We are blessed to live in a land that offers peace, opportunity, and a high standard of living, where we enjoy livelihood, the freedom to worship as we please, and family fellowship unlike anywhere else on the planet – for all this we are thankful and especially express this thanks every year at the end of November.

But how often do we dig farther into our nation’s roots and history to be genuinely thankful of God for the foundation that was laid by men and women who, inspired by Him, paved the way for the countless blessings we enjoy today?

Our nation’s history is marked by groundbreaking milestones that set us apart from any other nation in the world. It is this divine inspiration and Providence, intentionally written with a capital P, that set in motion the birth of a people that have been unparalleled by any other populace, nation, or period of development ever, to create the longest-living republican democracy in history, and the environment and circumstances that have resulted in the freest people on earth.

For the sake of argument we can say that it all began with Christopher Columbus, to sho popular belief attributes the discovery of our continent, even to the point of a national holiday being named after him. A historical character not without controversy, he was by most accounts a pious, devout Catholic Christian, who embarked on his unprecedented explorations with a strong Christian conviction and purpose.

After he returned to Lisbon, Portugal, from his first voyage, he wrote on March 14, 1493, the account of his journey to King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella, in a letter relayed through royal court treasure Rafael Sanchez, a letter which Columbus closed with the following testimony:

“The great success of this enterprise is not to be ascribed to my own merits, but to the holy Catholic faith and the piety of our Sovereigns, the Lord often granting to men what they never imagine themselves capable of effecting, as He is accustomed to hear the prayers of His servants and those who love His commandments, even in that which appears impossible; … Let Christ require upon earth as he does in heaven, to witness the coming salvation of so many people, heretofore given over to perdition.”

Almost 130 years later, as the first Pilgrim voyagers approached the North American coast in the fall of 1620, they realized that they would, in all likelihood, be in uncivilized territory, requiring there to be some established order and unity between them, before they began to inhabit and cultivate this land.

To that end, before departing their ship, the Mayflower, for the first time, they structured a simple agreement, binding themselves together with a common mission and purpose.

Within the 199-word text is also written, “In the name of God, Amen. We whose names are underwritten, … Having undertaken, for the Glory of God and advancement of the Christian Faith and Honor of our King and Country, a Voyage to plant the First Colony in the Northern Parts of Virginia. ..”

The document was written in William Bradford’s hand and dated “Anno Domini 1620.” It is one of the rare early examples of free men covenanting together to form a government of sorts, which would go on to eventually become the unprecedented United States of America, another unique example of citizens declaring their independence and forming a nation, the size and impact of which has never before been witnessed by history.

The story of our nation is replete with seemingly endless examples of persecuted, most commonly for this religious beliefs, seeking sanctuary for the free practice of their religion, and the unhindered enjoyment of “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” Not the least of these seekers was William Penn, who was persecuted in England for his Quaker beliefs and denunciation of the Church of England, and who ultimately incorporated and governed what is no the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, when King Charles II granted Penn the vast land to settle a family debt. In 1701 Penn created Pennsylvania’s first constitution , titled the “Charter of Privileges,” whose primary purpose seemed to focus on the guarantee of practicing one’s religion freely and without persecution. In his Charter he wrote:

“Because no People can be truly happy, though under the greatest Enjoyment of Civil Liberties, if abridged of the Freedom of this Consciences, as to their Religious Profession and Worship: And Almighty God being the only Lord of Conscience, Father of Lights and Spirits; and the Author as well as Object of all divine Knowledge, Faith and Worship, who only doth enlighten the Minds, and persuade and convince the Understandings of People, I do hereby grand and declare, That no Person or Persons … who shall confess and acknowledge One almighty God, the Creator, Upholder and Ruler of the World … shall be in any Cast molested or prejudices . . . because of his or their conscientious Persuasion of Practice, nor be compelled to frequent or maintain any religious Worship, Place or Ministry, contrary to his or their Mind, or to do or super any other Act or Thing, contrary to their religious Persuasion. AND that Persons who also profess to believe in Jesus Christ, the Saviour of the World, shall be capable ,,, to serve this Government in any Capacity, both legislatively and executively. …”

This revolutionary document granted extraordinary freedom of religion in the New World, causing Pennsylvania to be, at the time, the only territory in the colonies where Roman Catholicism could also be freely practiced. Penn’s Charter was the law of the land in Pennsylvania from 1701 until 1776, when it yielded a formal constitution for the commonwealth.

Penn’s historic frame of government served as a model for the subsequent state constitutions, as well as for the U.S. Constitution. In fact, today each of the 50 states’ constitutions makes reference to God, most in the preamble.

In March 1776 the Continental Congress and its president, John Hancock, issued their first thanksgiving proclamation, citing, “It becomes the indispensable duty of these hitherto free and happy colonies, with true penitence of heart, and the most reverent devotion, publicly to acknowledge the over ruling providence of God . . .”

Lather that same year, a year that truly changed the world, a group of american patriots who would surely have been hanged as traitors of the British crown, banded together in the stifling Pennsylvania State House chambers of a swelteringly hot Philadelphia summer to profess to the people of the American colonies that “Nature’s God” and the “Creator” gave meant their innate rights, including “Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” There were deeply God-fearing, prayerful, and thankful men who made sure that this precedent-setting Declaration of Independence was firmly root in their reliance upon the sovereign Ruler of the universe.

And so the wheels were set in motion, and streams of their companions and descendants reaffirmed our nation’s foundation in an unmistakable Judeo-Christian devotion and worldview. To cite just a handful of them, Thomas Jefferson wrote in July of 1774, “The God who gave us life gave us liberty at the same time. …”

In the Constitutional Convention, on June 28, 1787, James Madison entered into the congressional record the speech of Benjamin Franklin, delegate from Pennsylvania, who said, within a much longer presentation:

“…God Governs in the affairs of men. And if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without His notice, is it probable that an empire can rise without his aid? We have been assured, Sir, in the sacred writings, that ‘except the Lord build the House they labour in vain that build it.’ I firmly believe this . . . I therefore beg leave to move that henceforth prayers imploring the assistance of Heaven, and its blessings on our deliberations,  be held in this Assembly every morning before we proceed to business. …”

To this day both houses of Congress begin each day of our nation’s business with prayer.

In his farewell address to the people of the United States on September 19, 1976, George Washington said,

“ … And let us with caution indulge the supposition that morality can be maintained without religion … reason and experience both forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle. …”

John Adams, second President of the United States, said in a speech on October 11, 1798, “Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.”

Francis Scott Key, author of our national anthem, wrote into its fourth verse, “And this be our motto, ‘In God is our trust!’”

Throughout our history we have affirmed our nation’s reliance on God. As we gather at the Thanksgiving table, and throughout this month and year, let’s remember that without fertile soil intended for a bountiful harvest we cannot reap any good fruit or reward.

Perhaps Abraham Lincoln said it best in his 1863 Proclamation for a National Day of Prayer:

“… it is the duty of nations as well as of men to own their dependence upon the overruling power of God … and to recognize the sublime truth, announced by the Holy Scriptures and proven by all history: that those nations only are blessed whose God is the Lord. …”  

*Providence Forum is a nonprofit organization that preserves, defends and advances the faith and values of our Founding Fathers. Ralf Augstroze is also the supervising producer of the nationally syndicated Proclaiming the Word with Peter Lillback television program. (www.ProvidenceForum.org, 866-55-FORUM)