An Unredacted History of America’s Birth

Guest essay by Marshal Foster

The true story of America’s founding has been artfully removed from the individual and corporate memory of the American people. Virtually all communication in America today is filtered through an elite group of isolated tech giants, a cadre of ideologically radical educators and a huge national government bureaucracy.

Former far left radicals have exposed the danger of a small cadre of socialists perpetuating tyranny by rewriting a nation’s history. George Orwell, a disgruntled socialist writer, saw how radical socialists and fascists in Europe in the 1940s were leading the continent toward tyranny. In his novel, Nineteen Eighty Four, Orwell reveals how a small elite maintains control over a people by rewriting their history. They appoint “Experts” who rewrite all events daily. History is not only altered but actually destroyed.¹ Is the world that Orwell envisioned in 1949 the world we live in now?

David Horowitz, once a radical leftist, has spent the last four decades exposing dangerous tactics of the left, especially that of rewriting American history. speaking as an agnostic, not as a Christian, Horowitz says that they do not want America’s true history discovered. The reason they fear our history is that “every freedom that we hold dear as Americans—every principle, equality, equal rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, inclusion, tolerance, freedom of speech—every one of these originated as a Christian idea and a Protestant Christian idea at that. That’s because 98% of the people who created this country were Protestant Christians.”² The modern socialists are forcing their own warped view of history upon the entire nation, increasingly eliminating dissent.

The unredacted history of America was taught for 300 years before the textbooks and websites were censored. Understanding the true story of the founding of America is vital if we are to maintain our liberty against potential tyrants within and without. The story below tells how America overcame the tyranny of England in the late 18th century.

England’s deep heritage of liberty was built on hundreds of years of biblically based Common Law and Magna Carta. But by the 1750s that heritage was but a fading memory. The English government had come to be dominated by greed, corruption and immorality, especially among the elites and the royals. In their lust to fund their worldwide empire, King George III and the English Parliament began viewing the American colonies as a source of revenue, a cash cow. The king broke his colonial charters (legal contracts) which had been established law for centuries. He and the Parliament began to trample on the rights of the colonists.

The English Parliament began to dictate arbitrary laws binding the colonists. The Quartering Act of 1764 required all colonists to take British soldiers into their homes, giving these troops free reign as overlords and spies in private homes. In the same year, Parliament forced the Stamp Act upon the colonists to censure all written communication. This meant a blackout of their free speech, free press and free expression of religious beliefs.

The Parliament then passed the Declaratory Act, which stated that the colonists were subordinate and that the Parliament could pass any law it wished to bind the American colonies. Soon they passed the Townsend Act levying direct taxes upon the colonists without their consent. They hired government racketeers to imprison honest merchants without trial. The racketeers then pocketed one-third of all property seized from these innocent citizens.³

“Then the unthinkable happened. Certain powerful members of Parliament began insisting that the colonists were no longer Englishmen or citizens. Some British leaders were saying that the colonists no longer had any rights and could be treated merely as slaves. In the eyes of these leaders, the king and Parliament owned the colonists.”⁴

The colonists were shocked. They presented one last appeal to the king—the “Olive Branch Petition”—hoping for a peaceful resolution. But King George refused to read it. He declared the colonists to be outlaws who must be crushed. The British proceeded to invade the colonies beginning at Boston with an army under General Howe. On April 18, 1775, Howe sent 900 British troops to Lexington and Concord in Massachusetts to confiscate the colonists’ weapons and kill all who resisted. By the summer the invaders began destroying entire towns. They bombarded Norfolk, Virginia, with canons from their ships, burning it to the ground. An armada of 400 ships with 30,000 soldiers and 10,000 sailors then descended upon New York in the summer of 1776. What could the colonists do?

The American colonies knew that their chances of winning a war with the English Empire were slim to none. The English army and navy were the finest and best equipped in the world. England’s navy could muster well over a hundred ships, while the Americans began with nothing but a few converted merchant ships. The English had been fighting in Europe for a hundred years and could muster 100,000 men and afford to hire 50,000 German mercenaries to fight against the Americans. They also had the manufacturing infrastructure to produce unlimited weapons and supplies. The Americans had a small, untrained army of farmers and merchants.

At this critical moment, in July of 1776, The Continental Congress met in Philadelphia and drafted the Declaration of Independence. The Declaration stands at the apex of the biblical freedom documents of history. These include the Torah of Moses (about 1400 BC) , Magna Carta (1215), The Declaration of Arbroath in Scotland (1320), The Defense of Liberty Against Tyrants (1572), Lex Rex (1644), The Sanquhar Declaration in Scotland (1680), and the English Bill of Rights (1689).

Most of the colonists were students of history and knowledgeable of the biblical strategy of resistance to tyrants, as taught by the Protestant Reformers. They knew well the biblical arguments for the legal way to resist tyrants from men like Samuel Rutherford, author of Lex Rex. Every page of Lex Rex is filled with biblical examples and citations explaining how to deal with a ruler who tyrannizes his people. “Very simply stated, Rutherford argued that there are limits to monarchies, since everyone, from kings to the common man, are subject to the rule of law—God’s law. When a king or magistrate violates God’s law, he loses his authority, and people may then have the right to overthrow this ruler.”⁵

The Declaration of Independence followed the above biblical strategy for removing tyrants. When writing the Declaration, Thomas Jefferson admitted that he was writing nothing new. Every phrase in the document had been preached from pulpits by the clergy and spoken of from house to house in every town throughout the colonies. The Declaration detailed over 30 major offenses proving that King George III was a tyrant. It then declares the right of the colonists, under God, to form a new government and declare their independence from England. The Declaration sealed their covenant (compact with each other and God) by stating “for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes and our sacred honor.”

For a decade, from 1765 to 1776, the American colonists had patiently brought their formal legal appeals to King George through their representatives. They were not in rebellion. The king and the Parliament were. The colonists were standing for the rule of law, claiming all their rights as English citizens which their charters had guaranteed.

But now, a defensive war for independence was the colonists’ only alternative. As the battles unfolded, several unseen forces were working against the British. King George chose two of the most corrupt, depraved Englishmen to lead his army and navy during the war. Both proved to be incompetent leaders without any moral compass. Troops were left without food and supplies in the field. Thousands of German mercenaries were allowed to rape, steal from and kill innocent civilians as the army plundered the land. The English soldiers often took part in this barbarity as well.

The English navy, also with a degenerate leadership, underperformed in the war. English ships were anchored in New York harbor throughout the war and were used as prisons to house American soldiers. With little food and no sanitation, these vessels became extermination camps. More American soldiers died on these ships than in all the battles of the war combined. When the British navy needed recruits, they sent marines into the bars to kidnap drunks and broke into homes to drag men from their families and force them into the British navy. The barbarity of the English sailors infuriated the colonists and inspired them to keep fighting.

The proclivities of the leaders were reflected in the ranks of the English. “British soldiers fought [only] when they could not avoid it, but otherwise dedicated themselves to gambling, drinking and cavorting with camp prostitutes.”⁶ British soldiers were fighting without a cause. American colonists were fighting for their wives, children, country and the holy cause of freedom.

As they faced the herculean task of defeating the world’s most powerful army and an unrivaled navy, the American colonists had unseen advantages. The Continental Congress in 1775 chose a man of immense personal character, George Washington, to lead their fledgling forces. “Washington wanted an army as efficient as that of the British, but with much higher moral standards.” Washington began by condemning the “foolish, and wicked practice, of profane cursing and swearing.” He told his men “that we can have little hopes of the blessing of Heaven on our arms, if we insult it by our impiety and folly.” Washington required the appointment of regimental chaplains. In his first order to the army he said that he “expects all officers and soldiers, not engaged in actual duty, a punctual attendance on Divine service, to implore the blessing of heaven upon the means used for our safety and defense.”⁷

George Washington was not trained as a military strategist but as a farmer and surveyor. Yet again and again, his wisdom, courage and dependence upon Divine Providence resulted in American victories. The Continental army was tested to the brink of annihilation, but Washington stood firm and his men loved him for it. At the battle of Princeton, the Americans began a chaotic retreat as they faced off with the British regulars. But Washington, “In a remarkable display of courage and leadership … headed directly toward the British lines, yelling at the soldiers to rally behind him. Surviving intense fire, Washington helped to turn the tide of battle and led his men in pursuit of the fleeing British, crying out, “It’s a fine fox hunt, boys!”⁸ The American soldiers regained their courage and won the battle.

As a reflection of Washington’s leadership, the character and commitment of the American soldiers was far superior to that of their English foe. With patriot pastors and army chaplains encouraging them, these young men fought, as a rule, with dignity and restraint. There were few instances of brutality or theft among the army throughout the war.

George Washington lived what he preached to his men. Through the long winter at Valley Forge where he lost three-fourths of his army to death or desertion, Washington was able to recreate the Continental Army in four months to continue the war. For eight long years of war, working without pay and with little logistical support from Congress, the General and his men persevered in faith.

By 1778, Washington had witnessed so much of God’s favor that he said, “The hand of Providence has been so conspicuous in all this that he must be worse than an infidel who lacks faith, and more than wicked that cannot have gratitude enough to acknowledge his obligations.” He concluded, “It will be time enough for me to turn preacher when my present appointment ceases, and therefore I shall add no more on the Doctrine of Providence.”⁹

By 1781, the war was at a standoff in the North. Washington’s army, still outnumbered, was encamped in tents outside of New York City. They were face to face with the English General Clinton and his army of 14,000 men, who were entrenched in the city. In the meantime, General Cornwallis and his 8,000 British troops had marched through the Carolinas and into Virginia without being able to destroy the American cause. The English army marched exhausted into Yorktown, Virginia, and were waiting to be ferried back to New York by the English navy. At this moment, Washington began to embark on one of history’s great flank attacks. Washington left his fires burning at his camps and marched his army 450 miles south to surround Cornwallis’ army at Yorktown. The maneuver was filled with peril. He had to hope that the French fleet he had ordered to join him in Virginia would arrive on the very day needed. Once Washington started marching south, his army could have been attacked from the rear by General Clinton and his huge English army. Cornwallis could have abandoned Yorktown and marched up the coast avoiding capture. The English navy could have arrived on time and defeated the French fleet and rescued Cornwallis. But all the pieces of Washington’s strategy miraculously fit into place.

As if Providence were placing His seal on the American victory, Lord Cornwallis’ final attempt to escape across the river and march north was thwarted by hurricane-like winds that drove his boats back to the shore. The next day, October 19, 1781, Cornwallis’ entire army surrendered to Washington. The Battle of Yorktown was the last large battle of the war. The United States were victorious and free.

The Americans knew they had not won their freedom alone. Washington called his entire army to attend divine services to give thanks to God. He wrote to the Continental Congress immediately after the battle: “I take particular pleasure in acknowledging that the interposing Hand of Heaven, in the various instances of our extensive preparation for this operation [Yorktown], has been most conspicuous and remarkable.”10

General Washington was so greatly loved that he could have declared himself king. Instead, he humbly resigned his commission and went home to his farm. He wrote a Farewell Letter to all Americans: “I now make it my earnest prayer that God would have you, and the State over which you preside, in His Holy protection…that he would most graciously be pleased to dispose us all to do justice, to love mercy, and to demean ourselves with that charity, humility and pacific temper of mind, which were the characteristics of the Divine Author of our blessed religion, and without an humble imitation of whose example in these things, we can never hope to be a happy nation.”11

Many of our Founders warned us of a creeping tyranny that could arise among us. For example, President Washington, in his final words to the American people, warned, “A small but artful and enterprising minority… are likely, in the course of time … to become potent engines, by which cunning, ambitious, and unprincipled men will be enabled to subvert the power of the people and to usurp for themselves the reins of government ….

This leads, at length, to a formal and permanent despotism.” ¹²

Thomas Jefferson foresaw the day when our nation would become ignorant and on the verge of despotism. He said, “If a nation expects to be ignorant and free in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be.” He believed the only solution would be to educate the people. Jefferson said that the people must have a “knowledge of those facts which history exhibits” so that they can gain wisdom and “the experience of other ages and countries.”¹³ Jefferson stated that the people must have this broad knowledge of history so they can stop tyranny “in all its forms”. Our task, in our most blessed of all nations, is nothing less than to raise up a discerning, self-governing citizenry.

Notes:

1. Orwell, George, Nineteen Eighty Four, (Maple Press, Neida, India, 2019)
2. Horowitz, David, Tucker Carlson interview, July 12, 2019
3. Amos, Gary T., Defending the Declaration (Providence Foundation, Charlottesville, VA, 1989) p. 28-29
4. ibid, p. 39
5. Shaeffer, Francis A., Christian Manifesto (Crossway Books, Westchester, ill. 1981) p. 103-105
6. Olasky, Marvin, Fighting for Liberty and Vi1-t1te (Regnery Publishing, Washington D.C., 1995) p. 153 7
7. Ibid. p. 63
8. Mount Vernon.org/article/battle of Princeton
9. Federer, William Ed., America’s God and Country (Amerisearch, INC., 2000)p.643 10
10. Ibid, p. 646
11. Olasky, op. cit., p 169
12. Foster, Marshall with Ron Ball, Christian Home Learning Guides (Zane Publishing, 1997) p. 284
13. Thomas Jefferson to William C. Jarvis, 1820. ME 15:278

The original of this article first appeared as an edition of the World History Institute Journal, August/September 2019 edition, as a circular newsletter, and on the site of the World History Institute.

Compelling speaker and writer Dr. Marshall Foster, Founder of the World History Institute, has led the forefront of teaching God’s Providential, overcoming and victorious history for decades. 

World History Institute
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