Move mouse pointer over text to pause slideshow.

Unless otherwise noted, all references (page numbers) refer to Christian Life and Character of the Civil Institutions of the United States, by Morris, 1864.

1 of 1

Constitutional Convention

The Christian faith and character of the men who formed the Constitution forbid the idea that they designed not to place the Constitution and its government under the providence and protection of God and the principles of the Christian religion.1

  • 1. CHRISTIAN LIFE AND CHARACTER of THE CIVIL INSTITUTIONS of THE UNITED STATES, DEVELOPED IN THE OFFICIAL AND HlSTORICAL ANNALS OF THE REPUBLIC. by B. F. MORRIS, Philadelphia, 18964

Ben Franklin's Idea

Ben FranklinIn the meetings which resulted in the Constitution of the United States of America, Ben Franklin said concerning the war for independence from Great Britain::

... we had daily prayers in this room for the Divine protection. Our prayers, sir, were heard, ...

Benjamin Franklin asked for prayer at those meetings which gave us the Constitution of the United States:

I therefore beg leave to move that henceforth prayers imploring the assistance of Heaven, and its blessings on our deliberations, be held in this assembly every morning before we proceed to business,1

  • 1. Christian Life and Character of the Civil Institutions of the United States, Developed in the Official and Historical Annals of the Republic., by B. F. MORRIS, Philadelphia, 1864

Nature of the US

From an 800+ page book on the subject of the Christian character of the US: 1,

This is a Christian nation, first in name, and secondly because of the many and mighty elements of a pure Christianity which have given it character and shaped its destiny from the beginning. It is pre-eminently the land of the Bible, of the Christian Church, and of the Christian Sabbath. It is the land of great and extensive and oft-repeated revivals of a spiritual religion, — the land of a free conscience and of free speech,—the land of noble charities and of manifold and earnest efforts for the elevation and welfare of the human race. The chief security and glory of the United States of America has been, is now, and will be forever, the prevalence and domination of the Christian Faith.

  • 1. CHRISTIAN LIFE AND CHARACTER of THE CIVIL INSTITUTIONS of THE UNITED STATES, DEVELOPED IN THE OFFICIAL AND HlSTORICAL ANNALS OF THE REPUBLIC. by B. F. MORRIS, Philadelphia, 1864

Abraham Lincoln calls for prayer

Abraham Lincoln ... issued the following:1

Abraham LincolnPROCLAMATION.

It has pleased Almighty God to hearken to the supplications and prayers of an afflicted people, ... It is meet and right to recognize and confess the presence of the Almighty Father and the power of his hand ...

... I do set apart Thursday ... as a day for national thanksgiving, praise, and prayer ; and I invite the people of the United States to assemble ... in their customary places of worship, and ... render the homage due to the Divine Majesty for the wonderful things he has done ..., and invoke [God] ... to guide the ... Government with wisdom ...; and finally to lead the whole nation, through the paths of repentance and submission to the Divine will, ...

... I have hereunto ... caused the seal of the United States to be affixed. ...

Abraham Lincoln.

By the President:
William H. Seward, Secretary of Stale.

  • 1. p. 817-818

President John Quincy Adams on the Bible

President John Quincy Adams was, in 1809, ...

... appointed Minister Plenipotentiary of the United States to the court of St. Petersburg. During his residence there he addressed to his eldest son, who was then ten years old, a series of letters on the study of the Bible....

President John Quincy Adams' Inaugural Address

His inaugural address as President of the United States says, — "'Except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain.' With fervent supplications for his favor, to his overruling providence I commit, with humble but fearless confidence, my own fate and the future destinies of my country.'"

Governor of Maryland Calls for Prayer

I, therefore, earnestly recommend to the people of the State to unite, on Sunday next, the 19th instant, in their usual places of public worship, in humbling themselves before God in acknowledgment of his recent mercies; and, while we offer up our thanks for the deliverance he has sent and the victory he has vouchsafed to us, let us humbly entreat that his wisdom may so direct the councils of our rulers that the result of these achievements may be the speedy restoration of our beloved country to its former condition of a united, peaceful, and prosperous people.

Foreign Relations

"Appealing to the Being who searches thoroughly the heart, ... Appealing to Heaven for the justice of our cause," says a petition to the king in 1774. That same petition makes mention of "that grand tribunal before which all mankind must submit to judgment."1

  • 1. pp. 168-170

The Second US President's view of America

John Adams (2nd US President), in contemplating the Christian colonization of the American continent, uttered the following: - 1

"I always consider," said he, "the settlement of America with reverence and wonder, as the opening of a grand scheme and design of Providence...

  • 1. p. 110

The Sixth US President on Christianity and Government

Signing of the Declaration of Independence

"The highest glory of the Amnerican Revolution was this: it connected in one indissoluble bond the principles of civil government with the principles of Christianity." - John Quincy Adams, 6th US President1

  • 1. Title page.

National Anthem

Our National Anthem has more than 1 verse. Here is one of them:

O, thus be it ever when freemen shall stand,
Between their loved home and the war's desolation!
Blest with victory and peace, may the heav'n-rescued land
Praise the Power 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"

Lincoln quotes Washington

Abraham LincolnAbraham Lincoln, in an order to the US Army during the Civil War, quotes George Washington's order at the beginning of the US war for independence:

The first general order issued by the Father of his Country, after the Declaration of Independence, indicates the spirit in which our institutions were founded and should ever be defended:

 

- "The general [George Washington] hopes and trusts that every officer and man will endeavor to live and act as becomes a Christian soldier defending the dearest rights and privileges of his country."1

This was part of an order issued by President Lincoln on Nov. 16, 1862.

  • 1. p. 789

Governor Wright on Secret of Founding Fathers' Strength and Power

Governor of Indiana, Senator in Congress, Representative in Congress, Minister at the Court of Berlin, Joseph A. Wright, in the city of New York, May, 1863, said

... The Bible is abroad. ... Its principles underlie all civil institutions and social structure.

Nations and men must fully recognize God's truth and providence in all their doings and actions. Our fathers fully realized it; and therein alone consisted their power and strength.1

  • 1. pp. 774-775

Lincoln on Christianity

Abraham LincolnAt President Abraham Lincoln's request, Secretary of State William H. Seward wrote this:

I am further instructed to say that the exposition ... in the Pastoral Letter, of the intimate connection which exists between fervent patriotism and true Christianity, seems to the President equally seasonable and unanswerable. 1

  • 1. p. 740

Washington's Thanksgiving

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 -- and whereas both Houses of Congress have by their joint Committee requested me "to 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 especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness."

Webster on Origin of US Nation

"Let us not forget the religious character of our origin. Our fathers were brought hither by their high veneration of the Christian religion. They journeyed by its light and labored in its hope. They sought to incorporate it with the elements of their society, and to difiuse its influences through all their institutions, - civil, political, social, and educational.