All the signers of the Declaration of Independence realized what the potential cost of their signature might be—to hang separately. They also knew that once Independence was secured by their act, that future generations would be celebrating and giving thanks for the Founder’s toil, blood, and treasure sacrificed for them. No one better realized the implications of their historic creation than John Adams who made the following comments in a letter to his wife Abigail:

“It ought to be commemorated as a Day of Deliverance by solemn acts of devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized by pomp and parade, with shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires and illuminations from one end of this continent to the other from this time forward for ever more.”

Adams and all the other fathers of Independence were forging a new Christian nation whose founding should include first and foremost “solemn acts of devotion to God Almighty.” Until modern times, many Independence Day celebrations included prayers of thanksgiving and recognition of the uncounted Acts of Providences which attended the birth of our nation.

Historian Bruce Feiler notes in his work entitled America’s Prophet, two of the greatest founders, not particularly known for Christian sentiments, Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson, finally settled on the phrase —Annuit Coeptis—Providence has favored our undertakings, on the Great Seal of the United States. Their first plan was to enshrine the motto, “Rebellion to Tyrants is Obedience to God,” a phrase most likely as unpopular among the ruling elites of today as it was to George III.

At the first Continental Congress in Philadelphia (1774), The Rev. Jacob Duche read Psalm 35—“Plead my cause, O Lord, with them that strive with me: fight against them that fight with me.” He then offered a powerful extemporaneous prayer, during which some …