Foundations of Character

In 1776, the Continental Congress called on the colonies to pray for guidance as they founded a nation. Lincoln bowed on his knees before Gettysburg, and FDR called the nation to prayer on D-Day. Although in each case, there were noble acts, one cannot discount the hand of God during the times that ended slavery, stopped Nazi Germany and created the world's stronghold of freedom.

Our FOUNDING FATHERS delivered to us a system of government that has enjoyed unprecedented success. The United States of America is the world's most enduring constitutional republic. Two hundred years under the same document-and under one form of government-is an accomplishment unknown among contemporary nations.

History records that those who founded our country were men of prayer and wanted God to be a part in the establishing of this new nation. To our Founding Fathers, it was a foregone conclusion that the Bible was the center and source of all ultimate truth. The Bible was the most quoted source in all their writings and it was from that platform of truth that they established a democracy promising liberty and justice for all. Without absolute confidence and faith in the Bible, our nation could not have been born.

JOHN JAY, the first Chief Justice of the Supreme Court declared, "Providence has given to our people the choice of their rulers, and it is the duty of a Christian nation to select and prefer Christians for their rulers."

Our Biblical heritage was so well understood during the early years of the nation-and the writings of the numerous Founding Fathers were so well known-that in later years THE SUPREME COURT ruled according to the Founders' intention, keeping Biblical principles as the basis."

The Founders of our nation were so emphatic about keeping men in office who understood God's principles that, in perhaps the most famous speech ever delivered, BENJAMIN FRANKLIN reminded the delegates to the Constitutional Convention that, "We need God to be our friend, not our enemy; we need Him to be our ally, not our adversary; we need to make sure that we keep His concurring aid."

THOMAS JEFFERSON, our third president, declared, "God who gave us life gave us liberty. And can the liberties of a nation be thought secure if we have removed their only firm basis, that basis is a conviction in the minds of the people that these liberties are a gift from God, that they are not to be violated but with His wrath?"

JAMES MADISON, the chief architect of the Constitution, said, "We have staked the whole future of American civilization, not upon the power of government, far from it. We have staked the future of all of our political institutions upon the capacity of mankind for self-government: upon the capacity of each and all of us to govern ourselves, to control ourselves according to the Ten Commandments of God."

The words of JOHN QUINCY ADAMS, America's sixth president, are typical of the beliefs of many American presidents, "The first and almost the only book deserving of universal attention is the Bible."

When he assumed the leadership of a divided nation at the time of the Civil War, ABRAHAM LINCOLN, America's sixteenth president said, "Unless the great God who assisted Washington shall be with me and aid me, I must fail; but if the same Omniscient Mind and Mighty Arm that directed and protected him shall guide and support me, I shall not fail. Let us all pray that the God of our fathers may not forsake us now." Later, Lincoln acknowledged, "I have been driven many times to my knees by the overwhelming conviction that I had nowhere else to go."

Lincoln summoned the nation to observe a day of prayer and thanksgiving on nine different occasions saying, "We have been the recipients of the choicest bounties of Heaven. We have been preserved, these many years, in peace and prosperity. We have grown in numbers, wealth, and power as no other nation has ever grown. But, we have forgotten God."

To understand and appreciate a national day of prayer we must first understand the documented faith of our Founding Fathers and the character that defined them.

On what foundations did the Founding Fathers base the new nation?

How did the Founders understand the relationship between church and state?

What worldview guided the Founders as they created a government for the new nation?

Can freedom flourish without faith?

These influential Americans, who lived and served during the formative years of the United States, shared a legacy of faith and commitment to both God and country. The goal of this curriculum is to restore the legacy and raise up a new generation of Americans who not only understand their heritage but who have the character to rebuild it, as they light the way for a brighter future.