America's Great Documents, Part 1

As the celebration of America's independence approaches, I am thinking of our nation's relationship to God relative to America's great documents. In the play, Raisin In The Sun, the daughter Beneatha had grown weary with believing and trusting in the God of her family. However, When she expressed her own mind in the presence of her mother by saying that God was simply 'An Idea', there was a 'reality check in 'Mama's House'. Her mother demanded that Beneatha repeats these words after her, "In my mother's house, there is always God". If you have ever entertained the thought of giving up on America, think again. In these United States of America, there is still God. God is yet breathing eternal life into millions of Americans. We do not have to strain our eyes to find God flowing throughout the geographical space called America. Moreover, for more than 400 years, we have found him being acknowledged on the written pages of many of America's great documents. In a resent study of several American documents, my findings revealed what I suspected. There were multiple references of God. The findings might engender a "So What!" in some, and a "Laughable Indifference" in others. Personally, I do not take it lightly, because it gives us a better hope for a brighter tomorrow in America. References to God have been from the founding of our country until now, deeply entrenched in many of America's great documents. The six documents I chose to see where references of God were written: The Magna Carta of 1215, The Mayflower Compact of 1620, The Declaration of Independence of 1776, The Articles of Confederation of 1778, The Constitution of The United States of 1787, and The Gettysburg Address of 1865. 05202017cjPS Contest, Late June Standard, Brian Strain, NA