1996 issue 2 - history study: the declaration of independence and the american enlightenment -...

8/12/2019 1996 Issue 2 - History Study: The Declaration of Independence and the American Enlightenment - Counsel of Chal

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like

Voltaire, Diderot, and

Helvetius, garner 2 of the

citations. The Third

Enlightenment,

typified

by

Beccaria, Rousseau, Mably and

Raynal,

received

4 of

the

citations (Ibid.

,

p.

52) It

ought

to

be remembered also that this

listing includes both negative as

well

as

positive

referel1ces (some of

the references

to

the more radical

writers were negative rather than

complementary) .

Rushdoony

also points out that

just because Americans quoted

from Enlightenment thinkers in no

way proves they were sympathetic

to their overall philosophies:

Enlightenment writings were

known

to

Americans;

human affairs . A modern

historian would be hard-pressed to

find any American,

let

alone a

leader in the movement toward

political separation, who believed

such a

Clod

would

or

could

exist.

North, op. cit., p. 95)

TIlOse leaders

in

this country

who have been called Deists did

not

have this view

of Clod.

Benjamin Franklin (who is

consistently referred to as a Deist)

was hardly one

of

the

European

stripe. Eidsmoe observes, Franklin

was a deist as a young man, but he

became disenchanted with deism.

\N'hile Franklin probably never

became a Christian in the orthodox

sense, he came a

long

way

from

the

dark to

find political truth, and

scarce able

to

distinguish

it

when

presented to us, how has it

happened, Sir, that we have not

hitherto.once thought of humbly

applying

to

the Father of lights

to

illuminate our understandingsl In

the beginning of the Contest with

CI

Britain, when we were sensible

of danger we had daily prayer in

this room for the divine protection.

-- Our prayers, Sir, were heard,

and they were graciously

answered. All of us who were

engaged in the struggle must have

observed frequent instances of a

Superintendingprovidence in our

favor. To that kind providence we

owe this happy opportunity

of

consulting in

peace

in

arguing their

case for

independence,

American thinkers

freely resorted

to

the

thinkers who

carried

weight with

I

have lived Sir a long

time and the

longer

I

live,

the more convincing proofB I Bee of

on

the means

of

establishing our

future

national

Europeans, but this did

not mean an

acceptance

of

their

framework. American

thiB

truth -- that

God governB in

the

affairB

of

men.

And

if a

Bparrow

cannot

fall

to

the ground

without hiB

notice is it

probable that

an

empire can riBe

without

felicity. And have

we now forgotten

that powerful friendl

or do we imagine that

we no longer need

thinking was still essentially

Christian, and its context was

more theocentric than humanistic.

The Myth of an American

Enlightenment. The Journal

of

Christian Reconstruction, vol.

III,

Summer. 1976,

no.

1,

p. 70)

Deism, in its consistent

European form, never had a wide

follOWing in America. As North

notes:

English Deism was never

imported in its original

form.

A

consistent

Deist

argued

that

Clod

is

remote.

Clod once

built the world,

but since then he has permitted it

to function autonomously, almost

as a giant cosmic

clock

might

operate.

Clod

is

therefore wholly

removed

from his handiwork, an

uninterested, or at

least

only

passively interested, spectator to

deism

in his eighty-four years.

Christianity and the Constitution,

p.

44)

It was Franklin who only three

years before

his death, stood to call

the Constitutional Convention

to

prayer: The small progress we

have made after

4

or five weeks

close

attendance continual

reasonings with each other -- our

different sentiments

on

almost

every question , several of the last

producing as many noes as ays , is

methinks a melancholy proof of

the imperfection of the Human

Vnderstanding. We indeed

seem

to

feel our own want of

political

wisdom, since we have been

running about in search

of

it

In this situation of this

Assembly, groping as it were in

his assistancel I have

lived,

Sir,

a long

time, and the longer I live, the

more convincing proofs I see of this

truth -- that Clod

governs

in the

affairs of men. And if a sparrow

cannot fall to the ground without

his notice,

is

it probable that an

empire can rise without his aidl

We have been assured, Sir, in the

sacred writings, that except the

Lord build the House they labour

in vain that build it. I

firmly

believe this; and I also believe that

without his

concurring

aid we

shall succeed in this political

building no better than the

Builders of

Babel: We shall

be

divided by

our

little partial local

interests; our projects will be

confounded, and we ourselves

shall

become a reproach and bye

word down

to

future ages. And

March, 996 l' THE COUNSEL

of

Chalcedon t 2


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what is worse, mankind may

hereafter from this unfortunate

instance,

despair of establishing ,

(jovernments by Human Wisdom

and leave

t

to

chance,

war and

conquest.

I

therefore beg leave to move

-

that henceforth

prayers

imploring

the assistance

of

Heaven, and

its

blessings

on

our deliberations,

be

,held

in

this

Assembly every

morning

before

we proceed to

business, and that

one

or

more of

the

Clergy

of

this City

be

reqUested to officiate in

that

service. (quoted from Madison's

notes on the Constitutional

Convention

in

Max

Farrand, The

influenced

by

Deism,

among other

things is certainly to be granted, '

but,

unless

one charges these

statements off as

the

most

arrant

kind of hypocrisy, it becomes

equally clear

that

even stronger

colonial

influences were at work.

Here, in clear and forthright

language

from

these men,

is

Calvinisms predestination and

total providence (Ibid.)

John Adams and Jefferson

whQ

both privately

rejected

Trinitarianism, never

publicly

acknowledged

their:Vnitarian

beliefs

--

it

would

have been

political suicide, Historian

Edmund S.

Morgan,

states,

In

preached to

the

masses as a

religious

revival, and had the

astounding

foTiune to

succeed.

(Ibid" p:97)

The

language

of

the

Declaration

itself contradicts Deism: We,

'

therefore,

the

representatives of

the

Vnited

States

of America, in

general

congress,

s s e m b l e d ~

appealing

to the

Supreme Judge of

the world

for

the

rectitude of

our

intentions, do,

ill

the

Name, and

by

the

authority of

the good

People

of these Colonies, solemnly ,

publish and

declare,

That

These

Vnited

Colonies ate,

and

of Right

ought

to be,

free and independent

states;

, , . And

for

the

support of

Records of the Federal

Convention of 1787,

vol.

.

;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;rn this

Declaration,

with a

firm

reliance on the

protection of Divine

Providence, We

mutually

pledge to

each

other our Lives, our

Fortunes, and our sacred

Honor.

In

the

DeclaratIon

of

Independece:

I pp.

450-45.2)

Thomas

Jefferson also

made statements

which

show him

to

be

something other than the

classical Deist:

Can the

liberties of a nation

be

"God is appealed to at the Supreme Judge

of the world and the authore; tee;tify

th t

their reliance

ie;

the protection of DIvIne

Providence. The god of

Deie m

eQuid

not

cone;le;tently be appealed

to in these

terme;.

sure

when we

remove

their only irm

basis,

a conviction

in

the

minds of

the

people,

that ,

these

liberties

are

the

gift

of (jodi

that they

are

not

to be

violated but

with His wrath

Indeed

I

tremble

for Tily country; when I

reflect

that

(jod

is just;

that His

justice

cannot

sleep forever;

that a revolution of

the wheel of

fortune

; a changing of

situation, is among possible events

;

that

it

may become

probable

by

supernatural interference The :

Almighty

has no

attribute which

can

take side with us in that

event.

(quoted by

R. J.

Rushdoony, This

Independent

Republic, p. 6)

Jefferson,

though clearly influenced

by deism, could probably be more

accurately

be

described as

a

Vnitarian.

Rushdoony

goes

on to

comment, That

both these

men

[Jefferson

and

Franklin]

were

America deism claimed few

adherents

before

the last quarter of

the eighteenth century

(quoted

by North,

op. cit., p, 96)

In

other

words,

the

Ame an

Enlightenment, such as t was,

occurred after,

not before, the War

of Independence.

Deism was savaged by colonial

churchmen.

Rushdoony observes

that

Deism

,always had the flavor

of

foreignness,

of

something alien

and hostile. (Rushdoony, op. cit.,

p.

10 Perry

Miller (a

confessing

atheist

himself)

makes

this .

observation:

Actually, European

deism

was an exotic plant in

America,

which never

struck roots

in

the

soil. Rationalism was

never

so widespread as liberal historians,

or those fascinated by Jefferson,

have

imagined.

The basic fact is

that the

Revolution

had

been

22

t THE COUNSl'L

of

Chalcedon

t

Match,

1996

Again, this is not the

kind

of

language

one

' ,

would expect from aconsistent

Deist. (jod is appealed to as the

Supre "e Judge of the

world

and

the

authors testify

thattheir

reliance

is

the proteCtion

of DiVine

Providence. The

god

'

of

Deism .

could not consistently e

appealed

to in these terms.

Does

this mean that th,e.

writers

of tl)e Declaration actually

intended

to

convey a fully b i b l i ~ l

and

theologically

orthodox view

of

the (jod ofthe Bible by

these

terms No,

not

necessarily,

~ e s

it

mean

that

Jefferson actu

'

ally

beiieved

in

biblical revelation

Of

course not All

it

means is that

there

may well

be

a better

way to

look

at

this

document

than through

the

eyes of

a atheistic ,

egalit1 rian.

(to be continued)

'

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