POST 35 THE BEGINNING OF FREEDOM

7 min.

Providential Orchestration and the American Founding

The Beginning of Freedom

The Declaration of Independence did more than announce a political separation; it declared the entrance of a free people into history. Thomas Jefferson called it “an expression of the American mind,” the rare moment when centuries of moral philosophy, English constitutional tradition, Enlightenment reason, and spiritual conviction converged into a single, defiant truth: human beings are born to be free.

Many later saw Providence in that moment. Joseph Smith taught that God “raised up” wise men to found this nation, and the Founders themselves often spoke as if guided by a higher power. Washington, reflecting in 1783, marveled that America’s birth occurred not in an age of darkness but at a time when “the rights of mankind were better understood and more clearly defined than at any former period.” He knew the Revolution was not merely a rebellion — it was a revelation.

The Declaration became a hinge in human history. For the first time, a people claimed their rights openly, appealing to both the laws of nature and the laws of God. They asserted that liberty is not granted by kings, parliaments, or empires, but endowed by the Creator and safeguarded by reason, conscience, and courage.

In that bold act, the American experiment began — a nation founded on the belief that ordinary people, guided by truth, could govern themselves. It was the beginning of freedom, not only for America, but for all who would one day look to its example and hope to claim their own.

The Articulation of Universal Rights

In 1776, the Declaration did more than sever political ties with Great Britain; it articulated a universal grammar of human freedom. Its opening lines proclaimed that every person is endowed with inherent, God‑given rights — rights older than nations, older than laws, older even than history itself. Government, the Founders insisted, exists for one sacred purpose: to secure what heaven has already bestowed.

Jefferson grounded equality not in custom or class, but in creation. By invoking “the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God,” he anchored liberty in the very structure of reality — a truth discoverable by reason and affirmed by revelation. In doing so, he transformed political resistance into a moral revolution.

Abraham Lincoln later observed that these principles were placed in the Declaration “for future use,” a timeless safeguard against mankind’s recurring temptation to dominate and degrade. They were meant to outlive the Founders, outlast empires, and confront every generation with the same uncompromising standard of human dignity. Spoken aloud in 1776, these truths became the moral foundation upon which religious liberty and the Restoration would later rise — a divine reaffirmation that the rights of mankind are eternal, universal, and non‑negotiable.

The Formation of a Nation Grounded in Consent

The Declaration’s claims demanded an entirely new political order. The American people rejected the ancient belief that authority descends from kings, conquerors, or priestly castes. Instead, they affirmed a revolutionary truth: legitimate government rises only from the consent of the governed — from a people endowed with rights by God who lend power to government solely for their protection.

This shift overturned millennia of political tradition rooted in coercion and inherited rule. It redefined government as servant rather than master, an institution accountable to the very people it once presumed to command. Consent became the cornerstone of a political order designed not to restrain liberty, but to secure it.

This principle created the civic environment necessary for the restitution of all things. Only in a nation built on consent — where individuals could think, learn, speak, worship, and assemble without fear of state persecution or mob action — could the heavens reopen. The American Founding did not merely permit religious freedom; it prepared a world where divine truth could be sought openly, embraced freely, and proclaimed without punishment.

The Rise of a Constitutional Order Capable of Protecting Liberty

Independence alone could not preserve freedom. Universal rights, however boldly proclaimed, could not defend themselves. Consent required institutions strong enough to restrain tyranny yet limited enough to protect moral agency.

Thus continued the long labor that culminated in the Constitution — a political architecture designed to divide power, check ambition, and bind rulers and citizens alike to law. It balanced strength with restraint, stability with accountability, authority with limits. For the first time, a nation attempted to secure liberty not through the will of one, but through the disciplined structure of many.

This constitutional order created a civic environment where religious liberty and religious pluralism could flourish, scripture could be printed, missionaries could preach, converts could be made, congregations could gather, and prophets could speak without fear of state or mob reprisal. It nurtured a society where creativity, imagination, and inquiry could expand under the banner of freedom.

In this framework, the American Founding reached its full purpose: establishing a land uniquely suited for the advancement of human freedom and the unfolding truths of the Restoration — a nation where knowledge could grow, ideas could circulate, and God’s work could move forward.

A Divinely Guided Foundation

Seen through the lens of the Restoration, the American founding was not accidental. It was a divinely guided orchestration for a world in which truth could spread without coercion, scripture could be published without suppression, and prophets could speak without fear. The Revolution cleared the ground. The Constitution raised the structure. Providence guided the process.

John Adams sensed this sacred dimension. He wrote that those who love God’s work and “do what they can to preserve and improve it” will be accepted by him — a remarkable acknowledgment from a Founder who believed history itself was under divine supervision.

Nearly a century later, in 1898, President Wilford Woodruff affirmed the same heavenly influence. In General Conference, he declared that the Founders “were the best spirits the God of Heaven could find,” raised up to establish a government of liberty. He testified that the Signers of the Declaration appeared to him in the St. George Temple, requesting ordinances — a striking witness to how Latter‑day Saints understand the sacred nature of America’s destiny and the eternal significance of the Founders’ work.

To the Saints, the cause of the patriots was never merely political. It was a divinely orchestrated step in preparing the world for the expansion of freedom, for the restoration of priesthood authority, and for the preaching of the gospel to every nation, kindred, tongue, and people.

The laws and constitution the Founding Fathers established were to be maintained “for the rights and protection of all flesh,” grounded in the “just and holy principles” of religious freedom and independence from government, freedom of belief and expression, and equal justice under the law. Their work created a nation where human agency could flourish, conscience could awaken, and the restored truths of the Gospel of Jesus Christ could shine their full light across the globe.

Jefferson’s Search for Ancient Foundations

Jefferson’s political philosophy was shaped not only by Enlightenment reason but by scripture and the long record of human history. He concluded that the most substantive principles of representative government were first practiced by ancient Israel under Moses — a people governed by law, consent, and covenant rather than by kings. In his study of Anglo‑Saxon institutions, he found striking parallels: local self‑rule, communal responsibility, and a fierce insistence on liberty. To him, these traditions were not relics but remnants of an ancient birthright.

Historian Gilbert Chinard observed that Jefferson sought “a renaissance of Anglo‑Saxon primitive institutions” in America — a reclamation of freedoms lost through “a long train of abuses.” The Founders, careful students of the Bible, saw in ancient Israel a divine pattern: a people promised freedom, peace, and prosperity if they embraced God’s law. Watching Israel scattered across the earth, they believed America might be the place where remnants would gather and where divine principles could again shape a free nation.

Their anticipation rested on God’s promise to Moses — that the blessings once offered to Israel would be extended to the remnants in the latter days. As they framed the government, many sensed that this transference could begin in their own time. They opened their hearts to the wisdom of the past, and what they discovered shaped their thinking, their institutions, and ultimately the foundational principles upon which this nation was built.

In recovering these ancient truths, the Founders did more than craft a new republic. They forged a political order capable of blessing all mankind — a nation where civil and religious liberties could flourish, conscience could awaken, and the Restoration could unfold its blessings for the moral and mutual instruction of man, and improvement of his condition.

A Sense of Sacred Mission

Historian Clinton Rossiter described the early American sense of mission: God called forth “certain hardy souls” from privilege‑ridden nations, placed them in an environment suited for freedom, and entrusted them with the responsibility of proving that popular government could succeed. If Americans failed, they would fail not only themselves but all who longed to be free.

With the Lord’s assurance that he had “established the Constitution of this land,” the final preparations for the greatest event in modern history were nearing completion. The only things that remained were the birth of Joseph Smith Jr. and the Second Great Awakening. That which was to follow in 1820 would be the high point of the marvelous work and a wonder mentioned by Isaiah: the personal visitation of God the Father and His Son Jesus Christ to Joseph Smith.

Only in a land governed by inspired principles of liberty could such an appearance — with its far‑reaching consequences — occur. Only under a constitutional order grounded in moral agency could the Restoration rise, take root, and bless all mankind. Thus, the destiny of the mighty nation foreseen in the Book of Mormon became inseparably intertwined with the higher purposes of God.

As stated above, the American experiment in freedom was far more than a political achievement. The Founders created a nation where conscience could awaken, where truth could circulate, where ideas could germinate, and where apostles and prophets could speak without chains.

In this light, the American founding becomes more than a chapter in political history. It becomes a sacred hinge in human destiny — the moment when God prepared a free people for the return of divine truth. Going forward, American contributions would bless all nations, kindreds, tongues, and peoples. She would become a nation with an essential role in the gathering of Israel and the preparing of the world for the Second Coming of Jesus Christ.

Next Post: The Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom

As the Founders continued shaping the moral architecture of the new nation, one final pillar of liberty emerged — a declaration not of political independence but of spiritual independence. Jefferson’s Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom would become the soul of the First Amendment, the clearest articulation of the principle that faith must never be coerced and conscience must remain free. It stands as the capstone of the Founders’ work and the bridge between the American founding and the Restoration’s rise.

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