A Country of Virtue

Thanks in large part to modernist historians, the Christian roots of the United States have been brought into question. While for the most part I have no tolerance for modernist philosophies, we can thank modernist historians for a few trends that have the potential to actually improved historical studies, especially in high schools – abandoning hagiographies, examining primary sources, critical thinking, the awareness of multiple perspectives on an historical event. However, using these tools do not support modernist conclusions.

Take the very question of the Christian roots of the United States. The classical story is that English colonies came to America to find religious freedom. The facts show a multitude of motivations for colonization. Most of the colonies, including the first colonies (e.g. Jamestown) were profit-making ventures, the most common reason for colonization worldwide. New England colonies did come to America for religious purposes. However, their motivation was not to escape religious persecution. Their motivation was to oppose the brand of Anglicanism that they judged to be too Catholic. The name they took for themselves – Puritans – shows their motivation. They wanted what they considered a “pure” (Calvinist) Christianity without Catholic contamination. However, it is obvious that Christianity played a major role in the lives of every colony. The colonists came from a very Christian culture, and continued to foster their faith in the New World.

What about the philosophical underpinnings of our country? Are the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution based on Christian principles? The answer may surprise you. The philosophy that drove the foundation of America during and immediately following the Revolutionary War was a strange mixture of Enlightenment philosophy and Anglican Christianity. The irony is that by mixing these philosophies the founders actually unconsciously based the American government on Catholic principles. You see, the fathers of the Enlightenment hated Christianity, especially Catholicism, but very much admired the Catholic intellectual tradition that preserved and updated Greek philosophy. The Enlightenment adopted rationalism – the belief in human reason in opposition to supernatural faith. The Catholic intellectual tradition has always embraced both faith and reason. By combining Enlightenment philosophies with Christian faith, the American founders actually returned to a Catholic way of thinking. The harmony between faith and reason explains how secularists such as Thomas Jefferson and Ben Franklin could work side by side with believing Christians such as Reverend John Witherspoon. The resulting philosophy is a “secular state” with religious freedom, based on principles very favorable to the Christian walk and also to Enlightenment rational thought. Implicitly, it was the perfect society for Catholic faith and intellectual tradition to flourish.

A major aspect of the resulting republicanism that cannot be debated (though modernists still try) is the importance of virtue. The founders envisioned an educated, virtuous populous, the best of whom would be elected to governmental positions to guide the country to prosperity. They envisioned a balanced government that followed the principle of subsidiarity (though they never use this term). Virtue was the core of our country’s success. The virtues of good citizenship, which they called “Republican Virtue,” included self-sacrifice for the good of the greater good, civility, active citizenship (voting, but also publicly and rationally debating issues), and volunteering to care for community needs. Such virtues are best taught in the family, so the founders advocated “Republican Motherhood” (a term that never ceases to raise the ire of modern feminists), the duty and privilege of mothers to educate their children in virtue. Modernists write these ideals off as government manipulation and indoctrination. However, these virtues were not specific thought-control techniques (“repeat after me – the government can do no wrong”). They were general virtues that encouraged citizens to seek truth and goodness and to demand the same of their communities and governments.

Can there be any doubt that such ideals are Christian – and especially Catholic – in nature? Yet, they also leave room for rational secularists and other philosophies to live in harmony within the same culture. The arguments about how many of our founding fathers were actively Christian, how many were pastors, how many were Masons, how many were secularists or deists are all well and good, but they do not paint a complete picture of the foundations of our country. Our country was and continues to be incredibly complex. However, when one looks at the original intentions, it cannot be mistaken that our country was a good place to be Christian.