Writing from the Birmingham city jail in
April of 1963, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. expressed confidence that his fight
for racial justice would succeed for two reasons: (1) the sacred heritage of
our nation and (2) the eternal will of God embodied in his demands.
In the same letter, Dr. King declared
that one day the South would realize that he and others of the Civil Rights
movement were, in fact, “Standing up for the best in the American dream and the
most sacred values in our Judeo-Christian heritage.”
Dr. King obviously believed that
America’s founders had left a “sacred heritage” to succeeding generations, and
knowledge of this heritage was a source of hope and confidence that his
struggle for civil rights would succeed.
A heritage is an inheritance. It is a cherished
legacy that one generation leaves to the next. And a “sacred heritage” is one that
is embodied with that which is holy and Divine.
I am convinced that this “sacred heritage,”
of which Dr. King spoke, has two components that I will highlight here today. They
are: (1) Faith in God and (2) Love of liberty.
Indeed, the earliest immigrants to this
land were people of faith who came here to escape the tyranny of an oppressive
state and an oppressive state church. They believed that God providentially guided
them to this land, which they envisioned as a land of freedom for all oppressed
peoples.
This is the “sacred heritage” to which
Dr. King referred and that is embodied in the following people, movements, and
documents.
The
Pilgrims (1620)
Dr. King spoke fondly of the Pilgrims and
probably had them in mind when he referred to the nation’s “sacred heritage.”
We normally think of religious persecution as the Pilgrims’ reason for fleeing England
and carving out a new life in the New World. Fleeing persecution, however, was
not their only reason.
In the Mayflower Compact, the Pilgrims
gave a proactive two-fold reason for their move to America in 1620. They had
come, they said: (1) for the glory of God and (2) for the advancement of the
Christian faith.
Although they were not
the first to settle in the New World, the Pilgrims’ experience has captured the
imagination of the American public more than any of the early immigrants to
these shores. This, no doubt, is because of their deep faith in God, their love
of liberty, and their willingness to risk it all for their vision of a free and
godly society. They, no doubt,
were in Dr. King’s mind when he spoke of this nation’s “sacred heritage.”
The
United Colonies of New England
By 1643, thousands of new immigrants had
arrived in New England and new towns and colonies were springing up. Sensing a
need for some sort of central government that would arbitrate boundary disputes
and facilitate a mutual defense, they formed they United Colonies of New
England.
The United Colonies of New England was a
federalist system in which each colony retained its autonomy and the powers of
the central government were limited by the constitution, which they formulated.
The opening statement of their constitution explains why they had come to the
New World. It reads,
Whereas we all came into these parts of
America with one and the same end and aim, namely to advance the kingdom of our
Lord Jesus Christ and enjoy the Liberties of the Gospel in purity and peace (Hyatt, 1726: The Year that Defined America, 31).
The faith of these early immigrants in God
and their love for Liberty make them also a part of that “sacred heritage” to
which Dr. King referred and which me must stand on guard to preserve.
The Great Awakening
(1726-70)
After a time of moral and spiritual decline
among the descendants of the Pilgrims, Puritans, and other early immigrants, a great,
spiritual awakening began in 1726 that morally transformed Colonial America.
Dubbed the “Great Awakening” by historians, entire towns repented and put their
faith in Jesus Christ.
One of America’s Founding Fathers, Benjamin
Franklin, described the transformation that came over his hometown of
Philadelphia when the Awakening arrived there in 1739. He wrote,
From
being thoughtless or indifferent about religion, it seemed as if all the world were growing religious so that
one could not walk
through the town in an evening without hearing psalms sung in different
families of every street (Hyatt, Abolitionist Founding Fathers, 14).
In fact, so transforming was the Awakening,
that a British official in America wrote to his superiors in England and said,
“If you ask an American who is his master, he will tell you he has none, nor
any governor but Jesus Christ.”
In this revival, racial and cultural barriers
were broken down as the Gospel was shared with all people regardless of race or
social standing. In addition, blacks and whites worshipped together as the
fires of revival burned up and down the eastern seaboard.
Having studied America’s founding, Dr. King
knew of the Great Awakening and it was surely in his mind when he spoke of
America’s “sacred heritage.”
An
Anti-Slavery Movement Emerges from the Awakening
Out of the Great Awakening there arose a
powerful anti-slavery movement as Awakening preachers began, not only to offer
salvation to individuals, but to attack the institution of slavery itself as
sinful and evil in the sight of God.
Samuel Hopkins (1721–1803), for example, who
had been tutored by Jonathan Edwards, was outraged by what he saw while
pastoring in Newport, Rhode Island, an important hub in the transatlantic slave
trade. He declared, “This whole country have their hands full of blood this
day.”
Methodist, Baptist, Quaker, and Puritan
preachers carried the fight against slavery even into the South and to
slaveowners. This is what historian, Benjamin Hart, was referring to when he
wrote, “Among the most ardent opponents of slavery were ministers, particularly
the Puritan and revivalist preachers” (Hyatt, Abolitionist Founding Fathers,
22).
This abolition movement gained momentum
and eventually turned multitudes against slavery, including America’s founding
fathers. It is part of this nation’s “sacred heritage” that Dr. King had come
to cherish.
The First Continental Congress (1774)
The influence of the Great Awakening and the abolition movement it
spawned, was obvious when the First Continental Congress met on September 5,
1774. The delegates opened with an extended time of Bible reading and prayer.
They also began their proceedings each day with prayer led by Rev. Jacob
Dusche, whom they invited to be their chaplain.
They had met out of great, widespread concern about the Intolerable Acts
that had been imposed on the Colonies by the British. Now, British troops had
been sent to enforce those Acts and had taken control of the city of Boston and
closed its port. The situation was so oppressive that colonists had begun using
the word “enslavement” for their situation.
The revivalist preacher, Samuel Hopkins, mentioned
above, delivered a pamphlet to each member of the Congress challenging them and
asking how they could complain about “enslavement” to Great Britain and ignore
the “enslavement” of so many Africans in the Colonies.
Before they departed on October 26, the
Congressional delegates passed a resolution saying the slave trade should be
abolished and that nations engaged in it should be boycotted. This was at a time
when slavery was accepted and practiced in most of the world. Historian,
Christian M. McBurney, called this ban
on the slave trade “a stunning and radical move” and “the first
nationally organized antislavery effort in American history, and one of the
first in world history.”
At a time when slavery was accepted and
practiced in most of the world, America’s founders were turning against it.
This is part of our nation’s “sacred history.”
America’s
Founders Turn Against Slavery
Dr. Thomas Sowell, who happens to be
black, has written of the stunning turn of America’s founders against slavery
at a time it was being practiced in most of the world. Even those Founders who
owned slaves admitted that it was sinful and abhorrent in the sight of God.
Sowell wrote,
Slavery was just not an issue, not even among intellectuals, much less among
political leaders, until the 18th century–and then it was an issue
only in Western civilization. Among those who turned against slavery in the 18th century were George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Patrick Henry, and other
American leaders. You could research all of 18th century Africa or
Asia or the Middle East without finding any comparable rejection of slavery
there (Hyatt, Abolitionist Founding Fathers, 9).
It was, of course, the Great Awakening,
and the abolition movement that emerged from it, that turned multitudes in
Colonial America, including the Founders, against slavery. Here are excerpts from
their own testimony.
“There is not a man living who wishes more sincerely than I do, to see a plan
adopted for the abolition of slavery.” – George Washington
“Every measure of prudence ought to be assumed for the
eventual total extirpation of slavery from the United States . . . I have
throughout my whole life held the practice of slavery in abhorrence.” – John
Adams
“Slavery is an atrocious debasement of human nature and a source
of serious evils.” – Benjamin
Franklin
“Slavery
is a lamentable evil as repugnant to humanity as it is inconsistent with the
Bible and destructive of liberty.” Patrick Henry
“Slavery is a Hydra sin and includes in it every violation of the
precepts of the Law and the Gospels.” – Benjamin Rush
“It is our Duty therefore, both as free Citizens and Christians,
not only to regard with compassion the injustice done to those among us who are
held as slaves, but endeavor, by lawful ways and means, to enable them to share
equally with us in that civil and religious Liberty with which an indulgent
Providence has blessed these States; and to which these, our Brethren are by
nature, as much entitled as ourselves. – Alexander Hamilton
“We hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are
created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable
rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.” – Thomas
Jefferson
America’s founding
generation understood the above words by Jefferson, and found in the
Declaration of Independence, to be an attack on slavery and they were commonly used by abolitionists in their fight
against slavery.
America’s Founders were,
in fact, at the forefront of the fight to end slavery at a time it was
practiced in most of the world. This is a vital part of our “sacred heritage.”
America’s
Colorblind Founding Documents (1787)
Because of the power of the Awakening and
the anti-slavery sentiments it produced, America’s founding documents are
colorblind. There are no classifications based on race or skin color and no
mention of slaves or slavery. There is nothing in the founding documents to indicate
that the rights guaranteed therein do not apply to every person.
The famous abolitionist and former slave,
Frederick Douglas, understood this about the founding documents, and said, “Anyone of
these provisions in the hands of abolition statesmen, and backed by a right
moral sentiment, would put an end to slavery in America.”
Dr. King understood this and in his “I
Have a Dream” speech, he declared, “I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply
rooted in the American dream.” He went on to say,
When the architects of our Republic wrote
the magnificent words of the
Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every
American was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all men, yes, black men as well as white men, would be guaranteed
the "unalienable Rights" of "Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.
Then quoting
from the words of the Declaration of Independence, he proclaimed,
I have a dream that
one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed:
"We hold these
truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.
For
Dr. King, the problem was not with our founding documents. The problem was that
Americans were not living up to the vision and ideals expressed in those
founding documents. Americans were not living up to the “sacred heritage” the
founding generation had passed along to us.
This
is why each generation must be morally and spiritually renewed. A nation
birthed out of a Great Awakening can only survive if succeeding generations are
periodically renewed by such awakenings.
We Must Guard this Sacred Heritage
Karl
Marx said, “People without a heritage are easily persuaded.” His statement explains
why there are such vicious attacks today on America’s Founders. If the
socialists/Marxists in our midst can destroy America’s “sacred heritage,” their
goal of transforming America into a socialist/Marxist society will be made much
easier.
This
is why we must stand with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and save our nation’s
“sacred heritage.” This is why we must ask God to visit this land once again with another
great, national spiritual awakening.
America! America!
God shed His grace on thee,
And crown thy good with brotherhood
From sea to shining sea!
This article is derived from Dr. Eddie Hyatt's books, Abolitionist Founding Fathers and 1726: The Year that Defined America, available from Amazon and his website at www.eddiehyatt.com.
This was also a message delivered by Dr. Eddie Hyatt on July 4, 2021 at
Rock Church International in Virginia Beach VA. The message can be found at this link. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sgIB5g6zgi4
