‘Washington personally read the Bible and quoted the Bible. Those who deny America’s unique Christian roots will claim that many educated people in positions of prominence in the 18th century also quoted from the Bible. However, they also quoted from Greek and Roman authors of antiquity. Washington quoted almost exclusively…’

Multitudes are looking to enjoy “The American Dream.” Its glitter draws people from around the world and even catches the eye of millions of Americans.

In the days of our first President, George Washington (1732-1799), however, it was very different. There was no glitter but rock-solid substance upon which to build a nation: freedom to worship as God leads, and the conviction that “we cannot be silent, no matter what the cost.”

July 4, 1776 – 250 Years Ago

On this date, the Declaration of Independence was adopted by a unanimous decision of the Second Continental Congress. Among other things, it provides the American colonists’ grievances with the king’s abuses.

The Declaration shows that the worship of God, and the freedom to do that without a tyrant’s opposition, is a central feature of the real American dream.

The Declaration provides the primary focus of this important document: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” This was a radical, but biblical concept: Our rights are not given to us by government, but by God.

The 56 men who signed the Declaration were guilty of treason, a crime punishable by death. These men were leaders in their communities and had much to lose, but for them liberty was more important than security.

The question that I will try to answer is this: Who was the man who would lead the newly birthed nation in these tumultuous years of danger, and what was he like?

George Washington was a Statesman and Not a Politician.

A statesman is a man of good character and integrity, who focuses on the long-term good of the country, not just winning an election. Politicians often prioritize immediate gains. Statesmen focus on long-term goals. Ronald Reagan was in the latter category.

George Washington believed that there were certain rules of civility that must be observed. When he was 14, Washington translated a French document titled “The Rules of Civility.” Rule Number One: “Every action done in the presence of others ought to show some sign of respect to those who are present.” How you eat, sit, engage in conversation, and the showing of respect for women were high on his list of respectful behaviors.

Even when Washington was general in the War for Independence, he required the soldiers to refrain from objectionable behaviors, drunkenness, fighting, cursing, and gambling. And on Sundays, if not on the battlefield, each soldier was required to be in church.

George Washington was a Leader Who Effectively Organized a Diverse People for a Specific Purpose.

Washington believed in the importance of good leadership. One of his aphorisms brings this out: “A pack of jackasses led by a lion is superior to a pack of lions led by a jackass.”

The 13 colonies were not united in becoming a new nation. Those in opposition were The Loyalists. For one thing, going to war against England with its well-trained military and huge navy seemed doomed from the outset. The small sailing vessels possessed by the Americans were no match for the heavy cannon on British warships. Indeed, there were Americans who did want to break free from the King, but there were many who thought it was too risky.

In addition to the Quakers who were pacifists and did not believe that war is permissible, some of the Colonists feared that the new American government might be worse than being under the king. It was amazing that Washington was able to do anything with such a diverse multitude.

Washington also had leadership skills when it came to the military. Many soldiers went without pay for months and sometimes soldiers’ rations were meager. What was it about Washington that made him so remarkable?

George Washington And The Bible.

Washington personally read the Bible and quoted the Bible. Those who deny America’s unique Christian roots will claim that many educated people in positions of prominence in the 18th century also quoted from the Bible. However, they also quoted from Greek and Roman authors of antiquity. Washington quoted almost exclusively from the Bible and applied its teachings to his personal life and role as a leader. Here are some of his most-quoted Scriptures:

Micah 4:4: “But they shall sit every man under his vine and under his fig tree; and none shall make them afraid.”

Washington quoted this Scripture in his letters and speeches more than 50 times. The vine produces grapes, and being under a fig tree means immediate access to nutritious food. Notice it is “under HIS vine” and “under HIS fig tree.” This speaks about personal property. It is not a communal setting. “And none shall make them afraid.” If you are living under royal authority, you always live in fear.

Micah 6:8: “He hath showed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?”

We can all benefit from this reminder. We all have a duty to God and those in His world.

Proverbs 29:2: “When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice: but when the wicked beareth rule, the people mourn.”

Those who have lived under a king who believes in the divine right of kings say “Amen” to this Scripture.

America – A Continuing Testimony

In 1607, 125 years before the birth of Washington, the first permanent English settlement in the New World, organized at Jamestown in what is now Virginia, printed its First Charter. The settlement was for “the propagating of the Christian religion…” and for “the glory of His Divine Majesty.”

The real American dream is far more God-honoring than what we have today. The true American patriot is working and praying that Washington’s vision for America will once again claim the hearts of Americans.

Southwest Radio Ministries has been dedicated for 91 years to equipping people with Bible-based teachings on Bible prophecy to guide their understanding of the signs of the times. 

Source: The Real ‘American Dream’ Of George Washington Was Far More God-Honoring Than Many Have Been Led To Believe – Harbinger’s Daily

Independence was not guaranteed.

Two-hundred-fifty years ago, the Second Continental Congress lit the fuse for human freedom by declaring the United States of America independent from Great Britain.  Although we Americans celebrate the Fourth of July as our nation’s birthday, our country did not have an easy birth.

In July 1776, the men who became known as our “Founding Fathers” had many problems.  First among them was the reality that not everyone believed the United Colonies of North America (as they were then called) should sever ties with the Crown.  During the First Continental Congress, convened in Philadelphia for fewer than two months in the early autumn of 1774, delegates from twelve of the thirteen colonies (Loyalist Georgia did not attend.) could not agree how best to respond to Britain’s naval blockade of Boston Harbor and Parliament’s imposition of the Intolerable Acts as collective punishment for the Boston Tea Party.  Staunch Loyalist and Pennsylvania delegate Joseph Galloway even proposed a Plan of Union to formally unite Great Britain and the North American colonies.  That did not sit well with Massachusetts firebrand Samuel Adams, and the proposal was eventually struck from the official record of the proceedings.

Following the April 19, 1775, Battles of Lexington and Concord — the first armed conflicts in America’s War for Independence — colonial delegates reconvened in Philadelphia on May 10.  For the next fourteen months, the Second Continental Congress debated what to do next.  Formal separation from Great Britain remained a contentious issue.  Even after fighting in Massachusetts had begun, most American colonists resisted calls for independence throughout 1775.  However, public support for the cause of liberty grew as Christian ministers exhorted members of their congregations to recognize the fight against political tyranny as a struggle for God-given rights and a duty to pursue His will (and our happiness) here on Earth.  Patriots of Massachusetts and Virginia worked tirelessly to shift public sentiment throughout the colonies and to persuade each colony’s representatives that the time for revolution had arrived.

Then an anonymously authored forty-seven-page essay was published in Philadelphia on January 10, 1776.  Written by Thomas Paine and “Addressed to the Inhabitants of America,” its title was simple: Common Sense.  Described by recently deceased historian Gordon Wood as “the most incendiary and popular pamphlet of the entire revolutionary era,” it remains the best-selling American work of all time.  In the first half of 1776, American colonists read aloud from its pages in taverns and secret meeting places while British soldiers passed on nearby streets.  Colonial sentiment quickly transformed from hopes for reconciliation with Britain to fervent cries for independence.  Paine ignited in Protestant Christians a passion that united the colonies in a righteous war for freedom against the Crown.

After the Virginia Convention then meeting in Williamsburg instructed its delegates to the Continental Congress to push for independence, Richard Henry Lee proposed this motion in Philadelphia on June 7:  “Resolved, That these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent States, that they are absolved from all allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain is, and ought to be, totally dissolved.”  A year of back-and-forth debate was finally brought to a head.

Although the mood among delegates to the Second Continental Congress had shifted toward general acceptance that a war against Britain was inevitable, unanimity was far from certain.  The colonial governments of Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, and South Carolina had not authorized their delegates to vote for independence.  Lee’s resolution was therefore tabled for three weeks, so that delegates could return home and make the case for a formal declaration of independence.  After a “trial vote” on July 1 indicated that South Carolina and Pennsylvania would vote against Lee’s resolution and that Delaware’s vote was split between two delegates present in Philadelphia, South Carolina’s Edward Rutledge requested that the official vote be postponed until the following day.

What happened next is the part of history that often gets left out of textbooks.  Between Monday and Tuesday, Benjamin Franklin strongly suggested to two of his fellow Pennsylvania delegates that they be absent for the final vote.  Rutledge managed to convince South Carolina’s delegates to flip in favor of independence.

Meanwhile, Delaware’s pro-independence delegate, Thomas McKean, had already dispatched an urgent letter to Caesar Rodney, Delaware’s third delegate to the Continental Congress and a consummate patriot in favor of independence.  Rodney was eighty miles away in Kent County training Delaware’s militia and providing General George Washington’s Continental Army with needed supplies.  He was also suffering from a serious facial cancer that took his life eight years later at the age of fifty-five.

McKean’s letter arrived in Dover on Monday, July 1.  Rodney, realizing that he was the tie-breaking vote for Delaware, did not hesitate.  Disregarding warnings from the physicians treating his cancer, he mounted his horse and took off.  Through thunderstorms and lightning, Rodney rode through the night over poor roads and across wild terrain.  Stopping only once to change horses, he made it to Philadelphia in eighteen hours, a trip that normally required two full days.

Just as the voting in Philadelphia began, delegates heard heavy hoofbeats on the cobblestone outside of the Pennsylvania State House (now Independence Hall).  Exhausted, still in his riding clothes with spurs attached, covered in mud, and wearing a green silk scarf around his cancer-ridden face, Rodney strode in and took his seat.  “As I believe the voice of my constituents and all sensible and honest men is in favor of independence,” Rodney announced, “and as my own judgment concurs with them, I give my vote for independence.”  His fateful ride secured Delaware’s vote for the cause of liberty.  (Next time you find a Delaware state quarter in your pocket, take a look at the man riding on a galloping horse; that’s Caesar Rodney!)

Virginian Richard Henry Lee’s resolution for independence secured support from twelve of the thirteen colonies, with New York’s delegates abstaining from the vote as they still lacked formal approval from their colonial government (an error remedied seven days later when it voted tardily to “join with the other colonies in supporting” independence).  Unanimity among the colonies was important.  It deprived the British of the opportunity to exploit colonial divisions.  It also demonstrated to the American people that the colonies were united in purpose.  The history of the War for Independence could have been much different had the delegates to the Second Continental Congress not found a way to come together.

The Pennsylvania Evening Post reported on July 2: “This day the CONTINENTAL CONGRESS declared the UNITED COLONIES FREE and INDEPENDENT STATES.”

John Adams wrote to his wife, Abigail: “The second day of July, 1776, will be the most memorable epoch in the history of America.  I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated by succeeding generations as the great anniversary festival.  It ought to be commemorated as the day of deliverance, by solemn acts of devotion to God Almighty.  It ought to be solemnized with pomp and parade, with shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires, and illuminations, from one end of this continent to the other, from this time forward forever more.”

The American people, on the other hand, immediately recognized July 4 — the date the Declaration of Independence was unanimously ratified and first published by a local printer — as America’s Independence Day.

The delegates to the Second Continental Congress committed acts of high treason against the Crown — crimes punishable by torture and death.  We Americans celebrate their treason every year on this day.

Our country was birthed in adversity, nourished on liberty, christened as the land of opportunity, guided by God, and preserved by His blessings.  Two-hundred-fifty years later, let us pray for two-hundred-fifty more.  Happy Independence Day!

Hat tip to John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, who died two hundred years ago today!

J.B. Shurk | July 4, 2026

Source: America Did Not Have an Easy Birth – American Thinker

Success or failure? Here is your answer.

From the very beginning, and for a century afterward, Americans often referred to their country as an experiment.  And for very good reason.

At the time, almost all civilizations were monarchies.  Indeed, many Europeans expected Washington to become king of the colonies, or at the least dictator, and were surprised when he did not even try.  They were just as surprised when he stepped down from the presidential office, thereby cementing a peaceful transition of power.  (A minority of Americans also considered a monarchy out of habit.)

The type of government the Americans had concocted was a novelty.  Initially, soon after declaring independence without achieving it, they cobbled together the Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union; in a reaction against authoritarian government, they created a government without any authority.  After independence, it proved worthless — what James Madison referred to as “in fact nothing more than a treaty of amity of commerce and of alliance, between so many independent and sovereign states.”  The Dutch Republic, the Amphictyonic League, and the Swiss confederacy were similarly organized, with mixed outcomes.  Indeed, some in the states’ governments thought of declaring war on others over boundaries and trade.  It must be kept in mind that people considered themselves Americans and Virginians (or Georgians, etc.); they still do.

They tried again.  But what to create?  The reader should not make the common mistake of thinking the present form of government was inevitable and logical.  It could have taken any number of forms.

The Founding Fathers, like all educated people, were well versed in the history of ancient Greece and Rome.  They, particularly Madison, had examined the forms of government that had previously existed, thereby learning the lessons of history.

A democracy was out of the question because of the sheer size of the country.  Leaving dictatorships, oligarchies, and monarchies aside, they settled on a republic — but of what form?  (For example, to avoid dictatorship, Rome had two consults [presidents], who alternated days when wielding power.)  Each region had its own concerns and identity.  How much authority should the executive have, and how far could it extend?  How much Congress, and how far?  What guarantee was there that the central government would not eliminate freedoms?  What guarantee was there for the central government to veto state laws?

Large states such as Virginia and Pennsylvania thought it absurd that tiny states should have the same importance as them (as in the Senate), whereas small states thought they would be ignored if representation went by population size (as in the House of Representatives).  Hence, the bicameral Legislature and the Electoral College.  Can the central government carry out actions not specifically outlined in the Constitution?  (Thomas Jefferson and James Madison were of the opinion that it did not; Jefferson jettisoned this principle with the Louisiana Purchase, even though there was nothing in the Constitution about purchasing additional territory.)

Eventually, the Founding Fathers crafted the Constitution and sent it to all the states to ratify.  Unanimous ratification was not a certainty, which is why Hamilton, Madison, and Jay put out a series of articles in newspapers giving the reasons for ratification.  Significantly, they used Roman noms de plume.

There could have been a United States of America without, say, Connecticut.  Some states announced they would not join unless a Bill of Rights was included.  Once the government was in session and the first ten amendments were passed, some of the holdouts joined the Union.

The Constitution is devoid of flowery language.  It is simply a manual on how to run the government.  Over the years, it has been tweaked — such as senators now being popularly elected instead of appointed by the states, which was originally a measure to prevent the federal government from crushing the states’ local authority.

Over the years, partly because of comity and partly because of planning, the rigid decentralization of political power became set in stone.  This was one of the things that has made the American Constitution truly unique.  The other is the Bill of Rights, which is a protection against government overreach.  By contrast, in so-called democracies in Europe (that look down on America), the people have lost free speech and a free press.  The Supreme Court has rigidly upheld the Bill of Rights and the principle of comity in legal matters not pertaining to the U.S. Constitution (such as how many persons can be in a jury).

When the United States was first created, European rulers were certain that the United States would follow historical precedent and become a dictatorship, dissolve, or plunge into civil war.  Though they were proven right in 1860 with regard to a civil war, the Union nevertheless held firm.  At the same time, America was seen as an example of what could be done in other countries.  To this day, the American flag has been flown by people in countries oppressed by dictatorships, such as Cuba and Hong Kong (at the same time that Democrats burn the flag).

So, to sum up, the experiment has been a success.

Armando Simon | July 4, 2026

Armando Simón is originally from Cuba, a retired psychologist and historian, author of When Evolution Stops, Stories for Lions and Other Felines, and The Transgender Cult: Psychology, Politics, Religion and the Media.

Source: A Verdict on the American Experiment – American Thinker