George Washington
Short Essay 1 Washington and other founders knew that for citizens to live freely, each citizen must be able to control themselves. Citizens must also be taught about moral qualities. In the western territories, the first federal law had said, “Religion, morality, knowledge, being necessary to good government and the happiness of mankind, school and the means of education shall forever be encouraged.” The school systems must bring morality and religion to the students’ attention. The Claremount Institute, George Washington and Religious Liberty, 2002, www.pbs.org/georgewashington/classroom/religious_liberty3.html. Our founding fathers believed that our natural rights were a gift from God. The First Amendment was created to promote that all citizens should be free to practice their religion freely without the interruption of the government. (Id.) A great philosopher had once observed how liberty influenced America’s founders. “And from Israel, even more than from the Roman juris-consults, America inherited an understanding of the sanctity of law. Certain root principles of justice exist, arising from the nature which God conferred upon man; law is a means for realizing those principles, so far as we can. That assumption was in the minds of the men who wrote the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States. Mark A. Beliles & Douglas S. Anderson, Contending for the Constitution, September 10, 2013. “It is religion and morality alone which freedom can securely stand. The only foundation of a free Constitution is pure virtue.” John Adams, The Works of John Adams, Second President of the United States, Vol. IX pg. 401. Our Constitution was made for moral and religious people. Without morals, the Americans would be abused. The success of our Constitution not only depends on our political parties, but how spiritual we are. The founding fathers believed that morality, knowledge, and religion went hand in hand when it came to shaping our country in