Christianity and American Independence

The Great Awakening also had a powerful political dimension, particularly in the southern colonies. The Anglican faith had long nurtured the old ties between the colonies and the Mother Country. Baptists and Methodists, however, felt no such connection. Moreover, as the new sects emphasized personal belief and action over traditional church structures, they were less willing than their older counterparts to accept America’s continued submission to Great Britain. As a result, scriptural defenses of the cause of independence could be heard coming from growing numbers of preachers throughout the colonies.

In 1775 the English political philosopher and pro-American Member of Parliament Edmund Burke said, “The religion most prevalent in our northern colonies is a refinement of the principle of resistance: it is the dissidence of dissent, and the Protestantism of the Protestant religion.” American Protestants had fled religious and political oppression in the seventeenth century. In the 1760s and 1770s, they called upon that tradition of dissent to cry out against what they considered to be British tyranny.

Biblical Basis for Uprising

Let everyone be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God. ² Consequently, whoever rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves. ³ For rulers hold no terror for those who do right, but for those who do wrong. Do you want to be free from fear of the one in authority? Then do what is right and you will be commended. ⁴ For the one in authority is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for rulers do not bear the sword for no reason. They are God’s servants, agents of wrath to bring punishment on the wrongdoer. ⁵ Therefore, it is necessary to submit to the authorities, not only because of possible punishment but also as a matter of conscience. ⁶ This is also why you pay taxes, for the authorities are God’s servants, who give their full time to governing. ⁷ Give to everyone what you owe them: If you owe taxes, pay taxes; if revenue, then revenue; if respect, then respect; if honor, then honor.

Romans 13:1-7

What does this passage teach about political authority and revolutionary activity? How do you think a revolutionary who followed the teachings of the New Testament might interpret Romans 13:1–7?

Hopefully, you see that the text counsels obedience to the law and to those who hold existing political authority. So someone who follows these teachings would naturally be opposed to political revolution. This should help to put yourself in the difficult position of those American revolutionaries who sought to follow the teachings of the New Testament, yet also chose to overturn the political authorities ruling them.

Now look at the same passage in a sermon by Jonathan Mayhew from 1750 entitled, “A Discourse concerning Unlimited Submission and Non-Resistance to the Higher Powers with Some Reflections on the resistance Made to King Charles I” (They were really good at naming things back then.)

Let us now trace the apostle’s [that is, Paul’s] reasoning in favor of submission to the higher powers, a little more particularly and exactly. For by this it will appear, on one hand, how good and conclusive it is, for submission to those rulers who exercise their power in a proper manner: And, on the other, how weak and trifling and inconnected [sic] it is, if it be supposed to be meant by the apostle to show the obligation and duty of obedience to tyrannical, oppressive rulers in common with others of a different character.

The apostle enters upon his subject thus—Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers; for there is no power but of God: the powers that be, are ordained of God. Here he urges the duty of obedience from this topic of argument, that civil rulers, as they are supposed to fulfill the pleasure of God, are the ordinance of God. But how is this an argument for obedience to such rulers as do not perform the pleasure of God, by doing good; but the pleasure of the devil, by doing evil; and such as are not,
therefore, God’s ministers, but the devil’s!

… Thus, upon a careful review of the apostle’s reasoning in this passage, it appears that his arguments to enforce submission, are of such a nature, as to conclude only in favour of submission to such rulers as he himself describes; i.e. such as rule for the good of society, which is the only end of their institution. Common tyrants, and public oppressors, are not entitled to obedience from their subjects, by virtue of anything here laid down by the inspired apostle.

As you can see, the teaching of the day was pressing towards revolution. Not because it is in the Bible but because the Bible didn’t forbid it strongly enough. It was not just Mayhew, but many other pastors and writers of the time who would use the Bible as a tool to stir up rebellion. Thomas Paine (who we previously mentioned was a deist) used the Bible in his wide-spread pamphlet Common Sense to tear down the monarchy. In it, he says, “Of more worth is one honest man to society, and in the sight of God, than all the crowned ruffians that ever lived.”

Declaration of Independence

There is no simple or straightforward consensus about how religion influenced the philosophical and intellectual ideals of the American Revolution. Historians, in fact, disagree about the significance of religion. The American revolutionaries framed their resistance to England primarily in terms of Enlightenment philosophical principles of natural rights. Despite the fact that the idea of natural rights does not appear in the Bible, such principles were not understood by most American to be contrary to religious belief; indeed, many Americans understood the philosophical arguments for revolution to be supported by their religious beliefs. As one historian, James Hutson, recently wrote, “Religion played a major role in the American Revolution by offering a moral sanction for opposition to the British—an assurance to the average American that revolution was justified in the sight of God.”

The Declaration of Independence itself contains four references to a higher power:

• The American people are said to assume the “separate and equal station which the Laws of Nature and Nature’s God entitle them”
• Certain unalienable rights are said to be “endowed” by the “Creator”
• The signers of the Declaration appeal to the “Supreme Judge of the world” for the rectitude of their intentions
• The Declaration concludes “with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence.”

In 1818, long after he left the presidency, John Adams captured the harmony between religion and revolution felt by many of the American colonists in the following reflection:

But what do we mean by the American Revolution? Do we mean the American war? The Revolution was effected before the war commenced. The Revolution was in the minds and hearts of the people; a change in their religious sentiments of their duties and obligations. While the king, and all in authority under him, were believed to govern in justice and mercy, according to the laws and constitution derived to them from the God of nature and transmitted to them by their ancestors, they thought themselves bound to pray for the king and queen and all the royal family, and all in authority under them, as ministers ordained of God for their good; but when they saw those powers renouncing all the principles of authority, and bent upon the destruction of all the securities of their lives, liberties, and properties, they thought it their duty to pray for the continental congress and all the thirteen State congresses.

There might be, and there were others who thought less about religion and conscience, but had certain habitual sentiments of allegiance and loyalty derived from their education; but believing allegiance and protection to be reciprocal, when protection was withdrawn, they thought allegiance was dissolved.

Adams’s letter reveals that to the signers of the Declaration, the “Supreme Judge of the world” supported the American cause for independence. In other words, resistance to political tyranny was understood to be consistent with obedience to God. Religion may not have been the source of all the political ideals of the American Revolution, but for many revolutionary Americans religion animated and supported the cause for independence.

Why and how did Americans use religious arguments to justify revolution? Do you find these arguments convincing? Were the Founding Fathers justified in calling for revolution based on Romans 13:1-7? I’d love to know your thoughts, please leave a comment below.