The Naked Truth about Who Founded America?


Who Founded America? Who Wants to Reshape it as 'Amerika'? by Lloyd Harrison Whitling
The United States of America was founded as an experiment in secular democracy, never as a Xian nation as demagogues would have us believe. Many principles supporting its founding directly contradict common religious edicts and practices, an important example being the Principle of Natural Innocence described on another page in this site. Religion is typically founded on a principle that all are guilty until proven otherwise. In our secular nation, that idea is reversed so completely as to, by itself, make all claims of ours being a 'Xian nation' ridiculous. What did the founding fathers really have to say about their experimental project? Were they really Christians, as Orwell's Harlots keep on repeatedly proclaiming? —or were they something else, even, than the deists their opponents just as forcefully insist? You will find quotes on this page, that were extracted from collected communications of various sorts that passed between the people involved. If you are interested enough, you already know who each person is and what role each played. If you are not privy to that knowledge, make yourself so by Googling or Yahooing them on your favorite search engine, or begin at the links at the bottom of this page. And, don't feel bad. We all have a lot to learn, and a life too short and busy to make it easy for us. When you have read to the bottom of this page, you will know the answers to both the questions in its title, and will find links to further resources for verification. "Our civil rights have no dependence on our religious opinions, any more than our opinions in physics or geometry." --Thomas Jefferson -- "“Religious bondage shackles and debilitates the mind and unfits it for every noble enterprise....During almost fifteen centuries has the legal establishment of Christianity been on trial. What have been its fruits? More or less, in all places, pride and indolence in the clergy; ignorance and servility in laity; in both, superstition, bigotry, and persecution." --James Madison (the fourth President of the United States) (From Memorial and Remonstrance Against Religious Assessments)--
"Millions of innocent men, women, and children, since the introduction of Christianity, have been burnt, tortured, fined, and imprisoned; yet we have not advanced one inch toward uniformity. What has been the effect of coercion? To make one-half the world fools and the other half hypocrites. To support roguery and error all over the earth." --Thomas Jefferson: Notes on Virginia Q.XVII, 1782. ME 2:223--
"Thirteen governments [of the original states] thus founded on the natural authority of the people alone, without a pretence of miracle or mystery, and which are destined to spread over the northern part of that whole quarter of the globe, are a great point gained in favor of the rights of mankind." -- ( John Adams, in his "A Defence of the Constitutions of Government of the United States of America" [1787-1788] --
"No man has a natural right to commit aggression on the equal rights of another, and this is all from which the laws ought to restrain him." -- Thomas Jefferson --
"[L]egislators and rulers, civil as well as ecclesiastical, who, being themselves but fallible and uninspired men, have assumed dominion over the faith of others, setting up their own opinions and modes of thinking as the only true and infallible, and as such endeavoring to impose them on others, hath established and maintained false religions over the greatest part of the world and through all time: That to compel a man to furnish contributions of money for the propagation of opinions which he disbelieves and abhors, is sinful and tyrannical." ( Thomas Jefferson, "Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom," 1786; from Merrill D. Peterson, ed., Thomas Jefferson: Writings, New York: Library of America, 1984, p. 346. )
“...an amendment was proposed by inserting the words, ‘Jesus Christ...the holy author of our religion,’ which was rejected ‘By a great majority in proof that they meant to comprehend, within the mantle of its protection, the Jew and the Gentile, the Christian and the Mohammedan, the Hindoo and the Infidel of every denomination.’” -- Thomas Jefferson from his Biography --
"It behooves every man who values liberty of conscience for himself, to resist invasions of it in the case of others; or their case may, by change of circumstances, become his own." -- Thomas Jefferson, letter to Benjamin Rush, April 21, 1803
If ... the State provides a support for Preachers of the Gospel, ... it has a Right to regulate and dictate to. ... Yea, farewell to ... the “free exercise of Religion,” if civil Rulers go so far out of their sphere as to take the care and management of religious affairs upon them! [Virginia Baptists, Dec. 25, 1776]. --Julian P. Boyd, Papers of Thomas Jefferson, 1:661--
"An elective despotism was not the government we fought for." --Thomas Jefferson--
"Nothing but good can result from an exchange of information and opinions between those whose circumstances and morals admit no doubt of the integrity of their views." --Thomas Jefferson to Elbridge Gerry, 1797. ME 9:385--
".... If this [extending religion's influence on the basis of "reason alone"] is the path chosen by Omnipotence and Infallibility, what sense can there possibly be in "fallible and uninspired men ... setting up their own opinions and modes of thinking as the only true and infallible"? No sense at all, argued Jefferson, who found compulsion in religion to be irrational, impious, and tyrannical. If such compulsion is bad for the vulnerable citizen, its consequences are no more wholesome for the church: "It tends also to corrupt the principles of that very religion it is meant to encourage, by bribing, with a monopoly of worldly honours and emoluments, those who will externally profess and conform to it." --(E. S. Gaustad, "Religion," in Merrill D.. Peterson, ed., Thomas Jefferson: A Reference Biography, New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1986, p. 280.)--
"All, too, will bear in mind this sacred principle, that though the will of the majority is in all cases to prevail, that will, to be rightful, must be reasonable; that the minority possess their equal rights, which equal laws must protect, and to violate which would be oppression." --Thomas Jefferson--
"If the obstacles of bigotry and priestcraft can be surmounted, we may hope that common sense will suffice to do everything else. -- Thomas Jefferson --
In questions of power, then, let no more be heard of confidence in man, but bind him down from mischief by the chains of the Constitution. -- Thomas Jefferson --
"He who knows nothing is closer to the truth than he whose mind is filled with falsehoods and errors." -- Thomas Jefferson --
"In every country where man is free to think and to speak, differences of opinion will arise from difference of perception, and the imperfection of reason; but these differences when permitted, as in this happy country, to purify themselves by free discussion, are but as passing clouds overspreading our land transiently and leaving our horizon more bright and serene." --Thomas Jefferson to Benjamin Waring, 1801. ME 10:235 --
"The truth is that the greatest enemies to the doctrines of Jesus are those calling themselves the expositors of them, who have perverted them for the structure of a system of fancy absolutely incomprehensible, and without any foundation in his genuine words. And the day will come when the mystical generation of Jesus, by the supreme being as his father in the womb of a Virgin Mary, will be classed with the fable of the generation of Minerva in the brain of Jupiter." -- Thomas Jefferson, letter to John Adams, April 11, 1823 --
"I almost shudder at the thought of alluding to the most fatal example of the abuses of grief which the history of mankind has preserved — the Cross. Consider what calamities that engine of grief has produced!" -- John Adams, letter to Thomas Jefferson--
"We the General Assembly of Virginia do enact that no man shall be compelled to frequent or support any religious worship, place or ministry whatsoever, nor shall be enforced, restrained, molested, or burdened in his body or goods, nor shall otherwise suffer on account of his religious opinions or belief; but that all men shall be free to profess, and by argument to maintain, their opinions in matters of religion, and that the same shall in no wise diminish, enlarge or affect their civil capacities.... " --Thomas Jefferson, "Bill for Establishing Religious Freedom in Virginia"--
"Some have made the Love of god the foundation of morality. ... Whence arises the morality of the Atheist? ... Diderot, Dalembert, D’Holbach, Condorcet, are known to have been among the most virtuous of men. Their virtue then must have had some other foundation than the love of God." -- [Thomas Jefferson, June 13, 1814] -- --Dickinson W. Adams, Jefferson’s Extracts from the Gospels, 355.--
"Thirteen governments [of the original states] thus founded on the natural authority of the people alone, without a pretence of miracle or mystery, and which are destined to spread over the northern part of that whole quarter of the globe, are a great point gained in favor of the rights of mankind." -- ( John Adams, in his "A Defence of the Constitutions of Government of the United States of America" [1787-1788] --
"The priesthood have, in all ancient nations, nearly monopolized learning. And ever since the Reformation, when or where has existed a Protestant or dissenting sect who would tolerate a free inquiry? The blackest billingsgate, the most ungentlemanly insolence, the most yahooish brutality, is patiently endured, countenanced, propagated, and applauded. But touch a solemn truth in collision with a dogma of a sect, though capable of the clearest proof, and you will find you have disturbed a nest, and the hornets will swarm about your eyes and hand, and fly into your face and eyes." ( John Adams in a letter to John Taylor, The Life and Works of John Adams, 1851; from George Seldes, ed., The Great Thoughts, New York: Ballantine Books, 1996, p. 6. )--
"The United States of America have exhibited, perhaps, the first example of governments erected on the simple principles of nature; and if men are now sufficiently enlightened to disabuse themselves of artifice, imposture, hypocrisy, and superstition, they will consider this event as an era in their history. Although the detail of the formation of the American governments is at present little known or regarded either in Europe or in America, it may hereafter become an object of curiosity. It will never be pretended that any persons employed in that service had interviews with the gods, or were in any degree under the influence of Heaven, more than those at work upon ships or houses, or laboring in merchandise or agriculture; it will forever be acknowledged that these governments were contrived merely by the use of reason and the senses." -- John Adams, "A Defence of the Constitutions of Government of the United States of America" (1787-88)--
"The jaws of power are always open to devour, and her arm is always stretched out, if possible, to destroy the freedom of thinking, speaking, and writing." -- John Adams --
"The question before the human race is, whether the God of nature shall govern the world by his own laws, or whether priests and kings shall rule it by fictitious miracles." -- John Adams
"Abuse of words has been the great instrument of sophistry and chicanery, of party, faction, and division of society." -- John Adams --
"The frightful engines of ecclesiastical councils, of diabolical malice, and Calvinistical good-nature never failed to terrify me exceedingly whenever I thought of preaching." -- John Adams, letter to his brother-in-law, Richard Cranch, October 18, 1756, explaining why he rejected the ministry--
"We should begin by setting conscience free. When all men of all religions ... shall enjoy equal liberty, property, and an equal chance for honors and power ... we may expect that improvements will be made in the human character and the state of society." -- John Adams, letter to Dr. Price, April 8, 1785 --
"Whenever we read the obscene stories, the voluptuous debaucheries, the cruel and tortuous executions, the unrelenting vindictiveness with which more than half the Bible is filled, it would be more consistent that we call it the word of a demon than the word of God. It is a history of wickedness that has served to corrupt and brutalize humankind; and, for my part, I sincerely detest it, as I detest everything that is cruel." --Thomas Paine (The Age of Reason) --
"....when men yield up the privilege of thinking, the last shadow of liberty quits the horizon." -- Thomas Paine --
"The Faith [Christianity] you mention has doubtless its use. ... But I wish it were more productive of Good Works than I have generally seen it: ... Kindness, Charity, Mercy, and Public Spirit; not Holiday-keeping, Sermon ... Hearing, performing Church Ceremonies, or making long Prayers." --[Ben Franklin, June 6, 1753] (Leonard W. Labaree, Papers of Benjamin Franklin, 4:505.)--
"When a religion is good, I conceive it will support itself; and when it does not support itself, and God does not take care to support it so that its professors are obliged to call for help of the civil power, 'tis a sign, I apprehend, of its being a bad one." -- Benjamin Franklin, letter to Richard Price, October 9, 1780 --
"I cannot conceive otherwise than that He, the Infinite Father, expects or requires no worship or praise from us, but that He is even infinitely above it." -- Benjamin Franklin --
"Government, as well as religion, has furnished its ... devices for fattening idleness on the earnings of the people. It has its ... nobles, as that has ... priests. In short, Cannibals are not to be found in the wilds of America only, but are reveling on the blood of every living people. [Thomas Jefferson, January 29, 1815]" --Dickinson W. Adams, Jefferson's Extracts from the Gospels, 363.--
"Lighthouses are more helpful than churches." -- Benjamin Franklin, Poor_Richard_, 1758 -- --------------------------------------------------------- "The way to see by faith is to shut the eye of reason." -- Benjamin Franklin,_Poor_Richard_, 1758 --
"If we look back into history for the character of the present sects of Christianity, we shall find few that have not in turns been persecutors and complainers of persecution. The primitive Christians thought persecution extremely wrong in Pagans, but practiced it on one another. The first Protestants of the Church of England blamed persecution on the Roman church, but practiced it on the Puritans. They found it wrong in Bishops, but fell into the practice both here (England) and in New England" -- Benjamin Franklin, _Poor_Richard_, 1758--
"Religion I found to be without any tendency to inspire, promote, or confirm morality, serves principally to divide us and make us unfriendly to one another." -- Benjamin Franklin --
"That differences of opinion should arise among men on politics, on religion and on every other topic of human inquiry, and that these should be freely expressed in a country where all our faculties are free, is to be expected. But these valuable privileges are much perverted when permitted to disturb the harmony of social intercourse, and to lessen the tolerance of opinion." -- Thomas Jefferson: Reply to Citizens of Washington, 1809. ME 16:348 --
"Whenever we read the obscene stories, the voluptuous debaucheries, the cruel and tortuous executions, the unrelenting vindictiveness with which more than half the Bible is filled, it would be more consistent that we call it the word of a demon than the word of God. It is a history of wickedness that has served to corrupt and brutalize [hu]mankind." -- Thomas Paine --
"Of all the tyrannies that affect mankind, tyranny in religion is the worst." -- Thomas Paine --
"I do not believe in the creed professed by the Jewish Church, by the Roman Church, by the Greek Church, by the Turkish Church, by the Protestant Church, not by any Church that I know of. My own mind is my own Church." -- Thomas Paine --
"All national institutions of churches, whether Jewish, Christian, or Turkish, appear to me no other than human inventions, set up to terrify and enslave mankind, and monopolize power and profit." -- Thomas Paine --
"Persecution is not an original feature in any religion; but it is always the strongly marked feature of all law-religions, or religions established by law." -- Thomas Paine --
"Here it is that the religion of Deism is superior to the Christian Religion. It is free from all those invented and torturing articles that shock our reason or injure our humanity, and with which the Christian religion abounds. Its creed is pure, and sublimely simple. It believes in God, and there it rests." -- Thomas Paine --
"As priestcraft was always the enemy of knowledge, because priestcraft supports itself by keeping people in delusion and ignorance, it was consistent with its policy to make the acquisition of knowledge a real sin." -- Thomas Paine --
"The age of ignorance commenced with the Christian system." -- Thomas Paine --
"The United States of America should have a foundation free from the influence of clergy." -- George Washington --
"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof, or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press, or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances." -- First Amendment to the U.S.A. Constitution --
"One of the embarrassing problems for the early nineteenth-century champions of the Christian faith was that not one of the first six Presidents of the United States was an orthodox Christian." -- The Encyclopedia Brittanica, 1968, p. 420 --
"I would not dare to so dishonor my Creator God by attaching His name to that book (the Bible)." -- Thomas Paine --
"And I have no doubt that every new example will succeed, as every past one has done, in shewing that religion & Govt will both exist in greater purity, the less they are mixed together." --( James Madison, letter to Edward Livingston, July 10, 1822; from Jack N. Rakove, ed., James Madison: Writings, New York: Library of America, 1999, p. 789. )--
"Ecclesiastical establishments tend to great ignorance and corruption, all of which facilitate the execution of mischievous projects." -- James Madison, letter to Bradford, January 1774, from Albert J. Menendez and Edd Doerr, The Great Quotations on Religious Freedom --
"Because experience witnesseth that ecclesiastical establishments, instead of maintaining the purity and efficacy of Religion, have had a contrary operation. During almost fifteen centuries has the legal establishment of Christianity been on trial. What have been its fruits? More or less in all places, pride and indolence in the Clergy, ignorance and servility in the laity, in both, superstition, bigotry and persecution. Enquire of the Teachers of Christianity for the ages in which it appeared in its greatest lustre; those of every sect, point to the ages prior to its incorporation with Civil policy. Propose a restoration of this primitive State in which its Teachers depended on the voluntary rewards of their flocks, many of them predict its downfall. On which Side ought their testimony to have greatest weight, when for or when against their interest?" -- James Madison, Memorial and Remonstrance [ June 20, 1785] http://www.law.ou.edu/hist/remon.html --
"Question with boldness even the existence of God, because if there be one, he must more approve the homage of reason, than that of blindfolded fear." -- Thomas Jefferson, 1787 --
“Religious bondage shackles and debilitates the mind and unfits it for every noble enterprise....During almost fifteen centuries has the legal establishment of Christianity been on trial. What have been its fruits? More or less, in all places, pride and indolence in the clergy; ignorance and servility in laity; in both, superstition, bigotry, and persecution.” -- James Madison (the fourth President of the United States) Memorial and Remonstrance Against Religious Assessments --
"Who does not see that the same authority which can establish Christianity, in exclusion of all other religions, may establish with the same ease any particular sect of Christians, in exclusion of all other sects?" -- James Madison: Memorial and Remonstrance --
"Strongly guarded as is the separation between Religion and Government in the Constitution of the United States, the danger of encroachment by Ecclesiastical Bodies may be illustrated by precedents already furnished in their short history." -- James Madison, undated, "Detached Memoranda," William and Mary Quarterly, 1946 --
"It may not be easy, in every possible case, to trace the line of separation between the rights of religion and the Civil authority with such distinctness as to avoid collisions and doubts on unessential points. The tendency to usurpastion on one side or the other, or to a corrupting coalition or alliance between them, will best be guarded against by an entire abstinence of the Government from interference in any way whatsoever, beyond the necessity of preserving public order, and protecting each sect against trespasses on its legal rights by others." -- James Madison --
"The Civil Government, though bereft of everything like an associated hierarchy, possesses the requisite stability and performs its functions with complete success, whilst the number, the industry, and the morality of the priesthood, and the devotion of the people have been manifestly increased by the TOTAL SEPARATION OF THE CHURCH FROM THE STATE." -- James Madison --
"It was the Universal opinion of the Century preceding the last, that Civil Government could not stand without the prop of a Religious establishment, and that the Christian religion itself, would perish if not supported by a legal provision for its Clergy. The experience of Virginia conspicuously corroborates the disproof of both opinions. The Civil Government, tho' bereft of everything like an associated hierarchy, possesses the requisite stability and performs its functions with complete success; whilst the number, the industry, and the morality of the Priesthood, and the devotion of the people have been manifestly increased by the total separation of the Church from the State." -- James Madison, letter to Robert Walsh written "late in his life," in Robert L. Maddox, Separation of Church and State: Guarantor of Religious Freedom (1987) p. 39
"What influence, in fact, have ecclesiastical establishments had on society? In some instances they have been seen to erect a spiritual tyranny on the ruins of the civil authority; in many instances they have been seen upholding the thrones of political tyranny; in no instance have they been the guardians of the liberties of the people. Rulers who wish to subvert the public liberty may have found an established clergy convenient allies." -- James Madison, A Memorial and Remonstrance Against Religious Assessments, addressed to the Virginia General Assembly, June 20, 1785 --
"The settled opinion here is that religion is essentially distinct from Civil Govt. and exempt from its cognizance; that a connection between them is injurious to both; that there are causes in the human breast, which insure the perpetuity of religion without the aid of law; that rival sects, with equal rights, exercise mutual censorships in favor of good morals; that if new sects arise with absurd opinions or overheated imaginations, the proper remedies lie in time, forbearance and example; that a legal establishment of religion without a toleration could not be thought of, and without a toleration, is no security for public quiet & harmony, but rather a source itself of discord & animosity; and finally that these opinions are support by experience, which has shewn that every relaxation of the alliance between Law & religion, from the partial example of Holland, to its consummation in Pennsylvania Delaware N.J., &c, has been found as safe in practice as it is sound in theory. Prior to the Revolution, the Episcopal Church was established by law in this State. On the Declaration of independence it was left with all other sects, to a self-support. And no doubt exists that there is much more of religion among us now than there ever was before the change; and particularly in the Sect which enjoyed the legal patronage. This proves rather more than (less), that the law is not necessary to the support of religion." ( James Madison, letter to Edward Everett, March 19, 1823; from Jack N. Rakove, ed., James Madison: Writings, New York: Library of America, 1999, p. 796. )
"The purpose of separation of church and state is to keep forever from these shores the ceaseless strife that has soaked the soil of Europe in blood for centuries." -- James Madison --
"There is nothing which can better deserve our patronage than the promotion of science and literature. Knowledge is in every country the surest basis of public happiness." -George Washington (address to Congress, 8 January, 1790)
"I consider [trial by jury] as the only anchor ever yet imagined by man, by which a government can be held to the principles of its constitution." --Thomas Jefferson to Thomas Paine, 1789. ME 7:408, Papers15:269
“Christianity neither is, nor ever was, a part of the common law,” Thomas Jefferson, letter to Dr. Thomas Cooper, February 10, 1814
"Of all the animosities which have existed among mankind, those which are caused by difference of sentiments in religion appear to be the most inveterate and distressing, and ought most to be deprecated. I was in hopes that the enlightened and liberal policy, which has marked the present age, would at least have reconciled Christians of every denomination so far that we should never again see the religious disputes carried to such a pitch as to endanger the peace of society." -- (George Washington, letter to Edward Newenham, October 20, 1792; from George Seldes, ed., The Great Quotations, Secaucus, New Jersey: Citadel Press, 1983, p. 726.) --
"If I could conceive that the general government might ever be so administered as to render the liberty of conscience insecure, I beg you will be persuaded, that no one would be more zealous than myself to establish effectual barriers against the horrors of spiritual tyranny, and every species of religious persecution." -- George Washington, letter to the United Baptist Chamber of Virginia, May 1789, in Anson Phelps Stokes, Church and State in the United States, Vol 1.. p. 495, quoted from Albert J. Menendez and Edd Doerr, The Great Quotations on Religious Freedom --
Fears and pain of death here ... fears of what is to come hereafter. Priests ... Popes, Despots, Emperors, Kings, Princes, and Nobles, have been as credulous as shoe-blacks, boots, and kitchen scullions. The former seem to have believed in their divine rights as sincerely as the latter. [John Adams, 4-19-1817] *From Charles Francis Adams, Works of John Adams, 10:255.*
Who were these People? George Washington: Our first president (1789-97) John Adams: (1797-1801) Our second president, was involved in the adoption of the Declaration of Independence. Thomas Jefferson: (1801-09) Our third president authored the Declaration of Independence, in which he identified religion as "the tyranny of superstition". James Madison: (1809-17) Our fourth president, considered to be the author of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. James Monroe: (1817-25) Our fifth president and protegé of Jefferson, his term was known as "the era of good feelings", expressed the "Monroe Doctrine" Dec. 2,1823 in a message to congress. John Quincy Adams: (1825-29) Our sixth Deist president, argued in favor of the Declaration of Independence and became a member of the drafting committee, and took an eloquent stand against slavery and gag rules. Andrew Jackson, (1829-37) our seventh president, was the first to be of the Christian religion. Benjamin Franklin: Settled in Philadelphia to become a printer and then a publisher, most noted for Poor Richard's Almanac. His paper mills, one of the first in America, processed hemp into fine paper. A noted patriot, his wisdom and influence upon the founding of the fledgling USA will always be noteworthy. "Jefferson may be the most brilliant, ethical, and creative leader any nation ever had. He, not Washington, is the ethical father of the United States, although Tom Paine might have been the midwife." --John David Garcia-- Thomas Paine: Published the pamphlet, Common Sense, wrote The Age of Reason (nicknamed "the Atheist Bible") and The Rights of Man. His religion, he plainly professed to be deism. Called by some, "The Father of the Revolution", he led a vigorous life and influenced our nation at its roots, but died in poverty after it all. What makes it important? Your answer here. For more information: Click here.