings, no less than the pardon of our national sins and restoration of our now divided and suffering country to its former happy condition of unity and peace.15

Times of corporate humiliation and prayer were called in times of national danger and also in times of national tragedy. For example, in 1841 when President William Henry Harrison died, President John Tyler called the country to a time of special prayer:

When a Christian people feel themselves to be overtaken by a great public calamity, it becomes them to humble themselves under the dispensation of Divine Providence, to recognize His righteous government over the children of men, to acknowledge His goodness in time past as well as their own unworthiness, and to supplicate His merciful protection for the future.16

President Andrew Johnson held a similar day of humiliation, mourning, and prayer following the death of Abraham Lincoln.17 As did President Chester Arthur on the death of President James Garfield.18

Modern Examples

The US observed several days of national prayer during both World War I19 and World War II.20 And presidents George W. Bush and Donald Trump both issued prayer proclamations in response to natural disasters or epidemics.21

America has long followed the Biblical precedent of observing times of corporate prayer and fasting. But this is a spiritual discipline that every Christian would do well to personally develop (Matthew 9:15). After all, Jesus noted that some situations in our lives change only through prayer and fasting (Matthew 17:21). And it allows us to spend time in concentrated prayer in our relationship with the Lord.

 

Endnotes

1 See Deloss Love, The Fast and Thanksgiving Days of New England (Boston: Houghton, Mifflin and Company, 1895), 464–514.

2 See the Journals of the American Congress from 1774 to 1788 (Washington: Way and Gideon, 1823) for June 12, 1775; March 16, 1776; December 11, 1776; March 7, 1778; March 20, 1779; March 11, 1780; March 20, 1781; and March 19, 1782.

3 Matthew Thornton, “A Proclamation for a Day of Humiliation, Fasting and Prayer,” June 22, 1775, Evans #14275.

4 Samuel Adams, “A Proclamation for a Day of Fasting, Humiliation, and Prayer,” April 2, 1795, Broadside in the WallBuilders Collection; Samuel Adams, “A Proclamation for a Day of Solemn Fasting and Prayer,” May 4, 1797, Independent Chronicle (March 30, 1797).

5 John Hancock, “A Proclamation for a Day of Fasting and Prayer,” Independent Chronicle and the Universal Advertiser, March 26, 1789, 1; John Hancock, “A Proclamation for a Day of Fasting, Humiliation and Prayer,” April 25, 1782, Evans #17593; John Hancock, “A Proclamation for a Day of Public Fasting and Prayer,” May 15, 1783, Evans #18024; John Hancock, “A Proclamation for a Day of Humiliation, Fasting, and Prayer,” April 17, 1788, Evans #21236; John Hancock, “A Proclamation for a Day of Fasting and Prayer,” March 31, 1797, Evans #23549; John Hancock, “A Proclamation for a Day of Fasting, Humiliation, and Prayer,” March 29, 1792, Evans #24519; John Hancock, “A Proclamation for a Day of Public Fasting, Humiliation and Prayer,” April 11, 1793, Broadside in the WallBuilders Collection.

6 Samuel Huntington, “A Proclamation for a Day of Fasting, Humiliation, and Prayer,” April 17, 1788, Evans #21761; Samuel Huntington, “A Proclamation for a Day of Fasting, Humiliation, and Prayer,” Pennsylvania Packet or General Advertiser, March 4, 1780, 3; Samuel Huntington, “A Proclamation for a Day of Fasting, Humiliation, and Prayer,” March 31, 1791, Evans #23284; Samuel Huntington, “A Proclamation for a Day of Fasting, Humiliation, and Prayer,” April 12, 1792, Evans #24218; Samuel Huntington, “A Proclamation for a Day of Humiliation, Fasting and Prayer,” April 17, 1793, Dunlap’s Daily American Advertiser, March 30, 1793, 3; Samuel Huntington, “A Proclamation for a Day of Fasting, Humiliation, and Prayer,” April 22, 1789, Evans #21018; Samuel Huntington, “Proclamation for a Day of Fasting, Humiliation, and Prayer,” March 28, 1789, from Broadside in the WallBuilders Collection.

7 Caesar Rodney, “A Proclamation for a Day of Fasting, Humiliation, and Prayer,” May 6, 1779, Evans #43623.

8 John Dickinson, “A Proclamation for a Day of Public Prayer,” November 19, 1781, Evans #17134.

9 John Langdon, “A Proclamation for a Day of Public Fasting and Prayer,” April 6, 1786, Evans #19824.

10 John Taylor Gilman, “A Proclamation for a Day of Fasting, Humiliation, and Prayer,” April 19, 1804, Broadside in the WallBuilders Collection.

11 William Livingston, “A Proclamation for a Day of Fasting and Humiliation,” January 17, 1777, The Papers of William Livingston, ed. Carl E. Prince (New Jersey Historical Commission, 1979), I:200.

12 John Adams, “A Proclamation for a Day of Solemn Humiliation, Fasting and Prayer,” May 9, 1798, Russell’s Commercial Gazette (April 4, 1798); John Adams, “A Proclamation for a Day of Humiliation, Fasting and Prayer,” March 6, 1799, The Works of John Adams, Second President of the United States, ed. Charles Francis Adams (Boston: Little, Brown, and Company, 1854), 9:572.

13 James Madison, ”A Proclamation for a Day of Public Prayer,” Connecticut Mirror (July 20, 1812), 3; James Madison, “A Proclamation for a Day of Public Prayer,” July 23, 1813, Independent Chronicle (July 29, 1813), 3–4; James Madison, “A Proclamation for a Day of Humiliation, Fasting and Prayer,” January 12, 1815, The Yankee (November 25, 1814), 2.

14 James Buchanan, “A Proclamation for a Day of Humiliation, Fasting, and Prayer,” January 4, 1861, from a Broadside in the WallBuilders Collection.

15 Abraham Lincoln, “A Proclamation for a Day of Humiliation, Fasting, and Prayer,” April 30, 1863, The Liberator (April 24, 1863), 3. See also, “A Proclamation for a Day of Humiliation, Fasting, and Prayer,” August 12, 1861, in the WallBuilders Collection; “A Proclamation for a Day of Fasting and Prayer,” July 17, 1864, Burlington Daily Hawk-Eye (July 14, 1864), 3.

16 John Tyler, “A Proclamation for a Day of Fasting and Prayer,” April 13, 1841, A Compilation of the Messages and Papers of the Presidents, ed. James D. Richardson (U.S. Bureau of National Literature and Art, 1910), 4:33.

17 Andrew Johnson, “The President’s Proclamation of a Day of Humiliation and Mourning,” May 25, 1865, The New York Herald (April 25, 1865), 8.

18 Chester A. Arthur, “A Proclamation for a Day of Humiliation and Mourning,” September 26, 1881, from a handwritten draft in the WallBuilders Collection.

19 Woodrow Wilson, Proclamation 1445—Decoration Day, May 11, 1918.

20 Franklin D. Roosevelt, Proclamation 2418—Day of Prayer, August 7, 1940; Proclamation 2531—Day of Prayer, December 22, 1941; Proclamation 2602—Day of Prayer, December 3, 1943; Harry S. Truman, Proclamation 2651—Victory in Europe: Day of Prayer, May 8, 1945; and Proclamation 2660—Victory in the East: Day of Prayer, August 16, 1945.

21 George W Bush, Proclamation 7462—National Day of Prayer and Remembrance for the Victims of the Terrorist Attacks on September 11, 2001, September 13, 2001; Proclamation 7925— National Day of Prayer and Remembrance for Victims of Hurricane Katrina, September 8, 2005, voluntary, and separate from regular National Day of Prayer from May of that year; Donald J Trump, Proclamation 9634— National Day of Prayer for Victims of Hurricane Harvey and for Our National Recover Efforts, September 1, 2017; Proclamation 9997-— National Day of Prayer for All Americans Affected by the Coronavirus Pandemic and for Our National Response, March 14, 2020.

Meditating on God’s Word

Thoughts on Psalm 4:4

The Bible places great emphasis on the meditation of God and His Word. In fact, the Bible makes clear that you cannot grow spiritually without meditating on His Word.

Perhaps the best way to describe the importance of meditation is to liken it to the process of digestion. It is important to consume food (or to use a spiritual analogy based on Matthew 6:11 and 4:4, to consume the Word of God). But if what we consume is not broken down and digested so that it can be absorbed by the body, it renders no nutritional benefit. In fact, there are medical maladies whereby individuals can actually consume large amounts of food but die of starvation because the body does not break down and digest the food. So too, with the intake of God’s Word.

First Timothy 4:15 commands “meditate on these things; give yourself entirely to them, that your progress may be evident to all” (NKJV). Notice the sequence: if you (1) mediate on these things, (2) your growth and maturity will become evident to everyone. Similarly, Joshua 1:8 commands us to (1) meditate in His Word day and night, then (2) your way will be prosperous and you will have good success. Other verses that emphasize the importance of meditation include Psalm 63:6, Psalm 119:15, 99.

In both the spiritual and the physical realms, it is not how fast or how much you consume that is important, but how much you digest. And digestion takes time. You have to go over and over the same content similar to a cow chewing its cud. After cows have eaten, they lie still and ruminate—chew on what they ingested to allow full digestion and extract all the nutrition.

When you read God’s word (which should be done daily), be sure to meditate on what you just read. Take time to ask yourself questions:

  • Who — To whom was this passage written?
  • What — What was the theme of this passage?
  • When and Where — What were the circumstances and events that surrounded this message?
  • Why — Why was the message in this passage given?
  • How — How will I apply what is in this passage to my own life? What changes must I make in my own speaking, thinking, or behavior?

This meditation will move our spiritual lives beyond merely taking the “milk” of God’s Word to fully consuming its “solid food” (Hebrews 5:12-14).

The Way of the Righteous

John Quincy Adams was one of many Founding Fathers who had consumed much of God’s Word. He shared:

My custom is to read four or five chapters every morning immediately after rising from my bed. It employs about an hour of my time and seems to me the most suitable manner of beginning the day.1

In addition to his regular daily readings, every Sunday he usually covered additional chapters, frequently studying and comparing translations of the Bible in several different languages (of which he could speak seven). One Sunday in 1826, while serving as president of the United States, he recorded:

Heard Mr. [Robert] Little [pastor of a church Adams attended] from Psalm 119:133: “Order my steps in Thy Word, and let not any iniquity have dominion over me.” A desultory [spontaneous] and impressive moral discourse [sermon], setting forth by various illustrations the different modes by which iniquity [sin] may obtain dominion over us. Among his quotations from Scripture was that of the first seven verses of the fifth chapter of Isaiah (the song of the vineyard that brought forth wild grapes). In this instance, as in numberless others, I was struck with the careless inattention of my own mind when reading the Bible. I had read the chapter of Isaiah, containing this parable I dare say fifty times, and it was altogether familiar to my memory; but I had never perceived a fiftieth part of its beauty and sublimity. The closing verse of the parable, especially which points the moral of the allegory, speaks with irresistible energy: “For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah His pleasant plant, and He looked for judgment, but behold oppression – for righteousness, but behold a cry” [Isaiah 5:7].2

Significantly, Adams was fifty-eight when he made this diary entry, and it had been his practice from his youth to read through the entire Bible every year.3 So despite having already read this passage from Isaiah “I dare say fifty times,” he still saw something brand new in it. As he confessed, “I was struck with the careless inattention of my own mind when reading the Bible.” It is for this reason that meditation receives such an emphasis in the Bible. We must read God’s Word every day; but we must also take time to digest what we read—to “meditate within your own heart…and be still” (Psalm 4:4).

Endnotes

1 John Quincy Adams, Letters of John Quincy Adams, to His Son on the Bible and Its Teachings (New York: Derby, Miller, & Co., 1848), 11-12.

2 John Quincy Adams, diary entry for November 5, 1826, Memoirs of John Quincy Adams, ed. Charles Francis Adams (Philadelphia: J.B. Lippincott & Co., 1874), 7:168-169.

3 Adams, Letters of John Quincy Adams, to His Son (1848), 10-11.

The Duty of Nations

Thoughts on Psalm 9:17

Proverbs 3:5–6 reminds us that in all our ways (public as well as private) we are to acknowledge Him. And while it is wisdom for individuals, it is also true of nations. In response to the idolatry of others or their failure to acknowledge God, Psalm 79:6 and Jeremiah 10:25 call for God’s wrath upon all nations that do not call upon His name. And the warranty of 1 Samuel 2:30 that “Those who honor Me I will honor, and those who despise Me will be lightly esteemed” was delivered to civil leaders, not religious ones.

The psalmist said, “The wicked return to Sheol, even all the nations who forget God” (Psalm 9:17). Whenever we stop acknowledging Him, whether as individuals or a nation, we soon forget Him, and at that point we are in trouble. Understanding this truth, President George Washington emphatically declared:

It is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits, and humbly to implore His protection and favor.1

Notice the four duties that Washington said pertained to nations:

  1. Acknowledge God
  2. Obey His will
  3. Be grateful for His aid
  4. Implore His protection and favor

President John Adams concurred:

The safety and prosperity of nations ultimately and essentially depend on the protection and the blessing of Almighty God, and the national acknowledgment of this truth is . . . an indispensable duty which the people owe to Him.2

President Thomas Jefferson agreed, and in his First Inaugural Address reminded the nation that which was “necessary to make us a happy and a prosperous people” was “acknowledging and adoring an overruling Providence.”3

The conviction that America should publicly acknowledge God was frequently expressed by our national leaders. In fact, President Abraham Lincoln did so and warned the nation in his day that it was beginning to forget God:

It is the duty of nations as well . . . and to recognize the sublime truth announced in the Holy Scriptures and proven by all history that those nations only are blessed whose God is the Lord [Psalm 33:12]. . . . But we have forgotten God. We have forgotten the gracious hand which preserved us in peace and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us, and we have vainly imagined in the deceitfulness of our hearts that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own. Intoxicated with unbroken success, we have become too self-sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace—too proud to pray to the God that made us.4

For this reason, President Lincoln called the nation to a time of public humiliation, fasting, and prayer so that it would once again remember God.

Acknowledging God Today

Remembering and honoring God at the national level begins with simple acknowledgment of God. Modern disputes over things such as the National Motto, the inclusion of “under God” in the Pledge of Allegiance, public displays of the Ten Commandments or nativity scenes, and prayer at athletic events, school meetings, or political gatherings are not in fact small or trivial matters. Such public acknowledgments are not coercive, but rather simple, encouraging reminders with a long history underscoring the value and wisdom of honoring God. The Founding Fathers would never have supported any public policy that prohibited such expressions and cause us as a nation to forget God.

Endnotes

1 George Washington, “A Proclamation” printed in The Providence Gazette and Country Journal (October 17, 1789), 1. See also George Washington, “Proclamation for a National Thanksgiving,” Writings of George Washington, ed. Jared Sparks (Boston: American Stationers Company, 1837), XII:119.

2 John Adams, “Proclamation for a National Fast,” March 23, 1798, The Works of John Adams, Second President of the United States, ed. Charles Francis Adams (Boston: Charles C. Little and James Brown, 1851), IX:169.

3 Thomas Jefferson, “First Inaugural Address,” March 4, 1801, The Papers of Thomas Jefferson, ed. Barbara B. Oberg (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2006), 33:150.

4 Abraham Lincoln, “A Proclamation” printed in The Liberator (April 24, 1863), 3. See also Abraham Lincoln, , “A Proclamation Appointing a National Fast-Day,” The Writings of Abraham Lincoln, ed. Arthur Brooks Lapsley (New York: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1923), 6:270–271.

The Sermon on the Mount Carl Bloch, 1890

His Desire to Answer Prayer

Thoughts on Matthew 6

Prayer has always been central to Biblical faith. Scripture is replete with stories of the efficacy of prayer. It is not surprising then that the practice of prayer was deeply embedded in early American life. In fact, colonial, state, and federal governments issued over 1,400 official calls to prayer between 1620 and 1815.1 The Founding Fathers clearly were convinced of the effectiveness of prayer.

John Jay, the original chief justice on the US Supreme Court, believed that the fact that God told us to pray, and how to pray and what to pray for, were clear indications that He wanted to answer our prayers. He explained:

Had it not been the purpose of God that His will should be done on earth as it is done in heaven, He would not have commanded us to pray for it. That command implies a prediction and a promise that in due season it shall be accomplished.2

Jay’s reference is to the Lord’s Prayer, when Jesus’ disciples came to Him and asked Him to teach them to pray. To which He replied:

Pray, then, in this way: ‘Our Father who is in heaven, hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil. [For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.’] (Matthew 6:9-13)

This prayer, well known to the Founding Fathers, appeared in American public school textbooks for over two centuries. An elderly John Quincy Adams recalled that it was one of the first things he had learned as a youngster:

My mother was the daughter of a Christian clergyman . . . In that same spring and summer of 1775 [when I was only seven], she taught me to repeat daily after the Lord’s Prayer before rising from bed, the Ode of Collins on the patriot warriors [a patriotic poem]. . . .Now—seventy-one years after they were thus taught me—I repeat them from memory.3

Early American statesman John Chandler Davis conversed with Adams about the Lord’s Prayer shortly before the latter’s death in 1848. Davis recounted:

In 1847, I became well acquainted with him and frequently met with him and talked with him in the House of Representatives. I remember one morning in 1847 that I met him before the House was called to order. He was very feeble. It was not long before the subject of religion was introduced by Mr. Adams. Among other things I remember his saying, “There are two prayers I love to say: the first is The Lord’s Prayer, and because the Lord taught it; and the other is what seems to be a child’s prayer, “Now I lay me down to sleep,” etc., and I love to say this because it suits me. And,” he added, “I love this prayer so much that I have been repeating it every night for very many years past, and I say it yet – and I expect to say it my last night on earth if I am conscious. But,” said he, “I have added a few words to the prayer so as to express my trust in Christ, and also to acknowledge what I ask for I ask as a favor and not because I deserve it. This is it,” said he, and then he repeated it as he was in the habit of saying it: “Now I lay me down to sleep, I pray the Lord my soul to keep; if I should die before I wake, I pray the Lord my soul to take – for Jesus’ sake. Amen.” This was in 1847. He died in 1848 while I was living in Washington, and I have no doubt but that the “child’s prayer that just suited” him was reverently repeated every night until he died.4

Jesus taught His disciples to pray the Lord’s Prayer, something many Founding Fathers faithfully embraced. The Lord’s Prayer serves as a time-tested guide for our own prayers that comes with a clear indication of God’s desire to answer them. As John Jay knew to be true, the Lord’s Prayer leads to answered prayer.

Endnotes

1 DeLoss Love, The Fast and Thanksgiving Days of New England (Boston: Houghton, Mifflin and Company, 1895), 464-514.

2 John Jay at the Annual Meeting, May 8, 1823, The Life of John Jay, with Selections of his Correspondence and Miscellaneous Papers, ed. William Jay (New York: J. & J. Harper, 1833), 1:503.

3 John Quincy Adams, The Memoirs of John Quincy Adams, ed. Charles Francis Adams (Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott & Co., 1874), I:5-6.

4 John C. Davis, “John Quincy Adams” The Churchman, June 14, 1890; reprinted as “Child-Likeness of the Old Man Eloquent,” in The Sunday School Union (1890), XXXII:415.

The Heart of a Grateful Nation

Thoughts on 2 Chronicles 5-7

King David, blessed by God throughout his long life, envisioned building a majestic temple to honor the Lord. But God told David that it would instead be his son, Solomon, who would construct the building. So David prepared everything his son would need. When later King Solomon successfully completed the temple, he gathered the nation together and dedicated the new structure with a time of prayer and praise (2 Chronicles 5-7). The spirit of God filled the temple and fell on those present. God promising Solomon that He would hear and answer prayers prayed from that location. Significantly, our Founding Fathers invoked this incident and this passage at a significant moment early in the political life of a young America.

On September 25, 1789, the very first federal Congress had just finished framing the Bill of Rights—the Capstone of the Constitution. On that notable day, the official records of Congress report:

Mr. [Elias] Boudinot said he could not think of letting the session pass over without offering an opportunity to all the citizens of the United States of joining with one voice in returning to Almighty God their sincere thanks for the many blessings He had poured down upon them. With this view, therefore, he would move the following resolution:

Resolved, That a joint committee of both Houses be directed to wait upon the President of the United States to request that he would recommend to the people of the United States a day of public thanksgiving and prayer, to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many signal favors of Almighty God. . . .

Mr. [Roger] Sherman justified the practice of thanksgiving on any signal [remarkable] event not only as a laudable one in itself but as warranted by a number of precedents in Holy Writ – for instance, the solemn thanksgivings and rejoicings which took place in the time of Solomon after the building of the temple was a case in point [2 Chronicles 5-7, 1 Kings 7-8]. This example he thought worthy of Christian imitation on the present occasion, and he would agree with the gentleman who moved the resolution. Mr. Boudinot quoted further precedents from the practice of the late Congress and hoped the motion would meet a ready acquiescence [approval]. The question was now put on the resolution and it was carried in the affirmative.1

Congress delivered it recommendation to President George Washington, who happily concurred. He issued America’s first federal proclamation for a Day of Prayer and Thanksgiving. That proclamation declared:

Whereas it is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits, and humbly to implore His protection and favor. . . . Now, therefore, I do recommend . . . that we may then all unite in rendering unto Him our sincere and humble thanks for His kind care and protection of the people of this country. . . . And also that we may then unite in most humbly offering our prayers and supplications to the great Lord and Ruler of Nations, and beseech Him to pardon our national and other transgressions . . . to promote the knowledge and practice of true religion and virtue.2

Notice that George Washington said that nations—not just individuals, but nations—have four duties: (1) to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, (2) to obey His will, (3) to be grateful for His benefits, and (4) humbly to implore His protection and favor. This proclamation, along with the several other calls to prayer issued during his administration, was written by Washington himself. Whereas other presidents had chaplains of Congress write their proclamations.3

America observed its first federal day of thanksgiving because Founding Fathers in Congress were thoroughly familiar with the Bible and found precedent for such a day from 2 Chronicles 5-7—one of many American practices with a Biblical basis.

Endnotes

1 September 25, 1789, The Debates and Proceedings in the Congress of the United States, Joseph Gales, editor (Washington: Gales and Seaton, 1834) I:949-950.

2 The Providence Gazette and Country Journal (Providence: October 17, 1789), 1. George Washington, “A Proclamation,” issued on October 3, 1789, observance date November 26, 1789.

3 Joseph H. Jones, The Life of Ashbel Green (New York: Robert Carter and Brothers, 1849), 270-271.

The Bible and American Education

Throughout much of American history, the Bible played an important role in education. Many of the nation’s earliest leaders believed that teaching children to read was essential so that they could study the Bible for themselves and thereby develop strong moral character.1

For example, the “Old Deluder Satan Act” from the Code of 1650 required towns with at least 50 households to establish a public school. According to the law, education was important because it helped ensure that the population could know the Bible rather than remain ignorant of God’s Word, like Europeans during the Dark Ages.

The Bible in Early American Classrooms

The influence of the Bible is evident in America’s earliest schoolbooks. The New England Primer, the first widely used textbook printed in the colonies, taught children to read through Bible passages, moral lessons, and shortened versions of Biblical catechisms.

Early schools often used other catechisms—a question-and-answer method of teaching. While many catechisms focused on Biblical instruction, others taught subjects such as entomology, music, ancient history, and the US Constitution.

Other well-known textbooks also emphasized Biblical values. Noah Webster’s famous The American Spelling Book, often called the “Blue-Backed Speller,” included moral lessons that referenced the Ten Commandments. McGuffey’s readers, used by millions of students during the nineteenth century, combined reading instruction with the Ten Commandments and  lessons on honesty, responsibility, respect, and other virtues rooted in biblical principles.

These examples illustrate the significant role that biblical instruction and moral education played in American classrooms for many generations.

Progressive Educational Changes

During the twentieth century, the relationship between religion and public education changed through progressive policies and a series of Supreme Court decisions.

In Everson v. Board of Education (1947), the US Supreme Court misapplied Thomas Jefferson’s “a wall of separation between church and state” metaphor to its interpretation of the First Amendment. The Court not only ignored the context of Jefferson’s statement, but also neglected the broader historical context of Jefferson’s views and actions.

The Court continued in this misdirection in Lemon v. Kurtzman (1971), creating a three-part “Lemon test” to evaluate government actions involving religion. Using that framework, the Court later ruled in Stone v. Graham (1980) that Kentucky’s law requiring the posting of the Ten Commandments in public school classrooms was unconstitutional.2

In recent years, the Supreme Court has shifted away from the Lemon test. In American Legion v. American Humanist Association (2019), the Court emphasized the importance of the nation’s history and traditions when considering the relationship between the state and religion. Then, in Kennedy v. Bremerton School District (2022), the Court officially abandoned the Lemon test, directing lower courts to consider the original understanding of the First Amendment and the nation’s historical practices when deciding similar cases.

Influence Today

Today, as we look to our history and traditions—state laws encouraging Biblical literacy and textbooks that included Scripture and moral lessons—we can restore the Bible as a guide for America’s youth, just as it was in early American education.

To learn more about Christian influence in early American education, see Four Centuries of American Education. Or, own your own copy of The New England Primer and the Catechism on the Constitution.

1 For example: “The Christian religion is the most important and one of the first things in which all children under a free government ought to be instructed…. No truth is more evident to my mind than that the Christian religion must be the basis of any government intended to secure the rights and privileges of a free people.” Noah Webster, “Schoolmaster to America” (Reply to a Letter of David McClure on the Subject of the Proper Course of Study in the Girard College, October 25, 1836,” A Collection of Papers on Political, Literary, and Moral Subjects, New York: Webster and Clark, 1843, 291). “The Bible … should be read in our schools in preference to all other books.” Benjamin Rush, signer of the Declaration of Independence (“A Defense of the Use of the Bible as a School Book, Addressed to the Rev. Jeremy Belknap, of Boston,” on March 10, 1791, Essays, 94, 100). “The Bible…. [is] a necessary part of a polite education.” Henry Laurens, President of the Continental Congress (letter to James Lawrenson on August 19, 1772, Papers of Henry Laurens, George C. Rogers, Jr. and David R. Chesnutt, editors, University of South Carolina Press, 1980, VIII:426-427).

2 For a broader history of the “separation of church and state” phrase, see David Barton, Original Intent: The Courts, The Constitution, and Religion (Aledo, TX: WallBuilder Press, 2008).