Education That Is Profoundly American
Sound education rests on respect for the First Principle, namely, the God of Creation is man's benefactor. Increases in knowledge are made possible by the connecting links of intelligible design. Irrefutable third-grade math, for instance, is a link to the latest reliable advances in the physical sciences.
John Jay is thought to be one of the most influential among the Founding Fathers. He served as president of the first Continental Congress and was the first chief justice of the United States. When Jay applied for admission to King's College in New York at the age of fourteen, one of the requirements he had to fulfill was to translate the first ten chapters of the Gospel of John from Greek into Latin.*
The Founding Fathers recognized that the preservation of the family, self-government, and liberty depends upon applying the timeless and universal principles found in the Bible. And for Americans to have firsthand knowledge of the Bible, they must be taught to read. Public school textbooks taught the alphabet through Bible verses that started with each letter.
Gouverneur Morris of Pennsylvania, Founding Father and a Signer who arranged the final draft of the Constitution, wrote "Religion is the only solid basis for good morals; therefore education should teach the precepts of religion and the duties of man toward God" (The Life of Governeur Morris, Jared Sparks, Boston: Gray and Bowen, 1832, Vol. III, p 483, from his "Notes on the Form of a Constitution for France"). **
Immigrants from diverse backgrounds came to America and worked peacefully together because they shared a common mind on the issue of human equality, moral law and responsible citizenship. They wanted no more potentates, or authoritarian clergy, professors or kings. The Constitution clarified the point, when forbidding titles "of nobility," that could undermine the sovereign authority of the people under God over government (Section 9, article 8).
"O Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just, And this be our motto: 'In God is our trust.' And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave o'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!" (From The Star-Spangled Banner).***
Gouverneur Morris
1725-1816
Founding Father and successful politician, diplomat and writer
He took twenty-three proposed resolutions and condensed them into the seven major articles
contained in the Constitution.
*John Eidsmore, Christianity and the Constitution (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Publishing Group, 1987), 220.
**http://www.partyof1776.net/p1776/fathers/Morris%20Gouverneur/quotes/contents....
***"The Star-Spangled Banner" was made the national anthem of the United States by a congressional resolution on March 3, 1931 (46 Stat. 1508, codified at 36 U.S.C. 301), and signed by President Herbert Hoover.
Image from http://www.americansfortheconstitution.com/founding-fathers/
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