Faith

William Penn became a Quaker in England at age 22. Despite his family’s wealth and his social status, he was imprisoned several times fo practicing his faith in public. Over the next 15 years he became a prominent advocate for freedom of conscience, drawing many of his arguments directly from the Bible. When England’s religious persecution increased, Penn turned to the American colonies. In 1681, he acquired a large royal land grant that established the Province of Pennsylvania. Penn made it a refuge where Quakers and other Protestant groups could freely practice their faith. Jews and Catholics were also welcome, though barred from voting or holding public office.

William Penn arrived in his new province in 1682 and soon met with the Lenni-Lenape people to negotiate treaties and purchase land. Because his faith taught that all human beings are made in God’s image, Penn was determined to act from the biblical ideal of brotherly love. In these treaties and in the colony’s founding documents, Penn insisted on faith and equal treatment of Native Americans, a policy that for decades spared Pennsylvania from conflicts that beset other colonies.

Penn developed his theories of government while in prison as a religious dissenter. He saw, too, how the Quaker pursuit of a direct personal connection with God requires freedom of conscience and of religious practice. We see this background in his first “Frame of Government” in 1682. Unusual for its time, it declared that all people who believe in God and are committed to living peacefully together are protected from religious persecution and are free to practice their chosen faith. This constitution also guaranteed a free press, trial by jury, and other civil rights. Many of his ideas were incorporated a century later into the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution. Thomas Jefferson called Penn “the greatest lawgiver the world has produced.”

George Whitefield dazzled crowds with his powerful voice and lively presentation of the Bible. He grew up in England and began his ministry there, but found his greatest fame in America, visiting all thirteen colonies, traveling thousands of miles (mostly on horseback), and delivering thousands of sermons—often two or three a day. He preached that each person must experience a “new birth.” He said such personal conversion was more important than attending church. Some ministers strongly objected to his “enthusiasm” and innovative methods and closed their churches to him. On such occasions, Whitefield would preach outdoors in town squares or country clearings, sometimes to tens of thousands of people.

The revivals appealed to people from every background. Men and women, rich and poor, African Americans, Native Americans, new settlers—all came, sometimes from great distances, to hear preachers expound on the Bible’s message of salvation and perhaps to experience a “new birth.” When they returned home, they would spread the word to their neighbors and continue studying and memorizing the Bible themselves.  Teachings and themes from the revivals soon touched every aspect of colonial life. More and more people became familiar with the Bible, to the extent that it became the “moral  grammar” of the day. It was the commonly accepted source for finding principles and practicalities of life together—private and public.

America’s clergy wanted all to read the Bible for themselves. That meant everyone had to be able to read. In colonial primary schools, students learned to read and write by copying and reciting biblical stories. Colleges like Harvard (1636) and Yale (1701) were established to prepare young men for Christian ministry and civic leadership. During the Great Awakening, clergymen founded several more schools that paired classical learning with biblical insights and their newfound spiritual experience. These new colleges included Princeton (1746), Brown (1764), Rutgers (1766), and Dartmouth (1769). Many of their graduates would later participate in the American Revolution and help frame the U.S. Constitution. 

As Americans wrestled with the ethics of rebelling against the king, they turned to the Bible for guidance. Loyalists, who strongly opposed American independence, cited passages like 1 Peter 2:17, “Fear God. Honor the King,” and Romans 13:1, “be subject unto the higher powers.” Patriot ministers assured their congregations that these admonitions did not apply to tyrannical kings and governments. The apostle Paul himself, they said, allowed for lawful resistance to tyranny. To rally colonists for armed revolt, they quoted passages like Galatians 5:1: “Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free.”

Besides Patriots and Loyalists, the American colonies had a number of pacifists, as well as others who favored nonviolent resistance and political protest. For all these passionately held beliefs, the Bible offered wisdom and guidance, though it was often applied in conflicting ways. During the war itself, many on all sides drew comfort and strength from the Psalms. Patriots found support in Bible stories of combat against overwhelming odds, such as David and Goliath (1 Samuel 17). They often compared their experience to that of the enslaved Israelites who escaped the tyranny of Pharaoh (Exodus 1–14), even casting George Washington as a new Moses, a leader chosen by God to take them to a land of liberty.

Once freedom was won, how would it be sustained? The American Founders agreed that public liberty depended on private virtue—and that virtue was sustained by religion. This understanding  grew from their reading of history and of classical and contemporary philosophers, as well as from the Bible. Even free-thinking Founders like Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson held that vice bred tyranny and that virtue was  essential for lasting liberty. Most Americans believed that the new republic depended on people who were morally and ethically informed by the Bible. Virtue, faith, and liberty were seen as inseparable to sustain the new government. These sentiments were encouraged by public actions like declarations of national days of fasting and prayer and national days of thanksgiving, and by appointing chaplains for legislatures and the military.

Amendment 1

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.