Excerpts from documents of the Founding of our Nation(1776-1844) (Sidebar 2)

From the Declaration of Independence (July 4, 1776)
"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness..."

From the Northwest Ordinance (1787)
"Religion, morality, and knowledge, being necessary to good government and the happiness of mankind, schools and the means of education shall forever be encouraged."

This ordinance established that the same practices of the 13 original colonies (states) would be emphasized in new states as they were explored, developed, and ratified.

From the State constitutions
All 50 of the U. S. state constitutions make "an appeal and reference to God who is the Creator of our liberties and the preserver of our freedoms."

From the writings and speeches of our nation's founding fathers
Personal letters and prayers of George Washington
"A Prayer for Wednesday Morning"
"Almighty and eternal Lord God, the great Creator of heaven and Earth, and the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ...."

"It is impossible to account for the creation of the universe, without the agency of a Supreme Being. It is impossible to govern the universe without the aid of a Supreme Being. It is impossible to reason without arriving at a Supreme Being. Religion is as necessary to reason, as reason is to religion. The one cannot exist without the other. A reasoning being would lose his reason, in attempting to account for the great phenomena of nature, had he not a Supreme Being to refer to; and well has it been said, that if there had been no God, mankind would have been obliged to imagine one."

Writings of Benjamin Franklin
While there is no evidence that Benjamin Franklin ever accepted Jesus as his personal Savior, he was openly friendly to Christianity, and it was he who asked that prayer be initiated into the meetings of the Constitutional Convention.

(Excerpt from a letter to Ezra Skyles, President of Yale University)
"Here is my creed. I believe in one God, the Creator of the universe. That He governs it by His Providence. That He ought to be worshipped. That the most acceptable service we render to Him is in doing good to His other children. That the soul of man is immortal, and will be treated with justice in another life respecting its conduct in this. These I take to be the fundamental points in all sound religion."

(Excerpt from a prayer):
"...O Creator, O Father! I believe that thou art good and that Thou art pleased with the pleasure of Thy children—praised be Thy name forever. By Thy power hast Thou made the glorious sun, with his attending worlds; from the energy of Thy mighty will they first received their prodigious motion, and by Thy wisdom hast Thou prescribed the wondrous laws by which they move."

"By Thy Wisdom hast Thou formed all things, Thou hast created man, bestowing life and reason, and plac'd him in dignity superior to Thy other earthly creatures."

Writings from James Madison ("Father of the Constitution")
"Religion, or the duty we owe to our Creator, and the manner of discharging it, can only be directed by reason and conviction, not by force or violence..."

James Madison so strongly believed in the liberty of religious choice and expression that, as a major drafter of the Bill of Rights, he made freedom of religion the First Amendment.

William Samuel Johnson (delegate from Connecticut to the Constitutional Convention)
From his presidential address to the graduating class of King's College"...You have, by the favor of Providence and the attention of friends, received a public education, the purpose whereof hath been to qualify you the better to serve your Creator and your country....Your first great duties, you are sensible, are those you owe to Heaven, to your Creator and Redeemer.... Adore Jehovah, therefore, as your God and your Judge. Love, fear, and serve Him as your Creator, Redeemer, and Sanctifier...."

Writings of Thomas Jefferson
While there is no evidence that Thomas Jefferson ever accepted Jesus as his personal Savior, he was openly friendly to Christianity, and strove during his presidency to insure religious freedom.

From a letter to the Danbury Baptists (1802)
"...I reciprocate your kind prayers for the protection and blessings of the Common Father and Creator of man, and tender you for yourselves and your religious associations assurances of my highest respect and esteem."

From the Last Will and Testaments of Founding Fathers
"Principally and first of all, I recommend my soul to that Almighty Being I give it and my body I commit to the dust, relying upon the merits of Jesus Christ for a pardon of all my sins." Samuel Adams (Signer of the Declaration of Independence)

"Firstly I commit my soul into the hands of God, its great and benevolent author." Josiah Bartlett (Signer of the Declaration of Independence)

"Rendering thanks to my Creator for my existence and station among his works, for my birth in a country enlightened by the Gospel and enjoying freedom, and for all His other kindnesses, to Him I resign myself, humbly confiding in His goodness and in His mercy through Jesus Christ for the events of eternity." John Dickinson (Signer of the Constitution)

"I resign my soul into the hands of the Almighty who gave it in humble hopes of His mercy through our Savior Jesus Christ." Gabriel Duvall (Delegate to the Constitutional Convention; U.S. Supreme Court Justice)

"My soul I resign into the hands of my Almighty Creator, whose tender mercies are all over His works, who hateth nothing that He hath made, and to the justice and wisdom of whose dispensations I willingly and cheerfully submit, humbly hoping from His unbounded mercy and benevolence, through the merits of my blessed Savior, a remission of my sins." George Mason (Father of the Bill of Rights)

"With an awful reverence to the Great Almighty God, Creator of all mankind, being sick and weak in body, but of sound mind and memory, thanks be given to God Almighty for the same." John Morton (Signer of the Declaration)

"I am constrained to express my adoration of the Supreme Being, the Author of my existence, in full belief of His providential goodness and His forgiving mercy revealed to the world through Jesus Christ, through whom I hope for never ending happiness in a future state." Robert Treat Paine (Signer of the Declaration of Independence)

Many other signers of the Declaration of Independence and Constitution seem to have been Christians, as evidenced by their writings and speeches. Only those who made reference to creation have been considered in this space.

References:Barton, David, 1996. Original Intent. Wallbuilder Press, Aledo. Chapters 2 and 6.
LaHaye, Timothy.