JUNE 19, 2006

BELIEFS & PRACTICES
Divining intentions: What did America's founders really mean?

Biographers, historians and constitutional lawyers have been kept busy for more than 200 years trying to determine exactly what America's founders said, did and meant. That debate is especially alive on the subject of the founders' faith: What did they mean by religion? What faiths did they believe and practice? Scholars have tried to understand the founders in the context of the late 18th century, a time of political change and intellectual vigor. Meanwhile, some Christians are eager to claim that the founders were orthodox Christians who intended the new nation to reflect that faith.

In time for the 230th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, a rash of new books on the founders adds new voices and views on the founders and religion. Nobody disputes that America's founders often invoked God and Providence in their eloquent writings, but those words have given rise to changing interpretations over time. Some call for America to fulfill its mission as a Christian nation. Others argue that America was uniquely conceived to have no single established religion but to make room for all.

The newest writings by historians explore the nuance and complexity of a group of men who held differing views on religion as well as other matters but agreed on a complex system of government. What the founders meant has always been subject to political debate, beginning in their own time, since the founders themselves were politicians, not philosophers. That means there are gaps between the founders' ideals and actions, just as there are for politicians today. Men who espoused liberty for all held slaves. Legal rights for women came later than rights for emancipated slaves.

Why it matters

Because the founders are an essential part of America's tradition, laws and identity, what they had in mind in crafting our foundational documents remains a passionate question relevant for today's most contentious issues: religion and education, immigration, health care, poverty, government funding of religious social services, public expressions of religion and more.

Angles for reporters

The First Amendment's provision of religious liberty is frequently cited by Christians seeking a public forum to express their beliefs. Have these issues arisen in your area? Are they connected to views about what the founders meant? Independence Day provides an opportunity to focus on these topics.

The First Amendment's reference to religion includes tension because it says the government should neither impose nor prohibit religion: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof." How does that tension play out today? Is one valued above the other?

Who's reading these new books in your area? Lawyers? Church leaders? Check bookstores and forums where books are discussed.

Liberty for all is an idea articulated for the ages by a group of 18th-century white Western Protestant men. How do people of color, women and non-Christians relate to the ideas and ideals of America's Founding Fathers?

Jump to background

Click the map for interview sources in your state and region

National sources

• ReligionLink has compiled a guide to church-state experts and organizations, including experts organized by region.
• Jon Meacham is managing editor of Newsweek and author of the recently published American Gospel: God, the Founding Fathers, and the Making of a Nation (Random House, 2006), which has become a best seller. Meacham says the founders struggled to give religion its proper place in society. He uses Benjamin Franklin's term public religion to describe belief in God as the source of morality, individual rights and dignity, and a charitable spirit, all things which make for a stable and well-governed society. Contact Meacham through Sally Marvin at Random House, 212-572-2141.
• David L. Holmes, who lived for some years in the home of James Monroe, teaches religious studies at the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Va. His critically praised new book, The Faiths of the Founding Fathers (Oxford University Press, 2006), argues that the founders of the nation were pious men but that relatively few were orthodox Christians and that many were deists. Contact 434-295-7030, dlholm@wm.edu.
• Brooke Allen, a cultural and literary critic, is the author of Moral Minority: Our Skeptical Founding Fathers (Ivan R. Dee, 2006), in which she argues that most of the founders were not terribly devout and were deeply shaped by the humanist Enlightenment rather than by Christianity. The book is based on her essay "Our Godless Constitution" in the Feb. 21, 2005, The Nation. She is based in Brooklyn, N.Y. Contact her through her Chicago publisher Ivan R. Dee, 312-787-6262, publicity@ivanrdee.com.
• Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich’s most recent book is Rediscovering God in America: Reflections on the Role of Faith in Our Nation's History and Future (Integrity, 2006). Gingrich has a doctorate in history. Contact him through Washington-based spokesperson Rick Tyler, 540-338-1250, ricktyler@newt.org.
• Michael Novak is a philosopher, theologian and public policy commentator at the American Enterprise Institute in Washington, D.C. Washington's God: Religion, Liberty, and the Father of Our Country (Basic, 2006), co-written with his daughter Jana Novak, examines the faith of the nation's first president. The Novaks say that according to the primary and secondary research they did, the evidence is clear that George Washington was no deist. Through careful consideration of his character and his actions and writings as general then president, a clearer picture of the importance of faith to our nation’s first president emerges. Novak is also the author of On Two Wings: Humble Faith and Common Sense at the American Founding (Encounter Books, 2001). Contact through his assistant at the institute, 202-862-5839, mnovak@aei.org.
• Richard Brookhiser is a journalist and author of several works about America's founders, most recently What Would the Founders Do? Our Questions, Their Answers (Basic, 2006). The historical founders are not gods, and yet Americans' feelings about them today seem more religious than historical, he says. Contact Brookhiser through Basic's publicity manager, Tim Brazier, 212-340-8162.
• Gordon S. Wood is a professor of history at Brown University in Providence, R.I., specializing in the American Revolutionary era. His newest book is Revolutionary Characters: What Made the Founders Different (Penguin Press, 2006). In it he argues that the founders had a clear vision of the life of a nation as a matter of moral progress. Contact 401-863-2820, Gordon_Wood@brown.edu.
• James H. Hutson is chief of the Manuscript Division of the Library of Congress and author of The Founders on Religion: A Book of Quotations (Princeton University Press, 2005). Manuscript Division holdings include a rough draft of the Declaration of Independence in Thomas Jefferson's own handwriting. Hutson has taught history at the College of William and Mary and Yale University. Contact 202-707-5383.
• Alf. J. Mapp Jr. is an eminent scholar emeritus at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Va., and author of The Faiths of Our Fathers: What America's Founders Really Believed (Rowman & Littlefield, 2003). He lectures often on the founders. The Sept. 11, 2001, attack on America triggered both anxiety and a sense of patriotism that has resulted in more attention being paid to the founders, he says. He also says the founders agreed on the importance of religion but did not necessarily agree in their religious views. Contact 757-484-6273, amapp@cox.net.
• David Barton is an author and founder of WallBuilders, which emphasizes an orthodox Christian biblical interpretation of America's foundation. The Fort Worth, Texas, area organization uses original source documents for its research. Contact 817-441-6044.
• Tim LaHaye, co-author of Left Behind, the apocalyptic novel series, also wrote Faith of Our Founding Fathers: A Comprehensive Study of America's Christian Foundations (Master Books, 1996). Contact him through publicist Beverly Rykerd, 719-481-0537 (office), 719-440-2746 (cell).
• Phillip Muñoz teaches political philosophy and constitutional law at Tufts University in Medford, Mass. He is writing a book about the founders and religious freedom. Contact 617-627-2658, Phillip.Munoz@tufts.edu.
• Albert J. Raboteau specializes in African-American religious history at Princeton University. Contact 609-258-2761 or 609-258-4482 (department), raboteau@princeton.edu.
• Michelle Goldberg is a New York-based senior writer at Salon.com and author of Kingdom Coming: The Rise of Christian Nationalism (W.W. Norton, 2006), which discusses "dominion theology," which links Christianity and political governance. Contact her through Norton publicist Adele McCarthy Beauvais, 212-790-4295, amccarthy@wwnorton.com.
• Allen Weinstein was named the ninth archivist of the United States in 2005. He oversees the National Archives, whose mission includes enabling people to inspect government documents for themselves. The Archives' home page posts links to regional archives, research centers and presidential libraries, which local reporters may find helpful for reporting stories on the founders. Contact 866-272-6272.
• Carol Berkin teaches early American and women's history at Baruch College in New York. She wrote Revolutionary Mothers: Women in the Struggle for America's Independence (Knopf, 2005). Contact 646-312-4335 or 917-673-0361, cberkin@nyc.rr.com.
• Michael Beschloss is frequently quoted in the media about presidential history. He is NBC News' presidential historian. Contact him through kristind@washingtonspeakers.com.
• Peter A. Lillback is president of Westminster Seminary in Glenside, Pa., and author of George Washington's Sacred Fire (Providence Forum Press, July 2006). He says Washington was a Christian, not a deist, helping set a precedent for Christian involvement in public life today. Contact 1-800-373-0119.

Background

• Sixty-five percent of Americans believe that the nation's founders intended the U.S. to be a Christian nation and 55 percent believe that the Constitution establishes a Christian nation, according to the “State of the First Amendment 2007” national survey by the First Amendment Center.
• The National Archives contains the wording and information about important historical government documents, including the Declaration of Independence, the U.S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights.
• Read the text of Thomas Jefferson's famous 1802 letter referring to "a wall of separation between church and state"; this phrase is often cited in discussions of church-state relations.
• Read about Jefferson's religious beliefs, summarized by research staff at Monticello, Jefferson's home.
• Adherents.com lists the religious affiliations of signers of the Declaration of Independence, the Articles of Confederation and the U.S. Constitution.
• Deism is a European-American religious philosophy of the 17th and 18th centuries that emphasizes the use of reason, rather than revelation, in religion. Deists believe God created the world but does not intervene in it.
• The nonpartisan First Amendment Center provides an overview and history of the issue of religious liberty.
• Read a June 21, 2006, Religion BookLine article that discusses three new books about the faith of America’s founders.