James McHenry(1753-1816), one of the signers of the Constitution of the United States, was a member of the Continental Congress, a state legislator, a soldier and the U.S. Secretary of war who supervised the establishment of the United States Military Academy at West Point. He was also a physician, having studied under the renowned Dr. Rush, himself a signer of the Declaration of Independence. James McHenry served with distinction under General Washington on the medical staff during the Revolutionary War. Fort McHenry, where, in 1812, the battle with Britain occasioned the writing of our national anthem, was named after him.
"Neither, in considering this subject, let it be overlooked, that public utility pleads most forcibly for the general distribution of the Holy Scriptures.
"The doctrine they preach, the obligations they impose, the punishment they threaten, the rewards they promise, the stamp and image of divinity they bear, which produces a convention of their truths, can alone secure to society, order and peace, and to our courts of justice and constitutions of government, purity, stability and usefulness.
"In vain, without the Bible, we increase penal laws and draw entrenchments around our institutions. Bibles are strong entrenchments. Where they abound, men cannot pursue wicked courses, and at the same time enjoy quiet conscience.
"Consider also, the rich do not possess aught more precious than their Bible, and that the poor cannot be presented by the rich with anything of greater value. Withhold it not from the poor. It is a book of councils and directions, fitted to every situation in which man can be placed. It is an oracle which reveals to mortals the secrets of heavens and the hidden will of the Almighty ...
"It is an estate, whose title is guaranteed by Christ, whose delicious fruits ripen every season, survive the worm, and keep through eternity. It is for the purpose of distributing this divine book more effectually and extensively among the multitudes, whose circumstances render such a donation necessary, that your cooperation is most earnestly requested."
Gouverneur Morris(1752-1816), writer of the final draft of the Constitution of the United States, being the head of the Committee on Style, was the originator of the phrase 'We the people of the United States." He was 35 years old when he served as one of the members of the Continental Congress and spoke 173 times during the Constitutional debates, (more than any other delegate). He was the first U.S. Minister to France, a U.S. Senator and helped to write the New York Constitution. He was a graduate of Kings' College (Columbia University), and was a merchant, lawyer, planter, financier and pioneer promoter of the Erie Canal. When France was in the process of establishing a new form of government, Gouverneur Morris offered to them his expertise in government formation by writing 'Observation on Government, Application to the Political State of France' and 'Notes on the Form of a Constitution for France:'
"Religion is the only solid basis of good morals; therefore education should teach the precepts of religion, and the duties of man toward God."
Roger Sherman(1721-1793), was an American Revolutionary patriot and jurist, who was the only one of the Founding Fathers to sign all four of the major founding documents: The Articles of Association, 1774; The Declaration of Independence, 1776; The Articles of Confederation, 1777; and The Constitution of the United States, 1787. He served on the committee that drafted the Declaration of Independence, was a member of the Continental Congress and made 138 speeches at the Constitutional Convention.
Roger Sherman was also a U.S. Congressman, 1789-91; a U.S. Senator, 1791-93(elected at the age of 70); a state senator; a self-taught lawyer; superior court judge; as well as having served as a judge in Connecticut for fourteen years. Prior to his political career he was a surveyor, merchant and shoe cobbler. During the almost fatal crisis at the Constitutional Convention, Thursday, June 28, 1787, Roger Sherman seconded the motion to have Dr. Benjamin Franklin's famous request, that Congress be opened with prayer every day, enacted. (A practice which continues to this day.) The extremely heated dispute which arose at the Constitutional Convention, was over how Congress would insure that the smaller states would be equally represented in comparison with the larger states. This debate grew so serious that it began to threaten the convention itself, as some delegates had already left. Shortly after Franklin's call for prayer, Roger Sherman made the suggestion that state representation in the Senate be equal and that state representation in the House be based on population. This historic proposal, which came to be called the "Connecticut Compromise," was adopted and is the system in use today.
Roger Sherman was also on the committee which decided the wording of the First Amendment. (Roger Sherman was originally opposed to the First Amendment, considering it unnecessary, since Congress had no authority delegated from the Constitution in such areas.) In February 1776, Roger Sherman, along with Adams and George Wythe of Virginia, were on the committee responsible to create instructions for the embassy headed for Canada. The instructions directed:"You are further to declare that we hold sacred the rights of conscience, and may promise to the whole people, solemnly in our name, the free and undisturbed exercise of their religion. And ... that all civil rights and the right to hold office were to be extended to persons of any Christian denomination," In 1788 , as a member of the white Haven Congregational Church, Roger Sherman was asked to use his expertise in revising the wording of their creed. In his own handwriting, he wrote the following:
"I believe that there is one only living and true God, existing in three persons, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, the same in substance equal in power and glory.
"That the scriptures of the old and new testaments are a revelation from God, and a complete rule to direct us how we may glorify and enjoy him.
"That God has foreordained whatsoever comes to pass, so as thereby he is not the author or approver of sin.
"That he creates all things, and preserves and governs all creatures and all their actions, in a manner perfectly consistent with the freedom of will in moral agents, and the usefulness of means.
"That he made man at first perfectly holy, that the first man sinned, and as he was the public head of his posterity, they all became sinners in consequence of his first transgression, are wholly indisposed to that which is good and inclined to evil, and on account of sin are liable to all the miseries of this life, to death, and to the pains of hell forever.
"I believe that God having elected some of mankind to eternal life, did send his own Son to become man, die in the room and stead of sinners and thus to lay a foundation for the offer of pardon and salvation to all mankind, so as all may be saved who are willing to accept the gospel offer:
"also by his special grace and spirit, to regenerate, sanctify and enable to preserve in holiness, all who shall be saved; and to procure in consequence of their repentance and faith in himself their justification by virtue of his atonement as the only meritorious cause.
"I believe a visible church to be a congregation of those who make a credible profession of their faith in Christ, and obedience to him, joined by the bond of the covenant ...
"I believe that the souls of believers are at their death made perfectly holy, and immediately taken to glory: that at the end of this world there will be resurrection of the dead, and final judgment of all mankind, when the righteous shall be publicly acquitted by Christ the Judge and admitted to everlasting life and glory, and the wicked be sentenced to everlasting punishment.”
A Godly Nation| A Godly Nation II| A Godly Nation III| A Godly Nation V|
Email: arkhosangelos@hotmail.com
