The Integrity of the Founding Fathers

I love reading books about history. Recently I’ve been working my way through biographies of America’s Founding Fathers. The Colonial period of our history is my favorite. I enjoy reading about it primarily because of the unique qualities of the men who founded our country. They are some of the most authentic, honorable, unselfish and faithful people ever to make an imprint on history.

The more I’ve learned about the history of our world, the more I’ve seen that it’s made up of a bunch of people who looked out for their own interests: The nobility kept the peasants down; tyrannical kings usurped authority; political parties stamped down minorities.

And most of the time, whoever seizes power from another ends up being just as bad as the one who lost the power. You'll see this in the history of communists, kings, tribes or warlords. It’s a true testament to the fallen nature of man.

The American Revolution represents probably the greatest exception to this rule. The men of the Continental Congresses knew about this tendency in the human heart to corrupt power, so they set up a system to defend against it. That’s not the amazing part, though—since other writers and thinkers before them had seen the same flaw in our nature and advanced political or philosophical ways of restricting it.

The amazing part is that these guys actually did it—they had the power, and the control that came with it, and they willingly gave it up. They didn't just theorize; they stepped out of that realm and actually had the bravery and integrity to back up their words with actions.

And it wasn't just the big-picture stuff that they managed to get right. The more I read about them, the more I’m impressed with their everyday lives. They lived with the kind of integrity I want to have as a Christian man and that I want to see others in the church display.

Take John Adams, for example. He was a lawyer whose name was on the rise in the political world when the Boston Massacre occurred on March 5, 1770. In that incident, five civilians who were part of an unruly mob were killed after British troops fired their muskets into the crowd. Adams was the only lawyer who would take the case of the several British soldiers who were identified as firing the deadly shots and indicted for murder.

Adams, as ardent a patriot for American Independence as any, took up the legal defense of these men, knowing that in doing so he could be committing political suicide. He ended up losing half his law practice because of his unpopular decision. In the end, people saw the merit and fairness of what he did, and he was selected to represent Massachusetts in both the first and second Continental Congresses. That’s integrity in action.

Another example is the lesser-known John Dickinson. During the second Continental Congress, Dickinson was the primary opponent of the Declaration of Independence. He was a patriot, but he believed the colonies needed to be more stable before the momentous decision was made to declare them independent states that weren't subject to British rule.

However, public opinion and the opinions of those in the Continental Congress turned against him in the months leading up to July 1776. Out of respect for his countrymen, Dickinson did not show up to cast a vote for the declaration so that when the vote was tallied it would be unanimously in favor of independence. Not only that, a month later he supported his new country’s decision and led troops from Pennsylvania to join George Washington’s army in an amazing display of service and integrity.

The thing that gets me about these guys is that they walked the walk. They risked their livelihoods, their families and even their lives for what they believed. Most of them were Christians, as well, and didn’t just talk about their faith but also lived it.

Let’s make sure we take the same principles and lead our lives with the conviction and integrity that our faith demands.