VICTOR JOECKS: America at 250: The roots of America’s greatness

If you want to understand why our country has been so successful, study the people who built it.

America is about to turn 250 years old. That should be easy to celebrate. Aside from the healthy patriotic pride citizens should feel, we are the greatest country in the history of the world. We enjoy freedoms most people could only dream about. We have the strongest military in the history of the world. We have the most dynamic economy. We put men on the moon.

For those born after the end of the Cold War, it’s easy to take this for granted. It can feel as if America has always been dominant. It hasn’t. Especially because public schools don’t teach it, we need to look at the roots of America’s greatness. They’re easy to discover if you read the words of the Founding Fathers. They weren’t shy about what — or rather Who — deserved the credit.

“We have appointed a continental Fast,” John Adams wrote to his wife Abigail Adams on June 17, 1775. This was during the Second Continental Congress. “Millions will be upon their Knees at once before their great Creator, imploring his Forgiveness and Blessing, his Smiles on American Councils and Arms.”

Government officials calling for God’s help happened repeatedly during the American Revolution. In March 1775, Connecticut Gov. Jonathan Trumbull issued a proclamation for “a day of public fasting and prayer” in order “that God would graciously pour out His Holy Spirit on us … and make this land a mountain of holiness and habitation of righteousness forever.”

He set that day of prayer for April 19, 1775. History buffs may recognize this as when “the shot heard ’round the world” was fired at the Battle of Lexington and Concord.

This language from elected officials is shocking to modern ears, but it was commonplace at the time of America’s birth. While the colonists didn’t share a common denomination, most shared a common Christian faith.

On March 16, 1776, William Livingston successfully proposed the Continental Congress declare a day of fasting and prayer. The Founding Fathers sought a time “that we may, with united hearts, confess and bewail our manifold sins and transgressions, and, by a sincere repentance and amendment of life, appease his righteous displeasure, and, through the merits and mediation of Jesus Christ, obtain his pardon and forgiveness.”

Further, “it is recommended to Christians of all denominations, to assemble for public worship.”

The Founding Fathers believed God answered these prayers. Toward the end of the war, Gen. Benedict Arnold agreed to betray General George Washington and West Point. After the plot was improbably foiled, Washington credited God.

“The Providential train of circumstances which led to it affords the most convincing proof that the liberties of America are the object of Divine protection,” he wrote about the incident.

This devotion wasn’t limited to war time, as “The American Story: The Beginnings” by David and Tim Barton details. In 1787, as the Constitutional Convention threatened to fall apart, Benjamin Franklin urged those assembled to pray.

“How has it happened, Sir, that we have not hitherto once thought of humbly applying to the Father of lights to illuminate our understandings?” Franklin asked. He continued, “the longer I live, the more convincing proofs I see of this truth — that God governs in the affairs of men.”

Also, “we have been assured, Sir, in the sacred writings that ‘except the Lord build the House they labor in vain that build it.’ I firmly believe this.”

Today, many Americans don’t. It’s led to what we’ll examine next week — the threats to America’s greatness.