Most Americans are not aware of what really caused us to rebel against England in the Revolutionary War, and to what authority we did so. Many believe that we fought against a mob of Nazi-like soldiers and a “tyrant” of a king. I have even heard this from great teachers of the faith, that we fought the tyranny of King George and the persecutors of religion so that we could have freedom! There are very serious problems with this belief. It is clear to me that the rebellion of the Colonists was motivated by greed, and even a distortion of Calvinistic theology (but more on the theological aspect in a future post). The proof of the greed is obvious, especially when the ethics and actions of the Colonists is contrasted with the ethics and actions of today’s people (church). Was it really a terrible thing to pay taxes to a government for tea and paper, even if it was an unfair taxation (I do not believe that it was unfair)? If so, then why is America (and the Church in support) now paying taxes to a government that supports abortion as well as a HOST of other atrocities?
Could we be reaping what we have sown? Our resistance to the Anglican Church of England and her ministers (including King George) in the 1700’s has given us nothing but pain and turmoil. We work almost half of our days paying taxes for a Unitarian government, only to be shoved into a life of debt and constant religious harassment and heresy within our Church. Our country is nearly being taken over by other countries that do not hold to the same religious values as us, and Islamic terrorism is at an all time high.
But, we did not want the protection from the king or ANY government, for that matter, against heresy and modern Hellenization. We thought that a country that promoted the ancient Greek philosophy of government, as well as the ancient Greek philosophy of religion, trade, and culture at large, would give us the kingdom on earth that people have always longed for. This philosophy, coupled with the Colonial Presbyterian theology, that God had called them (the Puritans) to smash the “Canaanites” (the biblical reference of what they called the Indians) and create the “Promise Land” that God had given them, would create the largest Secular empire in the world. Little did they know that God had already given us, not one nation (America) to take dominion over under “God,” as they say (a Unitarian god), but God has given us the whole world through more catholic means of the Church universal.
Many documents began to be produced after the war, declaring that America was a “free” nation. Besides the Declaration of Independence as the leading document of independence, American Presbyterians altered the Westminster Confession of Faith in order to exclude all reference to the State protecting the Church from heresy (see this post, as well as this post).
The result of the Colonial Calvinists and their union with the Colonial Secularists and Unitarians such as Thomas Jefferson, created an ethos of greed and secular capitalism. And at the right moment, when they had a chance to bring forth the scapegoat, to hide their sin for the sake of their prosperity, they did. They accused King George of being a tyrant.
Facts Regarding the King
1. King George was no tyrant. He was a devout Christian man who loved his family and country. King George was not “insane” as many Americans claim he was. He became ill with porphyria, and lost much of his mental faculties later in life. He died of this disease on January 29, 1820.
2. King George simply wanted the colonies to help pay the expenses for the war against the French. England Defended the colonies (America) against the French and was in need of financial help to pay for the expense. Much of England was living in poverty because of the war, while the Americans were living in luxury. America had been a very wealthy nation for quite some time, and had even built their Calvinistic theology around this desire for wealth (despite the fact that Calvin did not teach us to live in material wealth).
3. King George instituted the Stamp Act to help pay for the war. The Colonists complained and Parliament repealed the law, and later narrowed the taxes down to imported glass, paper, lead, and tea. This was called The Townsend Act of 1767. The colonists complained again, and the English gave in again, narrowing the tax to tea, only. This is when the Americans began to rebel, thus creating the “Boston Tea Party,” throwing (fits) the tea into the harbor. The King wrote to Lord North, “the truth is that the too great lenience of this country increased their pride and encouraged them to rebel.”
4. To influence the Americans against England the Reformers published the Geneva Bible with the phrase “tyrant” in place of where “king” was supposed to be placed. Being the Reformed people that they were, the Americans began to call the King a tyrant.
5. Many Americans, such as Samuel Seabury, the first Bishop of the American Episcopal (Anglican) Church, refused to rebel against England and were thus marked as “Loyalists” (loyal to the crown). George Washington’s mother was a Loyalist and also a devout Anglican. Loyalists were treated very harshly during the Revolutionary times. Their homes were vandalized and many of them were tarred and feathered. Bishop Seabury said, “If I must be enslaved let it be by a King at least, and not by a parcel of upstart lawless Committeemen. If I must be devoured, let me be devoured by the jaws of a lion, and not gnawed to death by rats and vermin.” (Seabury, Letters of a Westchester Farmer, 1774–1775 (1970) p 61.).
Now what? You ask! We repent, as Christians, for the sin we have committed and continue to commit by supporting the very same ideals and theology of the Continentals! Study Anglicanism and find out that, before Continental Reformed theology, there was a theology and life of Kingdom authority that was inaugurated by the the Apostles and their disciples. We must return to this kingdom mindset that was brought over to America by the Anglican Church, mend our relationship with the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Church, and live in peace and spiritual prosperity that the Anglican Reformers once desired. Fragmentation and division into modern sects must be repented of, and the taking up of the ancient theologies of the Fathers must prevail!
Comments
Let’s not get to carried away with Anglophilia. :) There were a lot of factors in the American declaration that tend to get overlooked including the ones you mentioned in the post.
Most of the Founding Fathers were Congregationalists or Presbyterians with a mix of freethinking desists thrown in for good measure. As such, there was a bit of a preexisting animus toward the crown and its established church for decades.
I think the motivation was less greed than getting caught up in the moment. Many of these men were already wealthy and the colonists were ill-prepared to wage war with the superpower of the time. I think the seeds were laid with the rise of Enlightenment thinking (particularly the British thinkers like Hobbes, Bacon, and Locke) and the moderately utopian ideals then prevalent.
Oddly enough, the populace as a whole were for the most part indifferent to the whole affair until it affected them directly. It was probably the case that a majority (but not an overwhelming one) supported the crown but not all vocally. They really didn’t care who won but just wanted to be left alone. The boorish behavior of the British troops (many Hessian mercenaries) and their commanders (who treated all colonists as traitors unless they were known loyalists) did much to turn the Continental Army into liberators and Washington into an American Caesar (in the sense of restoring order out of chaos).
I think history might have been far different if the French Revolution had preceded the American one. With France’s descent into barbarism, the American founders - largely an idealistic lot - would have had a severe slap of cold water to wake them from their utopian dreams. The Americans would likely have opted for further negotiations and certainly the British would have shown far more force for fear rebellion would spread.
Yes, I am a fiery advocate of the Anglican faith. I’m guilty as charged! I would have to agree with you that the Continentals were “caught in the moment.” But the way they got caught in the moment was from greed. Early American Calvinism was completely based on material gain, as I mentioned their heaven-on-earth theology. It was an over-realized eschatology - Postmill in some sense, but with a “Word of Faith” mix within it. That, mixed with the tolerance factor of allowing deists and other heretics to become politicians, brought them to a place of compromise.