Providence is an interesting word, commonly used to refer to God, but also to His divine will and the force through which God exerts that will on earth. When reading the writings of the Founding Fathers, they often would refer to Providence as acting during the course of the war.
George Washington wrote, “By the all-powerful dispensations of Providence, I have been protected beyond all human probability and expectation; for I had four bullets through my coat, and two horses shot under me, yet escaped unhurt, altho’ death was levelling my companions on every side.” In the mind of the men and women during the Revolution, God was on their side.
Other mentions of Providence or God’s will as it relates to the war or the founding of America as a country by the Founding Fathers include:
Samuel Adams
“The right to freedom being the gift of God Almighty, it is not in the power of man to alienate this gift and voluntarily become a slave.”
Benjamin Franklin
“Whoever shall introduce into public affairs the principles of primitive Christianity will change the face of the world.”
“Here is my Creed. I believe in one God, the Creator of the Universe. That He governs it by His Providence.”
“Rebellion to tyrants is obedience to God.”
Alexander Hamilton
“For my own part, I sincerely esteem it a system, which, without the finger of God, never could have been suggested and agreed upon by such a diversity of interests.”
Patrick Henry
“Three millions of people, armed in the holy cause of liberty, and in such a country as that which we possess, are invincible by any force which our enemy can send against us. Beside, sir, we shall not fight our battles alone. There is a just God who presides over the destinies of Nations, and who will raise up friends to fight our battles for us.”
James Madison
“We have staked the whole future of American civilization, not upon the power of government, far from it. We have staked the future of all of our political institutions … upon the capacity of each and all of us to govern ourselves … according to the Ten Commandments of God.”
George Washington
“It is the duty of all Nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey his will, to be grateful for his benefits, and humbly to implore his protection and favors.”
“Since we ought to be no less persuaded that the propitious smiles of Heaven, can never be expected on a nation that disregards the eternal rules of order and right, which Heaven itself has ordained: And since the preservation of the sacred fire of liberty, and the destiny of the Republican model of Government, are justly considered as deeply, perhaps as finally staked, on the experiment entrusted to the hands of the American people.”
In the minds of the Founding Fathers, whether they were Christian or deist, they did believe that God and His Providential will were behind their efforts to separate from England and their victory.
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