Faith of our Founding Fathers
By Virginia Vallee July 7, 2002
The following research and ideas are based on a presentation given by Virginia Vallee on the Faith of the Founders of the United States. The goal in this piece is to suggest some theories, identify relevant themes and give some examples.
1. THE U.S. FOUNDERS' FAITH IN REASON BONDED THEM INTO A PRACTICAL UNITY OF PROBLEM SOLVERS.
"A government held together by the bonds of reason only requires much compromise of opinion;…" [R118v16 p23; Jefferson 1824]
2. TO THEM, REASON MEANT A TALENT TO DEVELOP AND A TOOL TO USE.
"…be able to enjoy in safety the exercise of reason and the rights of man…" [C1 p151 Price]
3. IN THEIR EDUCATION THEY HEARD THAT GOD GAVE MAN REASON AND EXPECTED THIS GIFT TO BE USED WELL.
"By acting without thought or reason, we dishonour the God that made us reasonable creatures…" [R90 C21 p6, Isaac Watts (1674-1748)]
"Reason, a gift from God, is common to the whole species." [R225v3p41] Bolingbroke
"He (God) has given us Reason, to find out the Truth, and the real Design and true End of our Existence." [B19i/ p43-44; Adams, 1756, on Crawford]
4. THEY LIVED IN AN ATMOSPHERE WHERE REASON AND RELIGION WERE COMPLIMENTS, NOT CONTRADICTORIES.
"He that takes away reason, to make way for revelation, puts out the light of both…" John Locke (1632-1704) [B20 p289]
"It is…blasphemy against religion to suppose it cannot stand the test of truth and reason" [Thomas Jefferson in a letter to Dufief in 1814]
5. U.S. FOUNDERS, AS A RULE, DID NOT WORSHIP REASON OR TRY TO TURN "REASON" INTO A GOD AS FREQUENTLY HAPPENED IN THE FRENCH REVOLUTION.
"Reason is a faculty, or rather an aggregate of faculties, that is bestowed in different degrees,…" [R225v3p41 Bolingbroke]
6. U.S. FOUNDERS COULD ON MANY OCCASIONS REASON TOGETHER AND POOL THEIR KNOWLEDGE FOR GREATER EFFECT.
"We are going fairly through the experiment whether freedom of discussion, unaided by coercion, is not sufficient for the propagation and protection of truth,…No one ought to feel, under this experiment, more than myself.…I shall…go on…proving that a people, easy in their circumstances as ours, are capable of conducting themselves under a government founded not in the fears and follies of man, but on his reason,…" 1802 Jefferson (1743-1826) [B24 p95]
WHAT DID THE U.S. FOUNDERS MEAN
BY REASON?