[Ed Current]

The most celebrated American historian, George Bancroft, called Calvin "the father of America," and added: "He who will not honor the memory and respect the influence of Calvin knows but little of the origin of American liberty." To John Calvin and the Genevan theologians, President John Adams credited a great deal of the impetus for religious liberty (Adams, WORKS, VI:313). This document includes a justification for rebellion to tyrants by subordinate government officials; this particular justification was at the root of the Dutch, English, and American Revolutions.

Authors Most Frequently Cited by the Founders

Authors Most Frequently Cited By the Founders of the United States

The following chart enumerates European and Biblical contributions to the founders' political thought. These are the people and sources that the founders quoted most often. The political literature included in this study was literature written by the founders of the United States between 1760 and 1805 (approximately one third of the significant secular literature and about ten percent of the significant sermons).

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Source: Donald S. Lutz, "The Relative Importance of European Writers on Late Eighteenth Century American Political Thought," American Political Science Review 189 (1984), 189-97.

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	Frequency of Citation
Rank	Author	Percentage
1	St. Paul (Biblical)	9.00%
2	Montesquieu (Enlightenment)	8.30%
3	Sir William Blackstone (Common Law)	7.90%
4	John Locke (Whig)	2.90%
5	David Hume (Enlightenment)	2.70%
6	Plutarch (Classical)	1.50%
7	Cesar Beccaria (Enlightenment)	1.50%
8	Trenchard & Gordon (Whig)	1.40%
9	De Lolme (Enlightenment)	1.40%
10	Baron Pufendorf (17th Century Protestant Political Theorist)	1.30%
11	Sir Edward Coke (Puritan/Common Law)	1.30%
12	Cicero (Classical)	1.20%
13	Thomas Hobbes (17th Century Political Theorist)	1.00%
14	Robertson (Enlightenment)	0.90%
15	Hugo Grotius (17th Century Protestant Political Theorist)	0.90%
16	Rousseau (Enlightenment)	0.90%
17	Bolingbroke (Whig)	0.90%
18	Francis Bacon (Puritan)	0.80%
19	Price (Whig)	0.80%
20	Shakespeare	0.80%
21	Livy (Classical)	0.80%
22	Alexander Pope (Enlight.)	0.70%
23	John Milton (Puritan)	0.70%
24	Tacitus (Classical)	0.60%
25	Coxe (Whig)	0.60%
26	Plato (Classical)	0.50%
27	Abbe Raynal (Enlightenment)	0.50%
28	Mably (Enlightenment)	0.50%
29	Machiavelli	0.50%
30	Vattel (Enlightenment)	0.50%
31	Petyt	0.50%
32	Voltaire (Enlightenment)	0.50%
33	Robinson	0.50%
34	Algernon Sydney (Whig)	0.50%
35	Somers (Whig)	0.50%
36	Harrington (Whig)	0.50%
37	Rapin (Whig)	0.50%

 

 

[D-fendr]

Without declaring indepence there would be no constitution. And the constitution derives its existence and authority from the declaration – in part:

The Declaration of Independence of the Thirteen Colonies In CONGRESS, July 4, 1776

The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America,

When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed…

[Borges]

I was about to add Montesquieu to my enumeration but held back at the last moment. Still, the 18th century thinkers made a good showing on that chart. And if someone could explain how The Ten Commandments are the basis of the Constitution I'm all ears. They are ethical precepts which are not law and I would presume no one would want most of them to be (Keep the Sabbath Day Holy, covet thy neighbors goods, Honor they Father and Mother...). good words to live by but not legal principles.

[Dataman]

Excellent refutation, Ed.

I haven't read the whole thread yet but so far I have seen no mention of the fallacious nature of the secularist argument from silence. The whole notion of "no mention of God, therefore secularism" is also a strong case against secularism since there is no mention of secularism whatsoever. Using their own argument, "no mention of secularism, therefore God."