Honor, justice, and humanity, forbid us tamely to surrender that freedom which we received from our gallant ancestors, and which our innocent posterity have a right to receive from us.
Thomas Jefferson (1775)
An amazing book, The Spirit of Law, was written just at the moment in history when our nation was forming. A structure of government that enabled individual self-government under law had never been achieved in the history of the world. Our Founders turned to the Bible and to the thinkers whose reasoning rested on its principles. The book they quoted most often in their writings about government was the Bible. The second most quoted book was The Spirit of Law by Montesquieu.
Montesquieu’s book describes three powers of government: legislative, executive, and judicial. Separating the three powers with checks and balances provides the liberty to self-govern and prevents tyrannical rule.
This theory contributed to the architecture of our U.S. Constitution.
Teach the children:
- The Bible is the first source of government as God governs the universe.
- The United States of America is exceptional as it provides the hope of liberty for all humanity.
- Sustaining that liberty requires each American to take responsibility to study and protect it for the next generation.
- The first individual right our Founders protected in the U.S. Constitution (The Bill of Rights) is freedom of worship.
For the LORD is our Judge, the LORD is our lawgiver, the LORD is our King. He will save us.
Isaiah 33:22 (ESV)
The Christian History of Constitution of the United States of America: Christian Self-Government, compiled by Verna M. Hall, The Foundation for American Christian Education, 1960.
Teaching and Learning America’s Christian History: The Principle Approach, by Rosalie J. Slater, The Foundation for American Christian Education, 1965.