What did our Founding Fathers think?

In my last three stacks, I’ve been asking for us to consider whether certain critical events in the Revolutionary War were facts, fictions, or miracles.

I think it’s safe to say that the prevailing view among many of America’s Revolutionary leaders was that Providence had intervened on behalf of the American cause.

To wit, George Washington repeatedly referred to “Providence” in his wartime correspondence and public orders, including after the Siege of Yorktown.

John Adams frequently wrote that Providence guided the American cause.

Samuel Adams interpreted the Revolution in explicitly religious terms.

Patrick Henry often spoke of God’s direction in public affairs.

Ezra Stiles explicitly described the sequence of events leading to Yorktown as God’s intervention.

And many Continental Army chaplains, state governors, and members of the Continental Congress proclaimed days of thanksgiving and fasting in recognition of divine favor.

By the same token, others like Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin tended to express themselves in more philosophical or deistic language.

Rather than use the word miracle, they often spoke about the favor of Heaven.

It may well be the “favor of heaven” that Americans are able to salute the 250th anniversary of the rise of this historic nation. But I also believe such favor can be lost if we stray too far from our founding ideals. I can’t help but wonder what kind of country our children will experience 50 years hence.

For now, let’s remember the immediate events of 250 years ago this week:

July 2, 1776 – Congress approves the Lee Resolution, formally declaring that “these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent States.” This was the legal act of independence. John Adams believed July 2 would become America’s great national holiday and wrote to his wife Abigail that it “will be celebrated, by succeeding Generations…” He was off by two days because history remembers the adoption of the Declaration rather than the vote.

July 3 – Congress debates and edits Jefferson’s draft declaration, making numerous revisions.

July 4 – Congress approves the final text of the United States Declaration of Independence. This is the date printed on the document and the one Americans commemorate.

July 5 – Printer John Dunlap produces the first broadsides, which are dispatched throughout the colonies.

July 8 – The first widely recognized official public reading of the Declaration takes place in the yard of Independence Hall (then the Pennsylvania State House), where Colonel John Nixon reads it before a large crowd.

There were announcements and celebrations in some places after the July 2 vote. Word spread fast, followed by celebrations illuminated by fireworks. John Adams predicted that future generations would celebrate the founding of America with “Pomp and parade…Bonfires and Illuminations from one End of this Continent to the other from this Time forward forever more.”

May it be so.

Happy July Fourth everyone.

Happy 250th America.