The Founding Fathers' Legacy and America's Future

What would it mean for you to truly understand the essence of Independence Day? Join us on a reflective journey as we celebrate America's 248th birthday by revisiting the principles laid out by our Founding Fathers. We emphasize the urgent need to preserve our constitutional republic while tackling today's governmental overreach. Through the compelling stories of Abigail Adams and her son John Quincy Adams, we explore their lasting impact on faith, family, and country. As we set our sights on America's 250th birthday, we pledge to hand down the torch of freedom to future generations, intact and blazing.

Discover how the early American presidents, from George Washington to Andrew Jackson, played pivotal roles in shaping our nation. We spotlight John Quincy Adams' relentless fight against slavery, which profoundly influenced figures like Abraham Lincoln. Connecting these historical titans to biblical figures such as King David, we emphasize the importance of moral conviction and persistence. Finally, we celebrate America's exceptionalism through the lens of faith, acknowledging both the nation's imperfections and divine guidance. This is a heartfelt call to honor our history and reaffirm our commitment to the principles that have guided us.

Transcript

Rick Green

You found your way to the intersection of faith and the culture. It's the Wall Builders show, where we take on hot topics of the day, but we look at them from a biblical, historical and constitutional perspective. I'm Rick Green, America's Constitution Coach and founder of Patriot Academy, here with David and Tim Barton. David Barton, America's premier historian and our founder at WallBuilders. Tim Barton's a national speaker and pastor and president of WallBuilders and yesterday, if you listened to the program, you were listening to Tim give a presentation on the birthday of the nation. We only got the first half of the presentation in on yesterday's program and so today we'll get the second half of that presentation. And before we go back to Tim and pick up where we left off yesterday, I just want to remind you of what we talked about at the beginning of yesterday's program Yesterday was the 248th birthday of our nation. I hope that last night you had a fantastic time doing fireworks, had a great dinner with your family, maybe even got together with people throughout your community and celebrated the birthday of America. I hope it wasn't just a day off from work. In fact, I encourage people not to just say happy July 4th, but say happy Independence Day, so that we remind them what we're celebrating. We're celebrating our Independence, we're celebrating the fact that our founding fathers were willing to say no. They were willing to stand up and say that this government is infringing upon our liberty, that this government, as Jefferson said in the Declaration, when any form of government becomes destructive of these ends he was referring back to the previous paragraph where it talks about holding truths self-evident. That we want life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Those are things that God gave us, not government. That we have the ability to give or refuse consent. That that's why government's there is to protect our life, liberty and pursuit of happiness. And that we, the people, are the ones that give or refuse that government's power, what they can or can't do. That when any of those things, when you prevent any of those things from happening, Jefferson said, when any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or abolish it. And so what we're talking about is why the Founding Fathers thought it was time to abolish their government, literally separate, as that first paragraph talks about, from Great Britain and begin anew to start the United States of America.

And today we have to talk about altering our government. We don't want to abolish America. We don't want to abolish our entire government. Now, there's certain departments of our government that are unconstitutional, and we never gave our consent for those departments, like the Federal Department of Education and Department of Energy and Department of Commerce and Department of the Interior, and all of these agencies, the CDC and the FDA and, frankly, the FBI. All of those are unconstitutional.

So, yes, those we want to abolish, but we just want to alter our government back to the constitutional republic that we are, and so that's why it's important to remind ourselves what this nation's all about, why it was founded 248 years ago, and then to do the hard work necessary to preserve it. And so over the next two years, we're going to talk a lot about this as we approach the 250th birthday of our nation, and 250 is when, as we said yesterday, nations typically fall apart. So we've got two years to restore this thing. The culture is crumbling around us. So yesterday, as we celebrated our independence, we celebrated the 248th birthday. We also committed ourselves to say that for the next two years, we're going to do our part to make sure we're passing the torch of freedom intact to our children and our grandchildren. So let's pick up where we left off yesterday Tim Barton speaking to the birthday of America and what we can do to restore these principles of the Declaration. Quick break, We'll be right back with Tim Barton.

Break

Rick Green

Welcome back to The WallBuilders Show. Picking up where we left off yesterday. Here's Tim Barton on the birthday of America.

Tim Barton

Abigail is the one at home raising the family. Okay, so she's rocking the single mom life. She's raising kids, she's taking care and she was amazing, by the way, so impressive all the things she did In the midst of this. One of the really cool things that was very well documented and known about the John Adams family was in Massachusetts, where they went to church. Their church is still in existence today and where they went to church there actually was a statue erected that was depicting Abigail with John Quincy Adams, because they went to church every single Sunday. Even when John was out of town, they would always go to church. So this is the life they grew up in. They were faithful in church. They were faithful Christians.

As the story goes forward, with John Quincy Adams first of all, when he's eight years old, the Massachusetts Minutemen used to do their musket drills in front of John Adams' home. When he was eight years old, John Quincy Adams, eight years old, his dad took down a musket and gave it to his eight-year-old son and said I want you to go train with the Massachusetts Minutemen because I want you to know how to do this. Let me just go ahead and give all the dads out there like this is father of the year status. Okay, I grew up with a Red Ryder BB gun. Right, If my daddy come home one day and he's like, son, here's your gun, go play with the military, like, okay, this is one of the coolest things that's ever happened. Every boy, yes, when he's eight years old, he's literally training with the massachusetts mid. At mid, when he was 11, he got to go with his dad on one of their diplomatic missions overseas. And what's kind of funny as you study history is sometimes there's gaps of missing material in history and so you have to piece together what's going on. And so one of the things that's kind of funny piecing together is when John Quincy Adams went with his dad over to Europe.

Abigail apparently had told John Quincy Adams that you need to write me when you get there. Let me know you made it, Let me know you're safe. And either John Quincy Adams did not write the letter or got lost, because what we know is Abigail wrote a letter and Abigail's letter starts off essentially with I'm not sure if you're even alive, but if you are, you're in trouble because you were supposed all right. I grew up when cell phones were just coming out, right, and that was a thing. Mom says hey, you can go hang at your friend's house. Call me when you get there. Let me know you're safe, Like okay. So he was supposed to write a letter. Apparently, either he didn't, it got lost.

So her letter starts off saying you're in trouble, but then it goes further because she wants to encourage and remind him of the way he should be living his life and one of the things she points out in this letter. She says adhere to those religious sentiments and principles which were early instilled in your mind and remember you are accountable to your maker for all your words and actions. And remember you are accountable to your maker for all your words and actions. This is like that moment Someone was heard growing up. Right, that you can go hang out with your friends, but God is watching you. Right, Like that. This is the first time historically I've ever seen that used, but literally right. She said hey, go do your thing, but remember you are accountable for everything you do.

And her letter gets even more fun and intense. She continued on to this and she said dear as you are to me, I am much rather you should find your grave in the ocean or an untimely death crop you in your infant years, rather than see you an immoral, wicked or graceless child. I hope you drown in the ocean. Love mom. What I love this letter so much because it reminds me of Proverbs 22, 6, which tells us train up a child in the way they should go when they're old. They won't depart from it. What she is doing is instilling eternal perspective in her son's life. It is better for you to be connected and committed to God and die early than in this temporal life, for you to live a and committed to God and die early, than in this temporal life for you to live a long time doing your own thing, rejecting God, and be eternally separated. This is an amazing perspective she's giving her 11-year-old child.

Well, this is how John Quincy Adams is growing up. And so actually, when he's 11 years old, he received an official congressional appointment to be the secretary to the American diplomat. Well, the American diplomat over to Paris was his father, so he got permission from Congress to go with his dad as secretary. And we might look at that and go, okay, like that's kind of silly. It's kind of a head nod because this 11 year old can't be an official secretary. It would be easy to discount him, as you know just this honorary title. Except when he was 14, he received a second congressional commendation where he was appointed to go with a diplomatic team over to Russia before the throne of Catherine the Great, and his job as a 14-year-old was the official interpreter, because he was already fluent in six languages as a 14-year-old. So this guy really really was impressive. As he grows up, he's 21 years old.

George Washington becomes president. When George Washington becomes president, he chooses John Quincy Adams to be America's top diplomat. George Washington says that John Quincy Adams was the best diplomat America ever had. Then, under John Adams, he's also a diplomat. When Thomas Jefferson becomes president, he is chosen and elected to be a US senator. Then, under James Madison, he again is chosen as America's top diplomat. He's the guy who actually negotiates the end of the War of 1812. Under James Monroe, he became the Secretary of State. He then became the sixth president of the United States of America.

This guy has one of the most impressive resumes of anybody in American history Super impressive. But one of the things I respect so much about him is after being president he did something no other president has ever done. He went and ran for Congress. He got elected. He served in Congress for 17 years. Why would a president go serve in Congress? John Quincy Adams says there was an evil in America that needed to be remedied. It was the evil of slavery. He went and he became the leader of the anti-slavery movement in Congress. He was given the nickname the hellhound of abolition because it was his passion to see slavery ended in America.

Rick Green

Quick break, folks. We'll be right back. You've been listening to Tim Barton teaching on the birthday of our nation, the Declaration of Independence, principles and what we can do to preserve this for the next generation. Stay with us. We'll be right back on The WallBuilders Show.

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Rick Green

Thanks for staying with us. Let's jump right back in with Tim Barton.

Tim Barton

Slavery was not ended in his lifetime. And one day a reporter came to him and said Mr Adams, you've been fighting for so many years and you haven't been successful in ending slavery. How do you stay motivated when you haven't been successful? Now, that's a good question. His answer was based on his life motto. He wrote in his journal that his life motto was duty is ours, results are God's. What he told the reporter, he told the reporter it's only up to me to do the right thing, it's up to God. What happens after that? I would point out from scripture, God has not called us to be successful, he's called us to be faithful. Now, successful often follow faithfulness right. But our objective should be I'm going to do what's the right thing, because it's the right thing to do, and the rest is in God's hands. Right, this is his perspective. Well, as he's serving in Congress, every two years you have to run for re-election, and so every two years there's actually new congressmen that get elected. His last term in Congress, there was a young freshman that got elected and this young freshman heard John Quincy Adams leading in the midst of this anti-slavery movement. And this young freshman joins the anti-slavery movement. He actually is mentored by John Quincy Adams. John Quincy Adams has a stroke and dies his last term in Congress. Actually, the couch where he died on is still in the Capitol building, which is kind of weird, but it's still there, so his death couch is still in the Capitol. In the midst of this, after his two-year term was up, this freshman decides he wants to run for re-election because the leader of the anti-slavery movement is gone. We need a new leader now, and so there's different guys running to fill this position. So he runs for re-election.

Except he did not get elected. Not to be discouraged, he tried again. Did not get elected a second time. He then ran for US Senate did not get elected. He then ran for state office did not get elected. This young freshman you might have figured out was a guy named Abraham Lincoln. He did not win another election until he became the president of the United States of America. I would point out that when you look at Lincoln getting elected, right, lincoln actually was elected. At that time he ran as a Republican. The Republican Party at that time had nine planks, and of those nine planks, seven of them were anti-slavery. He was known to be the anti-slavery guy. When he got elected. He then does the Emancipation Proclamation right. Then you have the 13th Amendment. Lincoln is a guy who is effectively credited with ending slavery in America, but I would point out, lincoln was part of the legacy of John Quincy Adams.

In this room, I want to highlight the fact that there are John Quincy Adams and there are Abraham Lincolns, and the reality is, for many of you, you might have been praying for decades that God would bring revival, that God would fix the problems of America, that God would change America, and I'm just telling you you might not live long enough to see those prayers answered, but you might be the one God uses to mentor, pour into and to raise up the next generation who will fulfill every prayer you've been praying. Some of us in the room are the Abraham Lincolns and I'm going to tell you that, as you are pursuing where God is leading you in your life, you need to allow and look for mentors in your life who can pour into you, who can impart to you the things that God has already shown them, that God's taught them, so that you can be raised up to accomplish all that God's called you to do. And this is where, as we look at our nation. We have to understand this long-term perspective that John Quincy Adams was fighting for what was right, because it was the right thing to do, even though he never was successful in his lifetime at seeing it ended. But this is part of this incredible story and legacy of America and, see, he was one of the guys who grew up in the founding fathers era and yet today we don't hear many stories about the John Quincy Adams. We don't hear about these incredible guys, these heroes from American history. Instead, what is being said so much today is, wait a second, but America's bad or the founding fathers were evil, and we hear this so often.

And let me just to answer this as we finish up, I want to point to the Bible. I think that's always a good place. Go back to the Bible. What does the Bible say? One of the heroes in the Bible we can look at King David in the Bible, and King David, we know, was an incredible warrior. We know that he killed a lion, we know that he killed a bear and actually we know he did it when he was very young, because when he was a teenager he killed Goliath and he told Saul I've already killed lions and bears, so like this dude had to be an amazing warrior as a child, going up against lions and bears, winning that's impressive, right? As a Texan, I've grown up with guns my whole life. I'd be a little scared going against lions and bears with guns, not like rocks and sticks. Okay, so David was an amazing warrior. Rocks and sticks Okay so David was an amazing warrior. David also was an amazing worshiper because he writes the majority of the book of Psalms. There are so many cool good parts to David's life.

But the Bible doesn't stop there, because the Bible tells us about David's kids, about Amnon and Absalom and Adonijah. Remember, Amnon was the one who raped his sister and Absalom came and killed Amnon for doing that. And Absalom gets angry because his dad's not doing a good job as king and so he tries to violently overthrow and take the throne from his father. And then, if you read 1 Kings, chapter 1, it introduces us to Adonijah and it says Adonijah was a son whom David never corrected. The Bible tells us that a father disciplines the son he loves, right, if you're a parent, the question is not did you ever correct your kids? It was how many times a day? Because, like you were constantly right. Hey, don't do this. Don't touch that, hey, go Like you, offer instruction, insight, wisdom, guidance. That's what you do as a parent. David didn't do any of that.

One of the things you can see from the Bible is David was not a good parent, and this is actually a bad part of King David's life. If you go even further, the Bible tells us about the time when kings go to war and David didn't go to war, and he has the affair with Bathsheba and then he murders Uriah, the husband, and all of this unfolds. David was a murdering adulterer. This is a really ugly part of King David's life. But one of the things that's so important about the Bible is the Bible tells us the whole story. The Bible tells us the good, the bad and the ugly, and it doesn't hide any of it. It's just here's what happened.

But one of the crazy things about the culture we live in today, the modern culture, says well, wait a second, we can't celebrate people who have done bad things. I want you to think about this. How can you sing one of the Psalms if you know it was from a murdering adulterer? Right, okay, here's the reality. See, as a Christian, we have a different perspective of the world because we understand what the Bible says. We understand Romans 3.23, that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.

What does that mean? It means everybody is jacked up and we all need Jesus. What that means is, as we look back historically, you pick any great leader in American history, any of them and what I can tell you is all of them were jacked up. So when you say, well, they weren't perfect, my starting place is they're not perfect. My starting place is they were fleshly and sinful and they needed Jesus. Real bad. But what is different? Let's go back to David. Why? Why can we celebrate these moments in King David's life? Because one of the things significant about the whole story, even from the Bible, is we never celebrate the sinful moments. Instead, what we do is we celebrate how a perfect God used imperfect people and did great things through them. As a Christian, one of the places that we are given for guidance in Hebrews, chapter 11, known as our faith hall of fame, right when we're told these are people that look to them and have these are examples of faith live, act, follow their faith in their life.

Rick Green

Our folks one more break today. Stay with us. You're listening to the WallBuilders Show.

Break

Rick Green

Welcome back to the WallBuilder Show. Thanks for staying with us. Let's get the conclusion of Tim Barton's presentation on the Declaration of Independence.

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Tim Barton

This is the reality that we forget so often, even as we look at American history, where people say but America's not perfect. Of course America's not perfect. No nation is perfect. Every nation has people. Therefore, every nation has problems. But when we look back at America, we're not celebrating any perfect moments in America. Instead, what we are celebrating is how a perfect God used imperfect people and did amazing things along this journey in the American story. This is one of the things we have. We can't get caught up in this modern cancel culture that we're going to cancel everybody. Now, by the way, if we're going to cancel, everybody's not perfect, that means only Jesus remains, and I'm kind of okay with that. But understand, this does not make sense biblically. As a Christian, we need to see things differently. And, by the way, let me point out, if you want to know more about some of these John Quincy Adams amazing hero stories, our website wallbuilders.com is a great place to go. We actually my dad and I just wrote a new book called the American Story. We start with Christopher Columbus. We go roughly to the end of slavery in America. So many cool moments that we point to, not of perfect people, because they're everybody. Again, everybody's jacked up and he's Jesus, like check, that's our starting place, and yet there's so many amazing moments where God used these imperfect people and did amazing things through them, and this is part of the cool thing we have as a story in America.

Tim Barton

I want to close with a Psalm that David wrote, Psalm 33, 12,. Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord. One of the reasons that we've been so blessed in America for so long is because America, more than almost any other nation, remembered who God was and strove to put God first. We have not always done a good job. But this is where I would point to. Even right now we're looking at America. When there's so many problems, what do we do? It's the same solution there's always been. When the church rises up and will be who God made the church to be, when we put God first again, we can begin to enjoy God's blessing. Against you.

I thought, man, when we sing God bless America, one of the most powerful renditions I've ever heard. I love it. I love the notion of we want to pray, god bless America. But here's what I know from scripture when you do what God blesses, then God will bless you. When America does what God blesses, god can once again bless America. But the only way America does what God blesses is when Christians stand up and begin fighting to put God first again, so that God can once again bless America.

I want to encourage us and we're going to close in prayer. I want to encourage us that we celebrate the 4th of July, one of the things we need to remember. We're not celebrating a perfect nation. We are celebrating, instead, how a perfect God did great things through imperfect people in this nation, and we celebrate the moments that we recognize God has truly blessed this nation, not because of us, but because of who he is and his goodness. Amen. Let's pray as we close.

God, I thank you so much that you've allowed us to live in a place where we have so much freedom. God, we have so many blessings and we don't want to take those for granted. But, god, I also am so grateful that you give us examples along the way of how we don't have to be perfect to be used by you. God, we are not going to be cheated and shortchanged by being part of your kingdom or part of service because we've not been worthy and we're not good enough. But, god, we're so grateful that you still are able to come into us, as imperfect, as messed up as we might be. And, god, you can use us for great things in your kingdom.

God, we ask right now, even as we look at this nation, god, that you would use us as the solution. God, we're not praying that you raise we look at this nation, god that you would use us as the solution. God, we're not praying that you raise somebody else up. We're praying that you raise us up, god, use us to make a difference in our family, god, in our friends, in our workplaces, god, wherever you've called us to be what we're doing, god, use us to make a difference, and, god, thank you for allowing us to live in a nation where we have the freedom to honor and worship you In Jesus' name. Amen.

Rick Green

All right, folks, thanks for being with us today. Today was the second part in a presentation that Tim Barton gave on the Declaration of Independence and the birthday of the nation. What is independence all about and what can we do to preserve these principles for future generations? We've been talking a lot about that today and yesterday, actually throughout this whole week. We had David Barton's presentation earlier in the week. I challenge you, as you go into the weekend, be thinking about what you can do over the next two years, between now and our 250th birthday, to make sure that we restore the Declaration of Independence principles and we preserve freedom for future generations. And mark your calendar July 4th 2026,. You want to be in Fredericksburg, Texas, at the Patriot Academy campus, helping me to cut the ribbon on our replica of Independence Hall and celebrating Two years from now. We want to be celebrating that we have done the hard work over these next two years. We have done the hard work to restore the Declaration of Independence principles. Thanks so much for listening. You've been listening to the WallBuilder Show.