The United States, A Dream Realized: Natural Law, Legal Positivism, & The Founders Views Series

I’d like to take you back in time to the birth of this nation. The year is 1775, and the British are marching in the dead of night to capture the guns of the colonial militia. Four riders launch into the night to awaken the minute men. The colonials succeed, and beat the British to their supplies of weapons. The British get nothing. At Lexington plain clothes militia line up in a field as British troops march toward them. The two groups stand across from one another, pointing weapons at each other, and someone fires. The colonials are driven back.

Later at Bunker hill the colonials fight off wave after wave of British soldiers ,but are finally defeated when they run out of ammunition.

A war had begun that would change the world. The colonials would make a new state of independence from Britain, outlining the rights of all men. A radical new notion would begin to spread from America across much of the world: the notion that all men are created equal under God.

Soon a Christian nation would be born. A Constitution would be constructed with the intention of putting biblical principles into practice, not to force religion on the people, but to offer the people God given liberty and freedom, something that God had given all people. This was scandalous, at that time in history, it was unthinkable to even consider the possibility that everyday peasants were in any way comparable to royalty, the rich, or the affluent.

Today it’s something we take for granted. When the teacher in school asks the students what they want to be when they grow up, and one child says “I want to be president of the united states” the teachers natural reaction is to say: maybe you will be. Anyone can be president. We’re a meritocracy. We rise based on our merits and based on hard work.

Our ancestors, during the American revolution, were bands of farmers, traders, and merchants, armed with rifles, taking on the most powerful military in the world. Early on in the war of independence, General Washington was attempting to route the British from Boston, which they had occupied. Naturally he could do this with artillery, only one problem: He didn’t have any. Can you imagine that? An army of peasants, with a handful of ships, squirrel rifles and buck shot, fighting the strongest power in the world. A continental army, with no artillery, no training, and quickly running out of black powder, which was rare in the colonies, against this mighty British empire.

Yet the hand of God almighty seemed tied to the fate of our fledgling nation. General Washington called it “the hand of providence.” Henry Knox one of Washington’s trusted advisors, managed to gather the artillery from a captured British fort (Fort Ticonderoga) ride it across the frozen lake George, and bring it to Washington to use to drive the British from Boston. Washington positioned the artillery on a tall hill overlooking Boston, called Dorchester heights. And from Dorchester heights, the artillery could hit the British fleet in harbor, and the troops garrisoned in the town. So they won the day, by taking the high ground.

Against near insurmountable odds, the outlook seemed grim. The British went on to capture New York and drive out Washington’s army. Washington army was poorly supplied and their were outbreaks of small pox in his camps. Thousands were taken ill and many returned home after their enlistments were up.

Near the end of 1776 it seemed like there was little hope, but a great turning point in the war took place, when on December 25th Washington launched a surprise attack, crossing the Delaware river at dawn. He won a stunning victory at Trenton, rallying the troops to victory.

So a nation was born, the United States, after many years of war, in the most unlikely of contests. God’s sovereign hand of providence rested on human history to guide the founding of America. It’s my sincere belief that God guided the events of the American revolution to found a Christian nation.

All the way back to over a hundred years earlier, in 1620, the pilgrims were planning their voyage to the new world. I’m sure many of you studied the mayflower compact in elementary school. But did you know that the pilgrims believed that they had been called by God to establish their colony for the purpose of the advancement of the Christian faith?

They wrote in their compact:

"In the name of God, Amen. ...

We, whose names are underwritten. ...

The loyal subjects of our dread sovereign lord King James. ...

For the glory of God, and advancement of the Christian faith. ...

A voyage to plant the first colony in the northern parts of Virginia. ...