The Revolution as a Religious Uprising

 

 

 

 
   

 

 
   

 

 

When strife began to increase between the colonies and Great Britain over the various methods of revenue raising employed by Parliament, it became necessary for the colonists to define their opposition. It must be understood that this was not merely a "dollars and sense" issue. The actual amount of the tax involved was quite minor compared to what we endure today. The actual issues were defined by Montesquieu and the others. The fact that a political body (Parliament) could suspend an individual’s God-given rights was evidence that the government in question had abrogated it’s right to govern. One year before the Declaration of Independence (July 6th 1775) , the document Declaration of the Causes and Necessity of Taking up Arms was penned. Thomas Jefferson was a contributor to the document. It reads:

If it were possible for men, who exercise their reason to believe, that the divine Author of our existence intended a part of the human race to hold an absolute property in, and an unbounded power over others, marked out by His infinite goodness and wisdom, as the objects of legal domination never rightfully resistible, however severe and oppressive, the inhabitants of these colonies might at least require from Parliament of Great Britain some evidence, that this dreadful authority over them has been granted to that body. But a reverence for our great Creator, principles of humanity, and the dictates of common sense, must convince all those who reflect upon the subject that government was instituted to promote the welfare of mankind, and ought to be administered for the attainment of that end. ...

It concludes thus

…With a humble confidence in the mercies of the Supreme and impartial judge and Ruler of the universe, we most devoutly implore His divine goodness to protect us happily through this great conflict, to dispose our adversaries to reconciliation on reasonable terms, and thereby relieve the empire from the calamities of civil war.

The battle cry was not an "anti-tax" statement; it was based on the Sovereignty of God and the individual’s reverence for God as Creator. In short, it was the Christian’s duty to resist the absolute subjugation to a another body of men . One year later, when the Declaration of Independence was written, it followed the exact same line of reasoning. America’s struggle for independence was enjoined over the question of the human rights that are extended from God, rather then a petty dispute over paying an import duty for certain household goods.

WHEN 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 entitle 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,…..

(Declaration ends with)

--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. (Declaration of Independence July 4th, 1776)

Notice carefully the final statement on the reliance upon the protection of "divine Providence". That is not a fancy way of saying that they hoped they didn’t get shot. All of the Founders felt that they were divinely ordained for that moment to devote their entire selves to the cause. Their only assurance was that they felt that they were in God’s will, and come what may, that is where they must stay. These principles of inalienable rights from God were so consuming, that they became the foundation stone of the laws of the rest of the states as well. We see in the Massachusetts Bill of Rights (1780), a parallel statement that marries the concept of these same rights with the need for legitimate government to promote the public worship of God. John Adams was the chief architect of the document.

Art. I. All men are born free and equal, and have certain natural, essential, and unalienable rights; among which may be reckoned the right of enjoying and defending their lives and liberties; that of acquiring, possessing, and protecting property; in fine, that of seeking, and obtaining safety and happiness.

Art. II. It is the right as well as the duty of all men in society publicly, and at stated seasons, to worship the Supreme Being, the great Creator and Preserver of the universe, and no subject shall be hurt, molested, or restrained in his liberty, or estate, for worshipping God in the manner and season most agreeable to the dictates of his own conscience; or for his religious profession of sentiments; provided he doth not disturb the public peace, or obstruct others in their religious worship....As the happiness of a people and the good order and preservation of civil government essentially depend upon piety, religion, and morality, and as these cannot be generally diffused through a community but by the institution of the public worship God and of public instructions, in piety, religion, and morality. Therefore to promote their happiness and secure the good order and preservation of government, the people of this commonwealth have a right to invest their legislature with power to authorize and require, and the legislature shall form time to time authorize and require, the several towns...and other bodies-politic or religious societies, to make suitable provision, at their own expense, for the institution of the public worship of God and the support and maintenance of public Protestant teachers of piety, religion and morality...and every denomination of Christians, deeming themselves peacably and as good subjects of the commonwealth, shall be equally under the protection of the law; and no subordination of any one sect or denomination to another will ever be established by law.