America’s Constitution, as written in 1787 by the Framers, nowhere required anybody to accept the divinity of Christ, but it clearly presumed the moral, political (especially individual liberty and separation of powers) and civilizational values of Christianity.
Let’s look at the views of the three authors of “The Federalist Papers”, the universally accepted authoritative explanation of the Framers’ thinking as they wrote the Constitution. Written originally as a series of newspaper columns under the nom de plume of “Publius,” the work was especially crucial to gaining adoption of the Constitution in New York and Virginia.
James Madison is the one among the trio who is widely seen as a deeply perceptive political theorist and the “Father of the Constitution” for his role at the Constitutional Convention. He would later become the fourth President of the United States:
“The belief in a God who is all-powerful, wise, and good is so essential to the moral order of the world and to the happiness of man that arguments which enforce it cannot be drawn from too many sources.”
Next comes Alexander Hamilton,who would go on to be the first Secretary of the Treasury, and to die tragically in a duel with political opponent Aaron Burr during a campaign for governor of New York:
“How clearly is it proved by this that the praise of a civilized world is justly due to Christianity—war, by the influence of the humane principles of that religion, has been stripped of half its horrors. The French renounce Christianity, and they relapse into barbarism—war resumes the same hideous and savage form which it wore in the ages of Gothic and Roman violence.”
And now the third, John Jay, who would be appointed by George Washington as the nation’s first Supreme Court Chief Justice. He also negotiated the treaty bearing his name that restored friendly trade relations between Britain and its former colonies:
“The Bible is the best of all books, for it is the word of God and teaches us the way to be happy in this world and in the next. Continue therefore to read it and to regulate your life by its precepts.”
Do these quotes prove the Constitution was handed down by God from on High? No, of course not. But they clearly do provide solid evidence that the major spiritual influence on the Founders generation was the Christian faith.
If only to provide one simple, but crucially important illustration of how Christian influence on the political structures we know today as those of Western Civilization, including especially the Constitution, consider this statement by Jesus found in the Gospel of Mark at 12:17:
“Jesus said to them, ‘Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.’And they marveled at him.”
In an ancient world in which the universal standard was that everything was subject to Caesar, that core political structural principle represented the foundation of limited government and with it, individual freedom.
This article originally appeared as a post on HillFaith.org as part of the series on “FAITH OF THE FOUNDERS.” It appears here with the permission of the author.
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