The American Revolution
and How it Reflected the Highest Ideals of Western Civilization
M. Scott Sobie
Western Civilization
Dr. Mark Bird
December 8, 2011
On a summer day in July, 1776, a gathering of about fifty colonial British citizens
signed their names to a document that would mark an epic moment in the history of
western civilization. These men were delegates to the American continental congress
of the thirteen colonies and they were declaring their independence from Britain. The
Declaration of Independence that lay on the table of the meeting hall in the Philadelphia
statehouse that day contained the principles and ideals behind the American
Revolution.
Among the famous sentiments etched into that venerable document were the words,
“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.” Within these bold words can be observed some
of the fundamental ideas that had shaped western civilization for centuries: the intrinsic
equality of mankind, faith in God, universal human rights and liberty.
This paper will endeavor to show that the American Revolution was a powerful
culmination of the foremost influences which had shaped western culture.
Three Primary Contributing Traditions Behind Western Civilization
Before it can be possible to examine the founding of America in light of the highest
ideals of western civilization, it must first be determined what are those characteristics.
In his article, “Western Civilization, Our Tradition,” Professor of Political Science James
Kurth writes,
“Among scholarly interpreters of the West, it has been widely understood that
Western civilization was formed from three distinct traditions: (1) the classical culture
of Greece and Rome; (2) the Christian religion, particularly Western Christianity; and
(3) the Enlightenment of the modern era.”i
Although there are certainly many factors that have shaped the western world, these
three traditions have been among the strongest forces to determine the distinctive
attributes of western civilization. The motivating influence of these three traditions can
be clearly seen in the people, philosophy and political ideas involved in the formation of
America.
The Influence of the Christian Faith upon the People of the Revolution
There was no doubt in the mind of the French historian Alexis de Tocqueville that
religious faith was a strong factor in the early Americans’ push for freedom and
independence. As he analyzed the new nation of America just half a century after the
revolution, he wrote of the “spirit of Religion” combined with the “free spirit of Liberty”
which “in other places have been in frequent hostility, but which in America have been
admirably incorporated and combined with one another.”ii He then declared that religion
was actually “the cradle” of liberty in America.iii
Far from the complete rejection of religious faith that so characterized the French
Revolution, the American Revolution was actually motivated, in part, by the deep faith of
the founding fathers and colonial Americans and their belief in man’s God-given rights
of freedom. This can be seen in the fact that clergymen were a major part of the
formation of American. Gordon S. Wood, in his book “The American Revolution: A
History,” writes, “Protestant ministers were in the forefront of the Revolutionary
movement. In fact, it was the clergy who made the Revolution meaningful for most
common people.”iv
There is no question that not all of the founding fathers of America were theologically
orthodox Christians. Yet, even the most skeptical and deistic among the founders were
deeply influenced and motivated by religious faith that had come to them through the
influence of Christianity. Even Thomas Paine, probably the strongest skeptic of religion
among the founders, devoted a large part of his revolutionary pamphlet, “Common
Sense,” to a Biblical rationale for American independence!
It is true that, as the 1797 Treaty of Tripoli states, “the Government of the United
States is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion”v in the sense that it is a
theocracy or that Christianity is the mandated state religion. However, it is just as true
and certain that the deep religious faith of the founding fathers of America was a strong
motivating force in their movement for independence.
George Washington went so far as to say, “Reason and experience both forbid us to
expect that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle...Who that is a
sincere friend to [free government] can look with indifference upon attempts to shake
the foundation of the fabric?”vi
In William Jackman’s “History of the American Nation,” he describes one of the leading
American founders in this way: “None had greater influence than Samuel Adams—in his
private life, the devout Christian; in his public life, the incorruptible patriot.” vii
The other founding fathers expressed their personal faith in their speeches and
writings. James Madison called Christianity “the best and purest religion.”viii Thomas
Jefferson declared, ““To the corruptions of Christianity I am, indeed opposed; but not to
the genuine precepts of Jesus himself. I am a Christian, in the only sense in which he
wished any one to be.”ix John Adams, after recognizing what he believed were
corruptions in the Christian church stated, “Conclude not from all this that I have
renounced the Christian religion. Far from it...The ten commandments and the sermon
on the mount contain my religion.”x Benjamin Franklin cautioned his fellow Americans,
“We have been assured...in the Sacred Writings that except the Lord build the house,
they labor in vain that build it. I firmly believe this; and I also believe that without His
concurring aid, we shall succeed in this political building no better that the builders of
Babel.”xi
Clearly, religious faith and Christianity, in particular, had a deep influence in the
thinking and motivation of America’s founders who believed that it was God the Creator
who had endowed them “with certain unalienable rights.” This pillar of western
civilization became a pillar of the new American nation as well.
The Influence of the Age of Enlightenment upon the Philosophy of the Revolution
The Age of Enlightenment, which began in the middle of the seventeenth century, also
had an enormous influence upon western civilization. Although there were elements of
the Enlightenment that were antithetical to Christianity, the basic departure from
superstition to reason and from tyrannical oppression to egalitarianism were very much
in harmony with Biblical principles. According Kurth, the Enlightenment “provided the
ideas of liberal democracy, the free market, and the belief in reason and science as the
privileged means for making sense of the world.”xii
These ideas, which became hallmarks of western civilization, had profound influence
upon the American colonists and the philosophy of democracy, equality and liberty that
was a driving force behind the American Revolution.
Alexis de Tocqueville observed that these concepts which were made so popular by
the Age of Reason had actually come to American with the Puritans, who had arrived in
America seeking religious liberty. He writes, “Puritanism was not merely a religious
doctrine, but it corresponded in many points with the most absolute democratic and
republican theories...The boldest theories of the human reason were put into practice by
a community so humble that not a statesman condescended to attend to it!” xiii
This pursuit of the Enlightenment ideal of liberty continued to burn in the hearts of the
future generations of American colonists until it was embodied in the words of the
Declaration of Independence. Gordon S. Wood declares that the Declaration was “a
brilliant expression of Enlightenment ideals—ideals that still reverberate powerfully in
the lives of Americans and other peoples today.”xiv
The Influence of Greek and Roman Thought upon the Politics of the Revolution
The classical culture of democratic Greece and republican Rome provided the
underlying democratic political philosophies that would inspire western man in the
following centuries.
The European civilization from which the American colonists had come was a
successor to the Roman Empire which had, in turn, sprung from the golden age of the
Roman Republic. Rome had been significantly influenced by Greek culture and
thought. James Kurth described the significance of this influence when he wrote,
“Greece contributed the idea of a republic, while Rome contributed that of an empire.
Similarly, Greece contributed the idea of liberty, and Rome, that of law. When
combined, these ideas gave rise to the important Western concept of liberty under
law.”xv
Regarding the American Revolution, as John Adams himself referred to what he called
“revolution principles,” he made the argument that these principles were “the principles
of Aristotle and Plato, of Livy and Cicero...”xvi Historian George Bancroft explained that
the founding fathers of America “were aided in their deliberations by the teachings of the
law-givers of Greece; by the line of magistrates who had framed the Roman code; by
those who had written best in English on government and public freedom.”xvii
In fact, so deeply was the imagery of the ancient classical cultures ingrained in the
consciousness of the American founders that the fiery revolutionary, Samuel Adams,
would actually say that he dreamed of his town, Boston, becoming “a Christian
Sparta!”xviii Truly, political ideas of ancient Greece and Rome were a strong influence in
the founding of America.
The highest values and ideals of Western civilization were at work in the formation of
the United States of America. The Revolution marked a culmination of those positive
influences and a blending of them into one nation that would effectively carry the torch
of all that was good about western civilization into the future.
Bibliography
1. Western Civilization, Our Tradition by James Kurth—Fall 2003/Spring 2004,
Intercollegiate Review
2. The American Revolution by Gordon S. Wood
3. Democracy in America by Alexis de Tocqueville
4. History of the American Nation (Volume 2) by William J. Jackman
5. History of the United States (Volumes 1 and 2) by George Bancroft
6. WallBuilders.com - Historical Writings
(http://www.wallbuilders.com/LIBHistoricalWritings.asp)
Endnotes:
James Kurth, Western Civilization, Our Tradition—Fall 2003/Spring 2004
Intercollegiate Review, pg. 5
ii Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in America, vol.1, p. 42
iii Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in America , vol.1, p. 43
iv Wood, Gordon S. (2002). The American Revolution: A History (Modern Library
Chronicles) (p. 129).
v Treaty of Peace and Friendship, Signed at Tripoli November 4, 1796, Article 11
vi James D. Richardson, A Compilation of the Messages and Papers of the Presidents,
George Washington, vol. 1, p.212
vii William J. Jackman, History of the American Nation, vol.2, p.401
viii Daniel L. Dreisbach, ed., Religion and Politics in the Early Republic: Jasper Adams
and the Church-State Debate, p. 117
ix Albert Bergh, Writings of Jefferson, Vol. X, p.380
x Charles Francis Adams, The Works of John Adams, Second President of the United
States: With A Life of the Author, Volume IX
xi Henry D. Gilpin, ed., James Madison, The Papers of James Madison, Vol. II, p. 985.
xii James Kurth, Western Civilization, Our Tradition—Fall 2003/Spring 2004
Intercollegiate Review, pg. 6
xiii Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in America, vol.1, pgs. 31 and 41
xiv Wood, Gordon S. (2002). The American Revolution: A History (Modern Library
Chronicles) (p. 57)
xv James Kurth, Western Civilization, Our Tradition—Fall 2003/Spring 2004
Intercollegiate Review, pg. 6
xvi Merrill Jensen, Tracts of the American Revolution 1763-1776, pg. 301
xvii George Bancroft, History of the United States, vol.4, p.426
xviii Wood, Gordon S. (2002). The American Revolution: A History (Modern Library
Chronicles) (p. 129)
i