Free Republic

Part I – The Origin of Liberty The United States became a nation through a grand self-declaration of independence on July 4, 1776. The American colonialists-turned-revolutionaries fought a valiant and victorious battle against Great Britain to back up the audacious claim made in their Declaration of Independence. In 1788 the Constitution of the United States was ratified. A new nation was born that would stand as the bastion of liberty for centuries to come because of its religious influence. Ironically, many citizens of this very same nation today writhe at the suggestion that religion is, or could be, responsible for...

AURORA GENERAL ADVERTISER, Philadelphia, February 1, 1802 This issue contains on page 2 a contemporary newspaper printing of the famous Thomas Jefferson letter to the Danbury Baptist Association regarding the separation of church and state, reading in part: "...believing with you that religion is a matter which lies soley between Man and his God, that he owes account to none other for his faith of his worship, that the legitimate powers of government reach actions only, and not opinions, I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should 'make no law...