Many historians over the years have tried to sift through the ages to find a single intelligible source for the great experiment in freedom and self-governance that is the American experience.
From the moment the explorers’ ships began landing on the shores of the New World to the development of the colonies, through the American Revolution, through a great Civil War, to the nation’s position on a contemporary world stage, there have echoed the constant themes of religious freedom, economic freedom and individual freedom.
Some have wanted to attribute the American experience to the Enlightenment, or to philosophers ranging from Plato and Cicero to Locke, Montesquieu, and Hume. American democracy shows traces of all these men as well as the trend of the times toward a republican form of balanced government—executive, legislative, and judicial.
Although there is much evidence for all these influences in the history of the country, there is another influence—one that often gets much shorter shrift than the others—that winds through the four hundred year history of the land like a golden thread. That influence is the Bible—both the Hebrew Scriptures , and the New Testament on freedom.
An overarching theme of America’s development has been the drive to freedom. And that drive was often nourished and inspired by the Bible. From the time of the earliest settlers, we can easily identify these three principal freedoms:
Please read our comment policy before commenting.