The political idealism of American political and religious thinking was largely based upon the political writings of Montesquieu, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, John Calvin, John Locke (“the social contract theory”)--and more particularly--John Witherspoon, President of Princeton University. Rousseau once wrote: “Never exceed your rights and they will soon become unlimited.” What do you think he may have meant by this?

If then George Washington is the “Father of our Country”, and also James Madison, the Father of the American Constitution, then the Rev. Dr. John Witherspoon is definitely the “Father of our Government”. The forgotten Rev. Dr. Witherspoon was the mentor for six of the original thirteen Founding Fathers (at Princeton)--and influenced all fifty-five signers of the American Constitution. Undoubtedly, he is the most underrated among the Founding Fathers. Witherspoon was only ordained minister to sign the Declaration of Independence.

His prize student was James Madison. Just before the framing of the U.S. Constitution---Madison translated the entire Bible from Hebrew and Greek into English---under superb guidance of the Rev. Dr. John Witherspoon at Princeton University. The consequent influence of the Holy Bible upon the idealism of the Constitution is unmistakable.

There were vast numbers of Englishmen who refused to fight during our Revolutionary War. They were in favor of American independence. Though Great Britain was henceforth a constitutional monarchy, the (great) Glorious Revolution changed Britain forever. An article was published in England in 1776, which read as follows:
“The daring passion for the American is liberty—and that in its fullest extent. Nor is it the original natives only to whom this passion is confined. Our colonists sent thither seem to have imbibed the same principles.”

For this reason, King George III had to hire mercenaries from the German Duchy of Hesse to fight for England. Prior to the (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776, the fairly unknown Mecklenburg Declaration was adopted in Charlotte, North Carolina. North Carolina had already declared their independence from Great Britain on May 20, 1775. Listen to this phrase:

“We hereby declare ourselves a free and independent people; we are, and ought to be, a sovereign and self-governing association, under control of no power other than that of our God and the general government of Congress; to the maintenance of which we solemnly pledge to each other our mutual cooperation and our lives, our fortunes and our most sacred honor.”

Thomas Jefferson drew this phrase from North Carolina’s very colorful and insightful Mecklenburg Declaration when he drafted the eventual Declaration of Independence.

The time for action---as far as the British were concerned---had come in 1775. The British fleet descended upon New York City, America’s largest port harbor city and the second largest metropolitan area. (Philadelphia was the largest city with 12,000 people.) By the time of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, therefore, the British had already amassed a colossal floatilla in the harbor of New York City awaiting the formal completion of the remarkably proceedings of our Congress in Philadelphia.

After the Declaration of Independence was signed in the City of Philadelphia, the Battle of Long Island and the Battle of New York started. The American Revolutionary War was well underway on a grand scale. We hear a great deal prior about what happened in Boston and Lexington in the Massachusetts, but the real Revolutionary War in its intensity began at this point.

Although many colonists came to America empty-handed, they did not come empty-minded. They brought with them the heritage, culture, and ideas from the lands of their birth. In forming the new nation and developing its Constitution the following century, the 1787 Convention delegates did not intend to put into practice new and untried ideas. The framers based their political concepts on the tried and tested ideas of the past. These men were intelligent, well-educated, and very widely read. They combined the best ideas they read about to establish the government of the United States.

The Founding Fathers were all directly or indirectly influenced by the theology of John Calvin, the founder of the Reformed tradition. Calvin believed that human beings are basically evil and self-interested. He believed that human nature is—basically--constant, unchanging, and unchangeable (apart from the saving grace of the Lord Jesus Christ).

Holding this view of humanity he favored a governing authority with strict laws to curb sinful desire. John Calvin distrusted the intentions of governing officials. He would agree, with Lord Acton, that:

“Power corrupts; Absolute power corrupts absolutely.”

The founders of this nation held this basic view of human nature adopted from Calvin--whether they were Presbyterian, Baptist, Roman Catholic, Quaker, or even Deist. They were not interested in the far-out utopian ideas of the French Enlightenment.

They knew that human beings are normally not capable of functioning with unselfish motives--the good of society. Rather, the best we can expect from human nature is that people can pursue an enlightened self-interest working at productive jobs to earn money for themselves and their families and obeying laws in order not to go to jail. Founders designed American government with this view of human nature in mind.

They recognized that government must be powerful enough to restrain the evil impulses of the masses. Furthermore, government should not be so weak that it cannot restrain the masses and degenerate into anarchy and chaos. However, they recognized that any human ruler would possess a sinful nature and wayward ways. Therefore, rulers could not be trusted with absolute power.

Most of the problems the founders were faced with when they gathered at the Great Convention Hall in 1787 had to do with setting up “checks and balances” and “separation of powers” relating to sin and power. The insight on how to deal with this dilemma came from John Witherspoon, who was both political genius and Bible scholar.

Given the sinful nature of humanity, how should the government’s power be allocated to give the government sufficient power to serve and restrain the masses effectively, and that, without giving it so much power that it would become tyrannical and oppressive? The answer to that question came in the hallowed words of the Reverend Dr. Witherspoon in his sermon of May 17, 1776: