*Founding Fathers*

(George Washington at Valley Forge)

I literally thank God every day that I am able to live here in this country at this time on earth. I am so thankful our forefathers were worthy, and good people to be inspired to do what they did for this country. I know our Heavenly Father had a special hand in bringing it all together.

With the Elections drawing near, I often wonder what our founding fathers think of all of this craziness going on this country. I found these writings and quotes of some of our founding fathers and how they bore witness of God being a part of this great country. May we be like these men and preserve our freedoms while also proclaiming our knowledge, existence and need for God our Father.

**That these men were God-fearing cannot be denied:**

*George Washington: “The success, which has hitherto attended our united efforts, we owe to the gracious interposition of Heaven, and to that interposition let us gratefully ascribe the praise of victory, and the blessings of peace.” (To the Executive of New Hampshire, November 3, 1789, Writings 30:453.)

*Alexander Hamilton: “The Sacred Rights of mankind are not to be rummaged from among old parchments or musty records. They are written . . . by the Hand of Divinity itself.” (An Essay, “The Farmer Refuted,” 1775.) “For my own part, I sincerely esteem it a system, which without the finger of God, never could have been suggested and agreed upon by such a diversity of interests.”

*Thomas Jefferson: “The God who gave us life gave us liberty at the same time.” (Rights of British America, 1774.)

*John Adams: “As I understand the Christian religion, it was, and is, a revelation.” (In God We Trust, p. 75.)

*Benjamin Franklin: “The longer I live the more convincing Proofs I see of this Truth. That God Governs in the Affairs of Men!—And if a Sparrow cannot fall to the Ground without his Notice, is it probable that an Empire can rise without his Aid?—We have been assured, . . . in the Sacred Writings, that ‘except the Lord build the House, they labour in vain that build it.’ I firmly believe this;—and I also believe that without his concurring Aid we shall succeed in this political building no better than Builders of Babel.” (Prayer during Constitutional Convention, June 28, 1787.)

*James Madison: "It is impossible for the man of pious reflection not to perceive in it a finger of that Almighty hand which has been so frequently and signally extended to our relief in the critical stages of the revolution.” (Federalist Papers, no. 37.)

*Samuel Adams: “Revelation assures us that ‘Righteousness exalteth a Nation’—Communities are dealt with in this World by the wise and just Ruler of the Universe. He rewards or punishes them according to their general Character.” (Letter to John Scollary, 1776.)

*Charles Pinckney: “When the great work was done and published, I was . . . struck with amazement. Nothing less than that superintending hand of Providence, that so miraculously carried us through the war, . . . could have brought it about so complete, upon the whole.” (P. L. Ford, ed., Essays on the Constitution, 1892, p. 412.)

President Ezra Taft Benson adds, “It was not just incidental, nor was it mere political platitude, that the name of God was mentioned in the Declaration of Independence four times and that our inspired national motto became ‘In God We Trust.’”

~This nation was founded on certain principles, chief among which was the expressed statement that all men are “endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights.” This pronouncement recognizes God as the Creator of man and that man’s rights are an inherent gift from their Creator.

The founders further recognized that if the new nation were to survive, there must be reliance on the protection of God. The Declaration of Independence concluded with this affirmation: “With a firm reliance on the protection of Divine providence, we mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor.”~