Topics: Founding Fathers

Washington Reading Prayers in His Camp

The title of this picture is “Washington Reading Prayers in His Camp.” Even though the picture below may not be of a specific instance, there is documentation (located below the picture) to show that George Washington encouraged prayer amongst the troops and friendly Indian tribes.

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William Fairfax, Washington’s paternal adviser, had recently counseled him by letter, to have public prayers in his camp;1 especially when there were Indian families there; this was accordingly done at the encampment in the Great Meadows and it certainly was not one of the least striking pictures presented in this wild campaign—the youthful commander, presiding with calm seriousness of a motley assemblage of half-equipped soldiery leather-clad hunters and woodsmen, and painted savages with their wives and children, and uniting them all in solemn devotion by his own example and demeanor.2

The first decisive indication of his principles on this subject, with which we are acquainted, appeared during the encampment at the Great Meadows, in the year 1754. While occupying Fort Necessity, it was his practice to have the troops assembled for public worship. This we learn from the following note, by the publisher of his writings. “While Washington was encamped at the Great Meadows, Mr. Fairfax wrote to him; ‘I will not doubt your having public prayers in the camp, especially when the Indian families are your guests, that they, seeing your plain manner of worship, may have their curiosity excited to be informed why we do not use the ceremonies of the French, which being well explained to their understandings, will more and more dispose them to receive our baptism, and unite in strict bonds of cordial friendship.’”
“It may be added, that it was Washington’s custom to have prayers in the camp while he was at Fort Necessity.”3

Endnotes

1 William Fairfax to George Washington, July 10, 1754, National Archives.
2 Washington Irving, Life of George Washington (New York: G. P. Putnam & Co., 1856), I:116.
3 E. C. M’Guire, The Religious Opinions and Character of Washington (New York: Harper & Brothers, 1836), 136, quoting: Jared Sparks, The Writings of George Washington (Boston: Russell, Odiorne, & Metcalf, 1834), 2:54.

The Death of General Braddock

Edward Braddock, the commander of the British forces who was killed in the Battle of Monongahela was hastily buried as the British retreated before the French and Indian army. George Washington, having been General Braddock’s Aid-De-Camp, filled in for the wounded chaplain and read the funeral prayers over General Braddock’s body.

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The litter on which he lay was set down, and his remaining officers gathered sadly around it. As a last token of gratitude to his young volunteer aid, for his noble devotion and heroism, he gave him a splendid charger and his own body servant. A brief farewell—a faint gasp—a weak struggle—and Braddock lay a corpse in the forest. A grave was hastily dug in the center of the road, to conceal it from the Indians, into which, with his sword lain across his breast, he was lowered. Young Washington read the funeral service by torchlight over him, the deep tones of his voice interrupted only by the solemn ‘amen’ of the surrounding officers—the open grave, and beside it the pale face of the sleeper, combined to form a scene at once picturesque and most solemn. A mark was left to designate the spot, and the army again defiled though the wilderness.1

For additional information about the Battle of Monongahela, check out The Bulletproof George Washington

Endnotes

1 Hon. J. T. Headley, The Illustrated Life of Washington (New York: G. & F. Bill, 1859), 60. See also, Washington Irving, Life of George Washington (New York: G. P. Putnam & Co., 1856), I:201.

Harvard College Charter

Harvard University was founded in 1636 and was incorporated in May 1650. Many signers of the Declaration of Independence graduated from Harvard, including: John Adams, Samuel Adams, John Hancock, and others. As did several national leaders, such as Joseph Story and John Quincy Adams.

Below is a 1650 incorporation charter for Harvard College from the WallBuilders library. Below is the transcript with corrected spelling and expanded abbreviations:

At the General Court held at Boston in the year. 1642

Whereas through the good hand of God upon us, there is a College founded in Cambridge in the County of Middlesex, called Harvard College, for the Encouragement whereof this Court has given the Sun of £400, and also the Revenue of the Ferry between Boston and Charleston, and that the well ordering and Managing of the said College is of great concernment.

It is therefore ordered by this court and the authority thereof that the Governor and Deputy Governor, for the time being, and all the Magistrates of the Jurisdiction, together with the teaching Elders of the Six next adjoining towns viz. Cambridge, Watertown, Charleston, Boston, Roxbury and Dorchester, and the President of the said College, for the time being shall from time to time have full power and authority, to make and establish all such orders, statutes, and constitutions, as they shall see necessary, for the instituting, guiding and furthering of the said College and the several members thereof from time to time in Piety, Morality, and Learning as also to dispose order and manage to the use of the said College and the members thereof, all Gifts, Legacies, Bequests, Revenues, Lands, and Donations, as either have been, are or shall be conferred, bestowed or any ways shall fall or come to the said College,

And whereas it may come to pass, that many of the said magistrates and said Elders may be absent, or otherwise employed about other weighty affairs when the said College may need their present Help and Counsel,

It is therefore ordered that the greater a Number of the Magistrates and Elders which shall be present with the President shall have the Power of the whole, provided that if any Constitution, or disposed orders by them made, shall be found hurtful to the said College or members thereof, or to the Wealth-Public, then upon the appeal of the Party or Parties grieved unto the Company of overseers first mentioned, they shall repeal the said order or orders (if they shall see cause) at the next meeting or stand accountable thereof to the next General Court.

For the further encouragement and promoting the Weal and Government of the Students in the College, the General Court held at Boston the 30th of May, 1650, made and granted under the Seal of the Colony, this following Charter.

Whereas through the good hand of God many devoted Persons have been and daily are moved and stirred up to give and bestow, sundry Gifts, Legacies, Lands, and Revenues for the advancement of all good Literature, Arts, and Sciences in Harvard College in Cambridge in the county of Middlesex and to the Maintenance of the President and Fellows, and for all accommodations of Building and all of the necessary Provisions that may Conduce to the Education of the English and Indian Youth of the County in Knowledge and Godliness.

It is therefore ordered and enacted by the Court and the Authority thereof, that for the furthering of so good a Work and for the proposed aforesaid, that from hence forth that the said College in Cambridge in Middlesex aforesaid, in New England shall be a Corporation consisting of Seven Persons, viz. a President, five Fellows, and a Treasurer or Purse, and that Henry Dunster shall be the first President. Samuel Mather, Samuel Danforth, Master of Art, Jonathan Mitchell, Comfort Star, and Samuel Eaton, Bachelor of Art, shall be the five fellows, and Thomas Danforth to be present Treasurer all of the time being Inhabitants in the Bay and shall be the first Seven Person of which the said Corporation shall consist and the said Seven persons or the greater Number of them procuring the presence of the Overseers of the College and by their Counsel and Consent shall have power, and are hereby Authorized at any time or times to Elect a new President, Fellows, and Treasurer, so oft from time to time as any of the said Person or Persons, shall die or be Removed which said President and Fellows for the time being, what power here after in Name and Fact become body Politic and Corporate in Law to all Intents and Purposes, and shall have perpetual secession and shall be called by the name of President and Fellows of Harvard College, and from time to time be eligible as aforesaid, and by the name they and their Successors shall and may purchase and acquire to themselves or take and receive upon, free Gifts and Donations, and Land Tenements and Hereditaments within this Jurisdiction of Massachusetts not exceeding the value of £500 per annum, or any goods and sums of money…. [end of manuscript, to read full charter see here]

 

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Benjamin Rush Personal Bible Study

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”

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”

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”

Rush’s scriptures on the effectiveness of prayer include
Genesis chapter 18 and 21:17 & 21.

 

Benjamin Rush

(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.

John Adams Letter to Benjamin Rush

The following is the original December 21, 1809 letter by John Adams to Benjamin Rush, followed by the transcription. The transcript has been modified from the original to include modern grammar and spelling.

Quincy December 21, 1809

My dear Sir

I thank you for the pleasing account of your family in your favor of the 5th as I have a lively interest in their prosperity and felicity, your relation of it gave me great pleasure. We have letters from our colony navigating the Baltic, dated at Christiansand. They had been so far as prosperous and healthy and happy as such travelers could expect to be.

Pope said of my friend General Oglethorpe.
Some driven by strong benevolence of soul shall fly like Oglethorpe from pole to pole. But what was a trip to Georgia in comparison with the journeys and voyages that J.Q. Adams has performed? I do not believe that Admiral Nelson ever ran greater risks at Sea.

Tell Richard that I hope Mrs. Rush will soon present him with a son that will do him as much honor in proportion as the first born of his genius has already done him in the opinion of the world. W.S.S. our guardian of the Athenaum has obtained it and proclaims it loudly everywhere the best pamphlet that will be read. Be sure you do not hint this to Mrs. Rush Junr. It would alarm her delivery.

I really do not know whether I do not envy your city of Philadelphia for its reputation for science, arts, and letters and especially its medical professor. I know not, neither whether I do not envy you your genius and inspiration. Why have I not some fancy? Some invention? Some ingenuity? Some discursive faculty? Why has all my life been consumed in searching for facts and principles and proofs and reasons to support them? Your dreams and fables have more genius in them than all my life. Your Fable of Dorcas would make a good chapter or a good appendix to the Tale of a Tub.

But my friend there is something very serious in this business. The Holy Ghost carries on the whole Christian system in this Earth. Not a baptism, not a marriage, not a Sacrament can be administered but by the Holy Ghost, who is transmitted from age to age by laying the hands of the Bishop on the heads of candidates for the Ministry. In the same manner as the Holy Ghost is transmitted from monarch to monarch by the holy oil in the vial at Rheims which was brought down from Heaven by a dove and by that other phial [vial] which I have seen in the Tower of London. There is no authority civil or religious: There can be no legitimate government but that which is administered by this Holy Ghost. There can be no salvation without it. All without it is rebellion and perdition, or in more orthodox words damnation. Although this is all artifice and cunning in the sacred original in the heart, yet they all believe it so sincerely that they would lay down their lives under the ax or the fiery fagot [bundle of wood used for burning individuals at the stake] for it. Alas, the poor weak ignorant dupe human nature. There is so much king craft, priest craft, gentlemen’s craft, people’s craft, doctors craft, lawyers craft, merchants craft, tradesmen’s craft, laborers craft and Devil’s craft in the world that it seems a desperate [hopeless] and impractical project to undeceive it.

Do you wonder that Voltaire and Paine have made proselytes [converts]? Yet there [is] near as much subtlety, craft and hypocrisy in Voltaire and Paine and more too than in Ignatious Loyola [a Spanish knight who was a founder of the Jesuits].

This letter is so much in the tone of my friend the Abbe Raynal [a French writer] and the grumblers of the last age, that I pray you to burn it. I cannot copy it.

Your prophecy, my dear friend, has not become history as yet. I have no resentment of animosity against the gentleman and abhor the idea of blackening his character or transmitting him in odious colors to posterity. But I write with difficulty and am afraid of diffusing myself in too many correspondences. If I should receive a letter from him however I should not fail to acknowledge and answer it.

The Auroras you lent me for which I thank you are full of momentous matter.

I am dear sir with every friendly sentiment yours, J. Adams.

Dr. Rush

*WallBuilders has an article about the dream of Benjamin Rush (which this Adams letter is in response to) and the reconciliation of Adams and Jefferson in 1812. To read this article click here.

Philadelphia Bible Society Constitution

The Philadelphia Bible Society, America’s first Bible society, was officially organized on December 12, 1808. Rev. Dr. William White was president of the society and Declaration signer Benjamin Rush was a vice president. By 1816, 121 more Bible societies had been started across the nation.

Below, from WallBuilders’ Collection, is the Philadelphia Bible Society constitution, published in 1809. See also this title page from the first Bible printed by the Philadelphia Bible Society.

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Thomas Jefferson Document

Following is an original document in our possession, signed by Thomas Jefferson on September 24, 1807. This document is permission for a ship called the Herschel to proceed on its journey to the port of London. The interesting characteristic of this document is the use of the phrase “in the year of our Lord Christ.” Many official documents say “in the year of our Lord,” but we have found very few that include the word “Christ.” However, this is the explicitly Christian language that President Thomas Jefferson chose to use in official public presidential documents.

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Benjamin Rush Letter to Elisha Boudinot

Below is a letter that WallBuilders came across from Benjamin Rush (Declaration signer) to Elisha Boudinot, brother of Founding Father Elias Boudinot. Rush wrote this letter on September 8, 1797 in condolence for the loss of Elisha’s wife. Notice the specifically religious content in this letter.

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Philad. September 8th. 1797.

My dear Sir:


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

Benjm Rush


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

Jacob Broom Letter

Jacob Broom (1752-1810) was a farmer, surveyor, businessman, public official, and philanthropist. He prepared military maps for General George Washington prior to the Battle of Brandywine (1777) and held numerous local political positions throughout his life. Broom was member of the Delaware legislature (1784-86, 1788); and a delegate to the Constitutional Convention where he signed the federal Constitution (1787). He is probably one of the least known signers of the Constitution.

In this letter, Jacob expresses fatherly pride and reminds his son James to remember what he had been taught and “be a Christian”:

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This is the text of Jacob Broom’s letter:

Wilmington Feb. 24,1794

Dear James,

I recd.[received] your favor of the 27th ulti [last] & am well pleased at the sentiments expressed – whilst you go on, having your own approbation you have nothing to fear – I flatter myself you will be what I wish but don’t be so much flattered as to relax of your application – don’t forget to be a Christian, I have said much to you on this head [topic of discourse] & I hope an indelible impression is made –

Tell Mr. Harrison that I shall attend to his request, very soon – I am & have been very much engaged for some time past; being about to establish a Cotton Manufactory at this place – it is an arduous undertaking for an individual; but I hope to accomplish it – I have bought a valuable plantation on B. Wine and have secured a Mill seat [site] where I intend building (the ensuing summer) a Cotton Mill to spin part of the stuff [note: Broom built the first cotton mill at Brandywine in 1795 near Wilmington, DE] –

Your mamma, sisters & brothers are well & so is J.S. Littler – they join with me in love to you –

I expected sir now to receive another letter from you –

I have sold my Mercht.[Merchant] Mill & Plantations in Kent for 25,000 I am improving my other seat there – all this is nothing without economy, industry & the blessing of Heaven – I am building another Mill there –

I am, in haste yours affectionately

Jaco Broom

P.S. when will be your vacation? Your sister Nancy wishes to see you as soon as that shall take place –

Samuel Chase

Samuel Chase Document

This is a document we have in our possession, signed by Samuel Chase on February 1, 1794. This document is Chase certifying Barnard Lafon’s “Declaration of his belief in the Christian religion and the Oath required by the Act of Assembly of this State entitled ‘An Act for Naturalization’.”

Samuel Chase was born in April, 1741 in Maryland. He served in Congress from 1774-1778 and was a signer of the Declaration of Independence. He served as the Chief Justice of the criminal court of Baltimore starting in 1788 and later became the Chief Justice of the state of Maryland. He was appointed an Associate Justice in the United States Supreme Court where he served from 1796 until his death in June, 1811.

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