FREEDOM NOT YET WON

 

By Catherine Ulrich Brakefield

In the golden crepuscule of our triumphant celebrations of America’s 250th anniversary, we often forget the high price our forefathers paid in winning that freedom not yet won. Victory wasn’t achieved until the bloody seven-year Revolutionary War concluded on September 3, 1783, with the signing of the Treaty of Paris.

    In the Washington D.C. Archives of founding documents, this plaque graces one wall: “TREATY OF PARIS 1783 In the name of the most Holy & undivided Trinity…It having pleased the Divine Providence to dispose the Hearts of the most Serene…by the Grace of God.”

Unprepared, with scant supplies, and no experience in battling the well-equipped armies of the British, farmers, clerks, wealthy planters and dignitaries determinedly fought, often to the death.

The founders and the farmers’ faith were firmly planted in Almighty God. On July 4, 1776, our framers drew up the Declaration of Independence placing their fate and the lives of the Colonists in the hands of God with these immortal words (highlighted):

“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, which among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness…

“We, therefore, the Representatives of the United States of America, in General Congress Assembled appealing to the Supreme Judge of the World for the Rectitude of our Intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly Publish and Declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political Connection between them are the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do.— And for the support of this Declaration, with firm Reliance on the Protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor.”

Brave words must follow with braver deeds. John Winthrop’s vision, inspired by Matthew 5:14, 16 was a pen stroke away from happening. “A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden…Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.”

Victory came at a high price: 6,800 Americans were killed in action, 6,150 were wounded, 20,000 were taken prisoner (many never returned to their families), and an unimaginable number of men died from illness and bullet wounds.

The hand of God has been displayed repeatedly to God-fearing, faith-filled men. Following Biblical principles is not for the faint-hearted; our forefathers were staunch disciples of their calling—bravely they pledged their fortunes and lives, and obeying the teachings of the Word of God, the Bible. Through America’s wars, depressions, good times, and bad times, America’s faith in its Savior, Christ Jesus has prevailed.  

It was in 1856, that Horace Bushnell spoke of this unexplained phenomenon of “the great principles of the gospel…into the order of states.” He declared that Americans “as a nation, are witnesses to all mankind of the power there is in the gospel to establish at once, equality and order, liberty and justice, and so to organize a free commonwealth.”

Alexis de Tocqueville observed upon his travels in nineteenth-century America how “notions of Christianity and of liberty were so deeply intertwined that it was “impossible to…conceive one without the other.”

Can those thoughts and words be said of the twenty-first century Americans today?

On the Jefferson Memorial in Washington, D.C. is inscribed: “God who gave us life gave us liberty. Can the liberties of a nation be secure when we have removed a conviction that these liberties are the gift of God? Indeed, I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just, that His justice cannot sleep forever.”

We often hear the term “freedom isn’t free”. Yes, every generation must fight to keep America’s independence.

America has survived for 250 years under the hand of God. The Colonists’ freedom was not yet won—but they put their faith in God and by the grace of God—freedom was won. We must believe in God’s power and wisdom. Then we must pass our beliefs on to the next generation. Our liberties to worship, vote, own property, write, and voice our beliefs are not freedoms to misuse but to protect with our lives.

“Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty,” (2 Corinthians 3:17 NIV).

Swept into Destiny: Ben (first book of the Destiny series) McConnell is a proud Irish immigrant who is determined not to give up despite hunger and deprivation. He clings to his mustard seed faith, believing that nothing is impossible.

Maggie Gatlan is a rebel disguised as a Southern belle. Bens and Maggie’s journeys delve deeply into the truth about faith and devotion.

“… Brakefield’s flowing descriptions pull you into Swept into Destiny and keep immersed in the world of the Antebellum south…This isn’t just a world of beaus, belles, and balls, but of moral ambiguity and searches for truth…” L.H. Reader

Catherine is the award-winning author of Wilted Dandelions, Swept into Destiny, Destiny’s Whirlwind, Destiny of Heart, Waltz with Destiny and Love's Final Sunrise. She has written two pictorial history books, The Lapeer Area and Eastern Lapeer, and short stories for Guideposts Books, CrossRiver Media Group, Revell Books, and Bethany House Publishers. Catherine and her husband of fifty-three years live on a ranch in Michigan and have two adult children, five grandchildren, four Arabian horses, two dogs, two cats, one bunny, and six chickens. See CatherineUlrichBrakefield.com for more information.
         https://www.monticello.org/site/research-and-collections/quotations-jefferson-memorial

https://rickchromey.com/alexis-de-tocqueville-the-french-man-who-saw-americas-past-present-and-future/