Two Major Ways the Bible Motivated the American Revolution

In the last few decades, it has become popular to deemphasize the influence of the Bible on the American Revolution. Proponents of this theory sometimes argue that the Founding Fathers were simply rationally motivated by their own economic self-interest. Contrary to popular belief, this research suggests two main ways that the Bible influenced the colonists' decision to seek their independence: first, the Bible was a major cultural influence that informed the colonists' identity and justified their growing desire to rebel; second, the Founding Fathers and other social leaders consistently utilized biblical themes and citations as tools in their efforts to stoke the colonial coals of indignation and promote independence from Great Britain. 

The Bible as a Major Cultural Influence

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Americans in this era, including the Founding Fathers, not only read the Bible, but were born and bred in a richly biblical cultural soil. As if to dispel all question, historian Daniel Dreisbach in his 2017 Reading the Bible with the Founding Fathers emphatically states that "the American founders read the Bible."¹ This was, in part, because it was foundational in the pre-war colonial culture in which they lived. In even the most fundamental ways, it influenced their language, ideas, behavior and public discourse. Dreisbach explained that this revolutionary era of Americans "was sufficiently biblically literate that many would have known a quote, paraphrase, or allusion was biblical in origin even without quotation marks or explicit attribution."² 

Contrary to those in favor of a more economic or rationalist interpretation, noted biblical scholar Andrew Skinner, concluded that, "images and even language drawn from the pages of the Hebrew Bible were at least as powerful a force in shaping the new nation as John Locke or Thomas Paine."³ For example, it informed their view of themselves as God's chosen people. Like the enslaved Israelites, who God ultimately delivered, the Americans saw themselves as divinely destined for freedom from their tyrannical oppressors. 

The Bible as a Tool for Stoking the Fires of Independence

The Founding Fathers weaponized the Bible in their efforts to stoke the colonial coals of indignation and promote Independence from Great Britain. Donald Lutz, who performed a survey of American political literature, including that of the Founding Fathers, noted that their political discourses were filled with biblical themes, allusions and citations.⁴ Lutz adds that a comprehensive assessment of "the political literature of the war years" makes it quite apparent the "extent to which biblical sources used by ministers and traditional Whigs undergirded the justification for the break with Britain" and "the rationale for continuing the war."⁵

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In his 2010 work, God of Liberty, Thomas Kidd explains how, in addition to economical and ethical considerations, the colonists invoked a religious rationale for first rebelling and ultimately breaking with their mother country.⁶ Kidd states that, "Tyranny was not just political; it was religious" and sprouted from "the same malignant root: the spirit of popery and arbitrary power."⁷ Colonial preacher Johnathan Mayhew used the Biblical prophet Samuel as a template of true patriotism for colonists to follow; specifically, that Samuel recognized the wickedness of King Saul, and, as "a true patriot, zealous for the liberties and intere[s]ts of his country" recognized when his king's "behaviour became intolerable; and anointed a far better man to reign in his [s]tead."⁸ 

Dreisbach states emphatically that the "founders who fought for and secured independence from Great Britain" not only "read the Bible" but they also "incorporated it into their political discourse."⁹ Ultimately, they would also weave biblical principles and confidence into the nation's founding documents, The Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, as well as rituals, including George Washington taking the Presidential Oath of Office with his hand on the Bible.

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Conclusion

While rationalism and economics clearly contributed to the colonists' decision to break with Great Britain, it would be a mistake to discount the influence of the Bible. Colonial advocates for independence, especially the Founding Fathers, knew the Bible and employed it extensively in their efforts toward independence and founding a new nation. They not only read it, but were surrounded by a culture saturated in biblical understanding and confidence. 

Furthermore, they clearly and consistently utilized biblical themes and citations in their efforts to stoke the colonial coals of indignation and promote independence from Great Britain. Perhaps Dreisbach said it best when he noted, "The detachment of American history from its generative biblical culture impoverishes our understanding of the American experiment in self-government."¹⁰

Footnotes: 

1 Daniel L. Dreisbach, Reading the Bible with the Founding Fathers, (New York: Oxford University Press, 2017), 1.

2 Ibid., 21.

3 Andrew C. Skinner, “The Influence of the Hebrew Bible on the Founders of the American Republic," in Sacred Text, Secular Times: The Hebrew Bible in the Modern World, ed. Leonard Jay Greenspoon and Bryan F. LeBeau, 13–34, (Omaha, NE: Creighton University Press, 2000), 31.

4 Donald S. Lutz, The Origins of the American Constitution, (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1988), 136.

5 Ibid., 142.

6 Thomas S. Kidd, God of Liberty: A Religious History of the American Revolution, (New York: Basic Books, 2010), 5.

7 Ibid. 

8 Jonathan Mayhew, A Discourse Occasioned by the Death of the Honourable Stephen Sewall, (Boston, Massachusetts: Richard Draper, 1760), 16, Sabin Americana: History of the Americas, 1500-1926, link.gale.com/apps/doc/CY0100651324/SABN?u=vic_liberty&sid=bookmark-SABN&xid=20446b81&pg=1. Accessed 3 Feb. 2024.

9 Dreisbach, Reading the Bible, 1.

10 Ibid., 9.