Topics: Founding Fathers

A Defence of the Use of the Bible in Schools

The following is part of the transcript from a letter written in 1791, which was published by the American Tract Society in 1830. To purchase the whole text of Dr. Rush’s letter, see The Bible in Schools pamphlet that can be found in the WallBuilders store.

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Dear Sir:
It is now several months since I promised to give you my reasons for preferring the Bible as a schoolbook to all other compositions.  Before I state my arguments, I shall assume the five following propositions:

  1. That Christianity is the only true and perfect religion; and that in proportion as mankind adopt its principles and obey its precepts they will be wise and happy.
  2. That a better knowledge of this religion is to be acquired by reading the Bible than in any other way.
  3. That the Bible contains more knowledge necessary to man in his present state than any other book in the world.
  4. That knowledge is most durable, and religious instruction most useful, when imparted in early life.
  5. That the Bible, when not read in schools, is seldom read in any subsequent period of life.

My arguments in favor of the use of the Bible as a schoolbook are founded,
I. In the constitution of the human mind.

  1. The memory is the first faculty which opens in the minds of children.  Of how much consequence, then, must it be to impress it with the great truths of Christianity, before it is preoccupied with less interesting subjects.
  2. There is a peculiar aptitude in the minds of children for religious knowledge.  I have constantly found them, in the first six or seven years of their lives, more inquisitive upon religious subjects than upon any others. And an ingenious instructor of youth has informed me that he has found young children more capable of receiving just ideas upon the most difficult tenets of religion than upon the most simple branches of human knowledge.  It would be strange if it were otherwise, for God creates all His means to suit His ends.  There must, of course, be a fitness between the human mind and the truths which are essential to it happiness.
  3. The influence of early impressions is very great upon subsequent life; and in a world where false prejudices do so much mischief, it would discover great weakness not to oppose them by such as are true.  I grant that many men have rejected the impressions derived from the Bible; but how much soever these impressions may have been despised, I believe no man was ever early instructed in the truths of the Bible without having been made wiser or better by the early operation of these impressions upon his mind.  Every just principle that is to be found in the writings of Voltaire is borrowed from the Bible; and the morality of Deists, which has been so much admired and praised where it has existed, has been, I believe, in most cases, the effect of habits produced by early instruction in the principles of Christianity.
  4. We are subject, by a general law of our natures, to what is called habit.  Now, if the study of the Scriptures be necessary to our happiness at any time of our life, the sooner we begin to read them, the more we shall probably be attached to them; for it is peculiar to all the acts of habit, to become easy, strong, and agreeable by repetition.

For the whole text of Dr. Rush’s letter, see the WallBuilders store to purchase the The Bible in Schools pamphlet.

Election Sermon

At the time of the Founders, it was a common practice for ministers to preach “Election Sermons,” and it was very common for a clergyman to be invited to give a sermon before the newly-elected government officials. This 1790 election sermon by Rev. Daniel Foster was given before the Massachusetts Governor (John Hancock), Lieutenant-Governor (Samuel Adams), and both houses of Legislature. Rev. Foster admonished these elected officials using Proverbs 8:16 (By Me princes rule, and nobles, even all the judges of the earth), and encouraged them to govern according to God’s ways. (For the full text of Foster’s Election Sermon click here.)

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This is the text on the cover of the Election Sermon:

A
S E R M O N

PREACHED BEFORE

His Excellency JOHN HANCOCK, Esq.
GOVERNOUR;

His Honor SAMUEL ADAMS, Esq.
LIEUTENANT-GOVERNOUR;

The Honourable The

COUNCIL, SENATE, and HOUSE of

REPRESENTATIVES,

Of The

C O M M O N W E A L T H
of

M A S S A C H U S E T T S

MAY 26, 1790.

BEING THE DAY OF

GENERAL ELECTION

By DANIEL FOSTER, A.M.
PASTOR of the CHURCH in NEW BRAINTREE

BOSTON, Massachusetts:

PRINTED BY THOMAS ADAMS,
PRINTER to the HONOURABLE, the GENERAL COURT

M,DCC,XC

John Hancock (1737-93) was a soldier, public official and Harvard graduate(1754). He served several terms as a Selectman of Boston; member of the Provincial Legislature (1766-72); member of the Continental Congress (1774-78) where he was the first signer of the Declaration of Independence (1776) and President of Congress (1774-77); He was a Senior Major-General of the Massachusetts Militia (1778); a delegate to the State constitutional convention (1779); and Governor of Massachusetts (1780-85, 1787-93).

Samuel Adams (1722-1803) was a leader in the opposition to the acts by British Parliament which precipitated the American Revolution (1765-76); formed Boston’s Committee of Correspondence (1772); was a member of the Continental Congress (1774-81) where he signed the Declaration of Independence (1776); and helped draft the Articles of Confederation (1777); He served as president of the Massachusetts senate (1781); Lieutenant-Governor of Massachusetts (1789-94); and Governor of Massachusetts (1794-97). He is called both the “Firebrand of the Revolution” and “The Father of the American Revolution” for his important leadership in the cause of American independence.

John Hancock – A Brief – 1788

This is a brief issued by Governor John Hancock on June 20, 1788. It includes his request for the people of Massachusetts “to contribute to their abilities, in money, public securities or other property” to the Society for Propagating the Gospel among the Indians and others in North-America who had originally requested a brief be issued. The transcript below has been changed to reflect modern spelling and grammar.

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Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

By His EXCELLENCY

JOHN HANCOCK, Esquire,

Governour of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

A Brief.

The society for propagating the Gospel among the Indians and others in North-America, lately incorporated by an Act of this Commonwealth, having requested and petitioned that a Brief should be issued to make collections in the several Religious Societies for these important purposes, which request was complied with by the General Assembly:

I DO THEREFORE, in pursuance of the recommendation of the said General Assembly, and with the Advice of Council, hereby earnestly recommend to the good people of this Commonwealth, to contribute to their abilities, in money, public securities or other property, to this benevolent design, a design which early employed the attention of our venerable fore-fathers. I do request that all money or other property collected, may be paid into the hands of JONATHAN MASON, Esq. Treasurer of the said Society, as a fund to be employed the Society for the purpose of propagating the knowledge of the Gospel among the Indians and others in America, and furnishing the means of religious instruction to those places in this Commonwealth, which are now destitute of the same.
And I do further request the Ministers of the several religious Societies within this Commonwealth to read this Brief to their respective Congregations, upon the first Lord’s day after they shall receive the same, and to propose a collection on the Lord’s day next following.

GIVEN under my Hand and the Seal of the Commonwealth aforesaid, this Twentieth day of June, Anno Domini, 1788, and in the Twelfth Year of the Independence of the UNITED STATES of AMERICA.

JOHN HANCOCK.

By his Excellency’s Command,
With the Advice and Consent of the Council,
JOHN AVERY, jun. Secretary.

 

To the Honorable the Senate and the Honorable House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

The Society for propagating the Gospel among the Indians and others in North-
America, beg leave to show, That one design of our venerable Fathers in emigrating to this land, was professedly to extend the knowledge of our Glorious Redeemer among the Savage Natives; that this design was expressed and enjoined under both the charters, granted by the parent state to this Colony, and is, in the opinion of the Society, necessary and suitable at all times to be pursued, by a people who profess Christianity.

That the end for which this Society was instituted by the Legislature, was to attend to this important circumstance, and prove to the European World, who are at a great expense in pursing this object among us, that we were not inattentive to it. It is the desire, the design, and the ambition of the Society, to pursue the ends and purposes for which they were incorporated.

The want of Funds alone prevents them from exerting themselves in propagating the Gospel among the Indians, and extending the means of Christian knowledge among those of the inhabitants of this land, who are now destitute of them.

They humbly request your Honors, to recommend to his Excellency the Governor, to issue a Brief to be read in all the Churches of this Commonwealth, requesting the said of all piously disposed persons, in carrying on this truly benevolent design, and asking their contributions, in Specie, Public Securities, or any other property, to enable the said Society to send the knowledge of our Glorious Redeemer, among those who are now perishing for lack of vision, and to extend the means of instruction to our fellow citizens in the eastern and other parts of the State, who are now destitute of them.

The Society are not insensible of the difficulties and embarrassments of the present day, and they are sorry to ask the aid of their fellow citizens at a time so distressing, but they cannot be easy to remain any longer inactive from pursuing the great objects of their appointment. The collections upon this occasion will be free, and they do not wish them to be so large as to cause distress to any. A mite thrown into the Treasury of the Society by every individual in the State, would amount to a large sum, and would enable them to publish the glad tidings of great joy, among those who are now sitting in darkness and in the region of the shadow of Death.

Your Honors will pardon the Society for addressing you on this occasion, and requesting this favor at your hands; they can scarcely suppose, however, an apology to be necessary for applying to Christian Rulers, upon a subject which relates so immediately to the honor of the Author and Finisher of our Faith. Your Honors will be pleased to observe, that the Society are not asking a favor for themselves, but are supplicating for those, who now suffer in their best interest: They are beseeching your Honors to pursue a design of which our venerable Fathers never lost sight, and to do what may be highly acceptable to that Being, upon whom the welfare of States and Empires essentially depends.

They take the liberty to observe, that the peace and harmony which prevailed in general between the Indians bordering on the northern States of the Union, and the citizens thereof, during the late war, may in a good measure be attributed to the exertions of the Missionaries who were supported among them: And that perhaps it may not now be an object of less political consequence, to continue and encourage their exertions; as the British are practicing every art to induce the Indians to retire from among us, into the more interior parts of the continent, that they may secure to themselves exclusively the benefits of the fur trade, and their alliance in any further rupture.

The Society cannot doubt the attention of the Honorable Court to a subject so important; they hope for a compliance with their request, and as in duty bound shall ever pray.

FRANCIS DANA, ⎬ In the name and by order of the Society.
EDWARD WIGGLESWORTH, ⎬ [In the name and by order of the Society.]
PETER THACHER, ⎬ [In the name and by order of the Society.]

John Quincy Adams Graduates from Harvard

Harvard University was founded in 1636 and was incorporated in May 1650. Many of America’s early leaders graduated from Harvard – including John Quincy Adams. Below is a broadside from the WallBuilders library that lists the graduating class of 1787 (John Quincy Adams is listed in the first column) along with the thesis topics of that class.

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Richard Henry Lee Copy of John Adams Letter

While serving as President of the Continental Congress in 1785, Richard Henry Lee wrote to John Adams, who was serving as ambassador to England, urging him to assure the Archbishop of Canterbury that Episcopalian Americans were not resistant to bishops appointed from England. This letter was enclosed with a letter sent by John Jay on November 1, 1785. On January 4, 1786, John Adams replied to John Jay with the account of his meeting with the Archbishop.

WallBuilders has Richard Henry Lee’s handwritten copy of John Adams’ January 4, 1786 letter. The below transcript has paragraph breaks added in for easier readability.

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Grosvenor Square Januy. 4 1786

Dear Sir,

A day or two after the receipt of your letter of Novb. 1, and that of Mr. Lee’s which came with it, I wrote to the Archbishop of Canterbury, by Col. Smith, for an hour; when I might have the honor to pay my respects to his Grace – and was answered very politely that he would be glad to have the honor of seeing me, next day, between eleven and twelve. Accordingly, I went yesterday, and was very agreeably received by a venerable and a candid Prelate with whom I had before only exchanged visits of ceremony.

I told his Grace that at the desire of two very respectable characters in America, the late President of Congress and the present secretary of State for the department of foreign affairs, I had the honor to be the bearer to his Grace of a letter from a convention of delegates from the Episcopal Churches in most of the southern States; which had been transmitted to me open that I might be acquainted with its contents. – That in this business however, I acted in no official character, having no instructions from Congress nor indeed from the convention; but I thought it most respectful to them, as well as to his Grace, to present the letter in person. The Archbishop answered that all that he could say at present was, that he was himself very well disposed to give the satisfaction desired – for that he was by no means one of those who wished that contention should be kept up between the two countries or between one party and another in America – but on the contrary was desirous of doing every thing in his power to promote harmony and good humour.

I then said, that if his Grace would take the trouble of reading two letters, from Mr. Lee, and Mr. Jay; he would perceive the motives of those gentlemen in sending the letter to my care. – I gave him the letters, which he read attentively and returned, and added that it was a great satisfaction to him, to see that gentlemen of character and reputation interested themselves in it – for that the Episcopalians in the United States could not have the full and complete enjoyment of their religious liberties without it – and he subjoined, that it was also a great satisfaction to him to have received this visit from me upon this occasion and he would take the liberty to ask me, if it were not an improper question, whether the interposition of the English Bishops, would not give uneasiness and dissatisfaction in America. – I replied that my answer could be only that of a private citizen and in that capacity I had no scruple to say, that the people of the United States, in general, were for a liberal and generous toleration. I might indeed employ a stronger word, and call it a right, and the first right of mankind, to worship God according to their consciences – and therefore that I could not see any reasonable ground for dissatisfaction, and that I hoped and believed that there would be none of any consequence. His Grace was then pleased to say, that religion in all countries, especially a young one, ought to be attended to, as it was the foundation of government. – He hoped the characters which should be recommended would be good ones. – I replied that there were in the churches in America, able men of characters altogether irreproachable, and that such and such only, I presumed would be recommended.

I then rose to take my leave, and his Grace then asked me, if he might be at liberty to mention that I had made him this visit upon this occasion. I answered, certainly, if his Grace should judge it proper.

Thus, sir, I have fulfilled my commission, and remain as usual – your sincere friend and most obed servt.

John Adams.

A true copy
Richard Henry Lee.

Will of Richard Stockton

Richard Stockton was a signer of the Declaration of Independence from New Jersey. Stockton was a lawyer and during the Revolution he was a member of the Continental Congress. Richard was taken prisoner by loyalists and during this time, his possessions were burned and his wealth reduced. He never recovered from his time as a prisoner and died in February, 1781.

The text and image below are from Richard Stockton’s May 20, 1780 will. The complete 1780 will is held by the New Jersey State Archives.

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“…And as my children will have frequent occasion of perusing this instrument, and may probably be particularly impressed with the last words of their father, I think it proper here not only to subscribe to the entire belief of the great and leading doctrines of the Christian Religion, such as the Being of God, the universal defection and depravity of human nature, the divinity of the person and the completeness of the redemption purchased by the blessed Saviour, the necessity of the operations of the divine Spirit; of divine Faith, accompanied with an habitual virtuous life, and the universality of the divine Providence: but also, in the bowels of a father’s affection, to exhort and charge them, that the fear of God is the beginning of wisdom, that the way of life held up in the Christian system, is calculated for the most complete happiness that can be enjoyed in this mortal state; that all occasions of vice and immorality is injurious either immediately or consequentially; even in this life; that as Almighty God hath not been pleased in the holy Scriptures to prescribe any precise mode in which he is to be publickly worshipped, all contention about it generally arises from want of knowledge or want of virtue. I have therefore no particular advice to leave with my children upon this subject, saving that they deliberately and conscienciously, in the beginning of life, determine for themselves, with which denomination of Christians they can, the most devoutly and profitably worship God; that after such determination they statedly adhere to such denomination without being given to change; and without contending with or judging others who may think or act differently upon a matter so immaterial to substantial virtue and piety. That distinguished abilities, stations and authority are only desireable as occasions of doing greater private and public good, but that their footsteps being invariably masked with envy and opposition, make them enemies to private peace, and therefore unless public life is evidently pointed out by divine providence it should rather be avoided than coveted. Of the temporal estate with which it hath pleased Almighty God in his bountiful providence to bless me, I hereby make the disposition following…”

The Declaration of Independence

the-declaration-of-independence-1When in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth the separate and equal station to which the laws of nature and of nature’s God entitles them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. That whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it and to institute new government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly, all experience hath shown that mankind are more disposed to suffer while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same object, evinces a design to reduce them under absolute despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such government and to provide new guards for their future security. Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former systems of governments. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute tyranny over these States. To prove this, let facts be submitted to a candid world.

He has refused his assent to laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.

He has forbidden his Governors to pass laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.

He has refused to pass other laws for the accommodation of large districts of people unless those people would relinquish the right of representation in the legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.

He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.

He has dissolved representative Houses repeatedly for opposing with manly firmness his invasion on the rights of the people.

He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the legislative powers, incapable of annihilation, have returned to the people at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the meantime exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without and convulsions within.

He has endeavored to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the laws for naturalization of foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new appropriations of lands.

He has obstructed the administration of justice by refusing his assent to laws for establishing judiciary powers.

He has made judges dependent on his will alone for the tenure of their offices and the amount and payment of their salaries.

He has erected a multitude of new offices and sent hither swarms of officers to harass our people and eat out their substance.

He has kept among us, in times of peace, standing armies without the consent of our legislature.

He has affected to render the military independent of and superior to the civil power.

He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his assent to their acts of pretended legislation:

For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:

For protecting them, by a mock trial, from punishment for any murders which they should commit on the inhabitants of these States:

For cutting off our trade with all parts of the world:

For imposing taxes on us without our consent:

For depriving us in many cases of the benefits of trial by jury:

For transporting us beyond seas to be tried for pretended offenses:

For abolishing the free system of English laws in a neighboring province, establishing therein an arbitrary government, and enlarging its boundaries so as to ren-der it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies:

For taking away our charters, abolishing our most valuable laws, and altering fundamentally the forms of our governments:

For suspending our own legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.

He has abdicated government here, by declaring us out of his protection and waging war against us.

He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.

He is at this time transporting large armies of foreign mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of cruelty and perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the head of a civilized nation.

He has constrained our fellow citizens taken captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their country, to become the executioners of their friends and brethren, or to fall themselves by their hands.

He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.

In every stage of these oppressions we have petitioned for redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.

Nor have we been wanting in attentions to our Brittish brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations which would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They, too, have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity which denounces our separation and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, enemies in war, in peace friends.

We, therefore, the Representatives of the United States of America, in general Congress assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the name and by the authority of the good people of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare that these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent States; that they are absolved from all allegiance to the British Crown and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as free and independent States, they have full power to levy war, conclude peace, contract alliance, establish commerce, and do all other acts and things which independent States may of right do. And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor.

Signers of the Declaration of Independence

NEW HAMPSHIRE: Josiah Bartlett, William Whipple, Matthew Thornton

MASSACHUSETTS: John Hancock, John Adams, Samuel Adams, Robert Treat Paine

RHODE ISLAND: Elbridge Gerry, Stephen Hopkins, William Ellery

CONNECTICUT: Roger Sherman, Samuel Huntington, William Williams, Oliver Wolcott

NEW YORK: William Floyd, Philip Livingston, Francis Lewis, Lewis Morris

NEW JERSEY: Richard Stockton, John Witherspoon, Francis Hopkinson, John Hart, Abraham Clark

PENNSYLVANIA: Robert Morris, Benjamin Rush, Benjamin Franklin, John Morton, George Clymer, James Smith, George Taylor, James Wilson, George Ross

DELAWARE: Ceasar Rodney, George Read, Thomas McKean

MARYLAND: Samuel Chase, Thomas Stone, William Paca, Charles Carroll of Carrollton

VIRGINIA: George Wythe, Richard Henry Lee, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Harrison, Thomas Nelson, Jr., Francis Lightfoot Lee, Carter Braxton

NORTH CAROLINA: William Hooper, Joseph Hewes, John Penn

SOUTH CAROLINA: Edward Rutledge, Thomas Heyward, Jr., Thomas Lynch, Jr., Authur Middleton

GEORGIA: Button Gwinnett, Lyman Hall, George Walton

Battle of Trenton

Below is a picture depicting George Washington in the Battle of Trenton. George Washington’s horse was wounded during the battle.1 The Battle of Trenton marked a significant victory for the American Army. They carried that momentum into another victory a few days later at the Battle of Princeton. Below is an account of God’s Divine protection of Washington.

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Historical Account

The heroism of Washington on the field of Princeton is matter of history. We have often enjoyed a touching reminiscence of that ever-memorable event from the late Colonel Fitzgerald. Who was aid to the chief, and who never related the story of his general’s danger and almost miraculous preservation, without adding to his tale the homage of a tear

The aid-de-camp had been ordered to bring up the troops from the rear of the column, when the band under General Mercer became engaged. Upon returning to the spot where he had left the commander-in-chief, he was no longer there. And, upon looking around, the aid discovered him endeavoring to rally the line which had been thrown into disorder by a rapid on-set of the foe.

Washington, after several ineffectual efforts to restore the fortunes of the fight, is seen to rein up his horse, with his head to the enemy, and in that position to become immovable. It was a last appeal to his soldiers, and seemed to say, Will you give up your general to the foe? Such an appeal was not made in vain. The discomfitted Americans rally on the instant, and form into line. The enemy halt, and dress their line.

The American chief is between the adverse posts, as though he had been placed there, a target for both. The arms of both lines are levelled. Can escape from death be possible? Fitzgerald, horror-struck at the danger of his beloved commander, dropped the reins upon his horse’s neck, and drew his hat over his face, that he might not see him die. A roar of musketry succeeds, and then a shout. It is the shout of victory.

The aid-de-camp ventures to raise his eyes, and 0, glorious sight! The enemy are broken and flying, while dimly amidst the glimpses of the smoke is seen the chief. “Alive, unharmed, and without a wound,” waving his hat, and cheering his comrades to the pursuit.

Colonel Fitzgerald, celebrated as one of the finest horsemen in the American army, now dashed his rowels in his charger’s flanks, and, heedless of the dead and dying in his way, flew to the side of his chief, exclaiming, “Thank God! your excellency is safe!” The favorite aid, a gallant and warm-hearted son of Erin, a man of thews and sinews, and “albeit unused to the melting mood,” now gave loose rein to his feelings, and wept like a child, for joy.

Washington, ever calm amid scenes of the greatest excitement, affectionately grasped the hand of his aid and friend, and then ordered—”Away, my dear colonel, and bring up the troops—the day is our own!”2

Endnotes

1 Bulletin of Information for Cavalry Officers (Washington: October 1920), 510.
2 George Washington Parke Custis, Recollections and Private Memoirs of Washington, by His Adopted Son (New York: Derby & Jackson, 1860), 190-192.

Attempted Capture of John Hancock and Samuel Adams

On April 18, 1775, Paul Revere and William Dawes set out to warn militias across the Massachusetts countryside of approaching British troops. These troops had been sent to Concord to confiscate the weapons there and dispatched to “bring back the bodies of Messr. Hancock and Adams.”

Below is a June 15-17, 1775 newspaper from the WallBuilders library with an account by a soldier in this mission.

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The relevant letter excerpts are at the bottom right of this newspaper page.

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This is the letter as it was printed in the newspaper. Transcript inserted below the picture.

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In a letter, dated April 23, from an officer at Boston, who served in the late expedition to Concord, though totally silent about scalping the soldiers, and cutting off their ears, there is an acknowledgment of two extraordinary facts:

1. “Tuesday evening, the 18th instant, the grenadiers and light infantry of the army received private orders to move from Boston at ten o’clock at night. They were passed over part of the harbour in boats; and on their landing proceeded on the road to Concord, a country town at the distance of twenty miles from hence. Our business was to seize a quantity of military stores, and – the bodies of Mess. Handcock and Adams, who are both attainted and were at that place enforcing, by all their influence, the rebellious spirit of the provincial congress.” (emphasis added)

2. “On the road, in our rout home, we found every house full of people, and the fences lined as before. – Every house from which they fired, was immediately forced, and every soul in them put to death.”

Horrible carnage! O, Englishmen, to what depth of brutal degeneracy are ye fallen!

The 104th Psalm by John Quincy Adams

John Quincy Adams, sixth President of the United States was well known for his use of words. The below handwritten poem, dated September 10, 1841 and transcribed from the 104th Psalm, is a wonderful example of not only Adams’ appreciation for the Word of God, but also of his firm conviction and faith in God.

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To Miss Mary Talbot
from
John Quincy Adams

Oh! Lord, my God! How great art Thou!
With honour, and with glory crown’d
Lights dazzling splendours veil thy brow,
And gird the universe around.

Beneath the deep, above the skies
Thy mansion boundless space we find.
Thy Spirit in the Tempest flies
And spreads the pinions of the wind.

From the 104th Psalm

Washington 10 Sept. 1841