Unless the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain who build it… Psalm 127:1a (NASB)
On September 3, 1783, after eight long years of “times that try men’s souls,” Great Britain finally recognized America’s independence with the signing of the “Treaty of Paris.” In the aftermath, to keep our fledgling nation together, the “Articles of Confederation” were adopted.
But the “Articles” proved inadequate to bring sufficient cohesion to the original thirteen colonies if America was to become a great nation. Each state pursued its own interests. States raised tariffs against one another, coined their own money, and concluded trade agreements with foreign nations at the expense of other states.
George Washington, who had held the continental army together during those trying years of war, saw that America was about to dissolve. He wrote letters to the key leaders who had helped create our country and declared that “something must be done, or the fabric will fall, for it is certainly tottering.”
In response a constitutional convention of fifty-five men representing each of the thirteen states convened in Philadelphia on May 25, 1787. The intent was to patch up the “Articles of Confederation,” but it soon became evident that only an entirely new constitution would suffice.
But what was the constitution to say? Smaller states feared being overwhelmed by larger states. The south feared domination by the more populous north. Some states had paid their war debts. Others wanted the new congress to assume them. Rancor filled the air. Only the presence of George Washington, who presided over the convention, kept the delegates in place. Even still, the creation of a true United States of America seemed an insurmountable task. Hopelessly deadlocked, the delegates prepared to leave in failure.
It was then that America’s venerable elder statesman, Benjamin Franklin, a known skeptic in matters of religion, stood to his feet and gave the speech that broke the logjam, some of which is excerpted here.
“Mr. President,
How has it happened…that we have not hitherto once thought of humbly applying to the Father of Lights to illuminate our understandings? In the beginning of the contest with Great Britain, when we were sensible of danger, we had daily prayer in this room for the divine protection….And have we now forgotten that powerful friend? I have lived, sir, a long time, and the longer I live, the more convincing proofs I see of this truth—that God 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 aid? We have been assured, sir, in the sacred writings, that ‘except the Lord build the house, they labor 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….
“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 the city be requested to officiate in that service.”
Dead silence followed his speech, as the stunned delegates realized that they had forgotten to include God in their deliberations. When Franklin’s suggestion was adopted, an atmosphere of good will resulted. The representatives of each state all realized that they had to give a little in order to draft a workable constitution.
On September 17, 1787 the convention ended with nearly every delegate signing on to the new constitution. It remained for the state legislatures back home to ratify the agreement. Two years later a Bill of Rights was added as the first ten amendments to our constitution, in order to ensure freedom to individual citizens. Thus came into existence the document that has held our nation together for 245 years.
It can be argued that our constitution was a delicate balancing act of compromise. That is true, but enshrined in it are also the immutable principles of God, as found in the Bible. Most of the delegates were believers in Christ from one denomination or another, who understood the biblical truth of mankind’s sinfulness due to the fall in the Garden of Eden. Knowing therefore that only God is perfect and that no one human or body of humans could be entrusted with too much power, they conceived of three co-equal branches of government; the judicial, the legislative, and the executive, based upon Isaiah 33:22.
“For the Lord is our judge, the Lord is our lawgiver, the Lord is our king; He will save us.” (NASB)
“The American Constitution is the most wonderful work ever struck off at a given time by the brain and purpose of man,” spoke British statesman William Gladstone a century later.
But at the time John Adams gave warning. “Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.” How right he was. Today we see our nation unraveling because, as Ben Franklin observed at the convention, many of us have forgotten God. Only a new Great Awaking of biblical Christian faith will suffice to preserve America as “the land of the free and the home of the brave.”
