WHEN THE BIBLE WAS KING IN AMERICA

The Bible was the most cherished and the most quoted book in early America. America’s founding generation found in the pages of the Bible its moral compass, its guide for ethics, and the lens through which it viewed and interpreted all of life. It is, therefore, not surprising that the second most popular book in early America proposed a ceremony making the Bible America’s king.

In January of 1776, Thomas Paine published his very popular book, Common Sense, in which he presented compelling arguments for independence from Great Britain. The book sold 500,000 copies, which would be like 60 million with today’s population.

The book played a primary role in convincing the colonists to declare their independence from Great Britain. In the book, Paine suggested a public ceremony that would show that Americans had replaced King George with the Word of God as their king.

Paine suggested an Independence ceremony in which America’s founding charter would be placed on a Bible and a crown placed on the charter. This would be a public demonstration that in the new nation the Law of God would be their king. He wrote,

But where says some is the King of America? I'll tell you Friend, he reigns above, and doth not make havoc of mankind like the Royal Brute of Britain. Yet that we may not appear to be defective even in earthly honors, let a day be solemnly set apart for proclaiming the charter; let it be brought forth placed on the divine law, the word of God; let a crown be placed thereon, by which the world may know, that so far as we approve as monarchy, that in America THE LAW IS KING.

This exact ceremony did not occur, but the same message was conveyed 11 years later when George Washington took the first presidential oath of office with his hand on a Bible. This act showed, that for Washington, the Bible was Supreme. When someone swears an oath, they swear by something greater than themselves. For Washington, the Bible was the highest tangible authority by which he could swear to uphold and defend the Constitution.

A ten-year study to find where America’s founders got their ideas for America’s founding documents, found that they quoted the Bible far more than any other source. America’s second president, John Adams, one of the most learned men in America, believed that if the Bible were truly king, it would produce a utopian paradise on earth. He wrote,

Suppose a nation in some distant Region, should take the Bible for their only law Book, and every member should regulate his conduct by the precepts there exhibited. In this Commonwealth, no man would steal or lie or any way defraud his neighbor but would live in peace and good will with all men—no man would blaspheme his Maker or profane his worship, but a sincere and unaffected piety and devotion, would reign in all hearts. What a utopia, what a paradise would this region be.

The major role of the Bible in the founding of America was highlighted in a 1982 article in Newsweek magazine, entitled “How the Bible Made America.” The authors, in vivid fashion, showed the Bible’s impact on the founding of America and wrote,

For centuries, the Bible has exerted an unrivaled influence on American culture, politics, and social life. Now historians are discovering that the Bible, perhaps even more than the Constitution, is our founding document: the source of the powerful myth of the United States as a special, sacred nation, a people called by God to establish a model of society, a beacon to the world.

America is in trouble today. Sixty plus years of vehement attacks on the Bible and its removal from the public life of the nation have produced a large element in our culture that is crude, cruel, selfish and intolerant. America must revisit the role of the Bible in her rise to prominence and in defeating slavery at a time it was being practiced around the world. This is what I do in my soon-to-be-published book entitled, The Book that Made America Great. Watch for it.

Dr. Eddie L. Hyatt is the author of numerous books on America's overt Christian origins, including 1726: The Year that Defined America, which documents how the Great Awakening, which began in 1726, had a direct bearing on the founding of America and the ending of slavery on this continent. His books are available from Amazon and his website at http://www.eddiehyatt.com.