America’s Legal Foundation	The Foundations  of American Law and Civil Government Are Under Attack       America, since its discovery and founding has been termed variously and in innumerable ways, “One Nation Under God.” This is affirmed by the writings of our nation’s founders:
American Criminal & Civil laws based on the Ten Commandments           William Blackstone defines the foundation of law	The Bible, the Word of God, also called the Scriptures, gives The Law—The Commandments.  Webster defines the moral law as; A law which prescribes to men their religious and social duties, in other words, their duties to God and to each other.  The moral law is summarily contained in the decalogue or ten commandments, written by the finger of God on two tables of stone, and delivered to Moses on mount Sinai.[1]   William Blackstone, esq., published his Commentaries on the Laws of England in 1765, and wrote:  “Upon these two foundations, the law of nature and the law of revelation (the Bible), depend all human laws.”  His writings were extremely influential in shaping the legal principles and philosophy of the 56 signers of The Declaration of Independence.   “And can the liberties of a nation be thought secure when we have removed their only firm basis, a conviction in the minds of the people that these liberties are the gift of God?  That they are not to be violated but with His wrath?”                                                           President Thomas Jefferson
Laws are immutable and fixed.	In Hebrew, Law means “fixed”.   Webster’s 1828 First American Dictionary of the English Language defines law: as; that which is laid, set or fixed.  A rule, particularly an established or permanent rule, prescribed by the supreme power of a state to its subjects, for regulating their actions, particularly their social actions.  Laws are imperative or mandatory, commanding what shall be done; prohibitory, restraining from what is to be forborne; or permissive, declaring what may be done without incurring a penalty.  The laws which enjoin the duties of piety and morality, are prescribed by God and found in the Scriptures.
The Beginnings of American Law	Our Founders held that God has given to every person rights and responsibilities that He revealed through the Bible.  American Law, as our founders explained in their early writings, is based on the rights endowed to us our by our Creator, and government’s purpose is to enforce those rights to its citizens.
Endowed by our Creator	The Declaration of Independence, our nation’s birth certificate, identifies the source of our rights at citizens:  “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.  That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.”  The Declaration of Independence was established as the first volume of American Law in “The Public Statutes at Large of the United States of America, printed in 1845 by the authority of the United States Congress.  1 Stat. 1-3 (1845), making the Declaration coequal to the Constitution as a document of law.    The legitimacy of government depends upon its recognition of the voice of the people, the “consent of the governed” and upon its regard for human beings as the creation of the Almighty.

Webster’s American Dictionary of the English Language (1828) is our reference for terms:

Authority	Legal power, or a right to command or to act; as the authority of a prince over subjects, and of parents over children.
Government	1. Direction; regulation.  2. Control; restraint.  3. The exercise of authority by parents, communities, societies, or states.
Religion	In its most comprehensive sense, includes a belief in the being and perfections of God, in the revelation of his will to man, in man’s obligation to obey his commands, in a state of reward and punishment, and in man’s accountableness to God; and also true godliness or piety of life, with the practice of all moral duties.  It therefore comprehends theology, as a system of doctrines or principles, as well as practical piety; for the practice of moral duties without a belief in a divine lawgiver, and without reference to his will or commands, is not a religion.  Webster’s Dictionary, 1828

Moral Self Govern-ment	The hierarchy of government depends on moral self-government.  A citizen practices restraint in matters of social consequence; then that is carried to family government where parents impose restraints on their children; then to ordered groups, from town, city, state, to federal government.
Ordered Liberty	Americans have ordered liberty to the degree that the individual is under the authority of the Creator who has endowed us with rights.  The individual, then, is the smallest unit of government, which is carried out in self-government.
Limited Government	The people’s representatives outlined a limited government with separated powers, that depended upon independent and strong moral self-government, giving very limited powers to a central government.  It was unanimously acknowledged that Our Creator is the giver and sustainer of our liberty.
The Purpose of Government is Restraint	Alexander Hamilton said the institution of government is needed:  “Because the passions of men will not conform to the dictates of reason and justice without constraint.”[2]

The Gift of God		Thomas Jefferson said as President, “And can the liberties of a nation be thought secure when we have removed their only firm basis, a conviction in the minds of the people that these liberties are the gift of God?  That they are not to be violated but with His wrath?”
A Nation’s Rights Under God		John Quincy Adams wrote, “This principle, that a whole nation has a right to do whatever it pleases, cannot in any sense whatever be admitted as true.  The eternal and immutable laws of justice and morality are paramount to all human legislation.  The violations of those laws is certainly within the power of a nation, but it is not among the rights of nations.”
America’s Foundational Documents		From our founders’ writings, it is clear that the United States of America has as its foundational documents the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution and its Bill of Rights, and the Bible.  The drafters of our founding documents designed that each citizen would practice moral self-government, there would be a delegation of limited and separated powers, we would live in one nation under God with ordered liberty, and freedom of conscience for all.  Virtue is the necessary foundation for our Republic.  George Washington declared in his farewell address to the nation, “Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports.  In vain would that man claim the tribute of patriotism, who should labor to subvert these great pillars of human happiness.”
Revolutionary Changes in the Law	Our purpose is to expose the changes in America brought about by undemocratic and subversive forces which oppose our American way of life and justice.  We will point to sources of revolutionary change by presenting facts of history; and will ask the reader to evaluate their force in light of our responsibility to care for this great nation.  We use the term “revolution” as defined by our 31st president, Herbert Hoover:
The Govern-ment belongs to “We, the People”	“Revolution in government is a hard term to define.  Too often we use it colloquially for normal change.  Any definition of revolution in democracies implies something more than the peaceful fruition of their philosophies and ideals matured by honest discussion and submitted to the ballot.  It means some violent wrench in the whole philosophy of a people—a wrench from their ideas and ideals whence sprang their institutions and their form of government.  In many democratic states it has meant the imposition of a new philosophy, changed ideas and changed ideals without their open submission to the people, and often without the people recognizing its approach until it has become a reality.”[3]
The Fixed Laws of America’s Foundation		Thomas Jefferson said in 1823, “On every question of construction, carry ourselves back to the time when the Constitution was adopted, recollect the spirit manifested in the debates, and instead of trying what meaning may be squeezed out of the text, or invented against it, conform to the probable one in which it was passed.”[4]
The History of Change:  Harvard Law School                           Unruly Judicial Power		Evolutionary law, known as legal positivism, was introduced in the 1870’s through Harvard Law School.  Its president, Charles William Elliott promoted Darwinian principles in law and education, and he selected an evolutionary law champion to head Harvard’s law school, Christopher Columbus Langdell.  Langdell taught that since man evolves, his laws must also evolve, and law students should study judge’s decisions rather than the constitution.  Roscoe Pound, who served as professor at four different law schools, further institutionalized this positivistic philosophy.  These evolutionary law professors had a direct effect on the Supreme Court.  For example, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., appointed to the Court in 1902, wrote, “[T]he justification of a law for us cannot be found in the fact that our fathers have always followed it.  It must be found in some help which the law brings toward reaching a social end.”[5]    Today’s Supreme Court reflects the decades of eroding and redefining the constitution, establishing bad precedents which are then used as citations for further precedent, creating a government defined by judiciary.  Thomas Jefferson warned that this centralization of power would result in the people losing their right to self-government: “I believe the States can best govern our home concerns and the general [federal] government our foreign ones.  I wish, therefore . . . never to see all offices transferred to Washington, where, further withdrawn from the eyes of the people, they may more secretly be bought and sold as at market.”[6]
Fraudulent Science Experts Replace Trial by Jury		Justice Stephen Breyer wrote in Science Magazine (April 24, 1998), “Law cases can turn almost entirely on an understanding of the underlying technical or scientific subject matter.” Robert Dickenson wrote in a book by Morris Ernst, an ACLU lawyer and one of the drafters of the Model Penal Code, that “Virtually every page of the Kinsey Report touches on the Legal Code.”    The fraudulent and criminal Kinsey Reports were used to undermine the Judeo-Christian ethic in America, and to change laws that protect our society’s virtue.  Ernst advised that every bar association in the country “should establish a Committee on the Laws of Sexual Behavior and consider its own State’s legal system in this field.  Soon legal committees were established with funding from the Rockefeller Foundation, and protections for women and children were removed from the law.
Schools Replace Learning with Psychology		The departure of schooling as an academic accomplishment to its current state as behavioral conditioning is traced to the German influence of Wilhelm Wundt, a philosopher at the University of Leipzig.  Wundt founded experimental psychology, and proposed that the human psyche could be measured, quantified, and scientifically demonstrated.  His was the philosophical basis for Pavolov’s principles of stimulus-response conditioning; for lobotomies and electroconvulsive therapy, for schools oriented toward socialization rather than development of the intellect; and for a society more blatantly devoted to the gratification of sensory desires at the expense of responsibility and achievement.[7]  Wundt had a tremendous influence on the development of the new psychology.  His first American student, G. Stanley Hall was the mentor of John Dewey.  Hall established the first psychology laboratory at Johns Hopkins University. After studying under Hall, Dewey published the first American test on Psychology.  Dewey was invited in 1895 to head the department of philosophy, psychology and teaching at the University of Chicago.  Dewey established a laboratory school where his theories could be tested.  For Dewey, as well as Wundt, children were animals, alone in their reactions and entirely dependent upon experiential data.  James Cattell was Wundt’s first assistant, and after three years at Leipzig, returned to America to establish the first department of Psychology at the University of Pennsylvania.  After moving to Columbia, he supervised 344 doctoral candidates in psychology.  Other Leipzig graduates returned to America taking leadership at Princeton, Johns Hopkins, Wesleyan, New York University, Yale, University of Chicago and Columbia Teacher’s College.  The next generation of Wundtian psychologists included animal experimenter, Edward Thorndike.  Thorndike was the first to take animal behavior techniques learned in his laboratory, and apply them to children.  He published 507 books and articles on educational psychology, in which individualism gave way to social conformity; the product of education being the behavioral conditioning of children.    In 1902, Rockefeller organized the General Education Board to monopolize America’s philanthropic programs in education.  With an initial donation of $1 million from John D. Rockefeller, Sr., the General Education Board saw themselves as “having limitless resources and the people yield themselves with perfect docility into our molding hands.”  That year, Rockefeller contributed $200,000 to Columbia Teacher’s College, and matched $250,000 more in contributions from others.  By 1904, Thorndike was settled as head of the new department of educational psychology at Teachers College, and John Dewey joined the faculty in the department of philosophy and education.  Dewey’s combination of “educational’ psychology and socialism became known as “Progressive Education” and replaced the academic curriculum of public schools in America.
Church of the Holy Trinity vs. U.S. 143 U.S. 226 (1892)		In 1892, Justice Josiah David Brewer writing in Church of the Holy Trinity v. U.S., the unanimous supreme Court decision which has never been overturned, held as a matter of law, fact, and history that …this is a Christian nation, because our laws and public institutions are founded on Biblical principles….This is historically true.  From the discovery of this continent to the present hour, there is a single voice making this affirmation . . . we find everywhere a clear recognition of the same truth . . this is a Christian nation.[8]
An Overview of the Holy Trinity Decision		As a nation founded on Biblical principles, the unanimous supreme Court ruled in 1892 that for four hundred years, America’s organic utterances have confirmed that America is founded on Christian principles, and is a Christian nation.  The decision was affirmed three times in later cases.  The case, Church of the Holy Trinity v. United States, 143 U.S. 226 (1892) concerned a New York Church who contracted with a minister in England to be the pastor.  Congress had acted “to prohibit the importation and migration of foreigners and aliens under contract or agreement to perform labor in the United States.”  The supreme Court declared that the purpose of the congressional act was to prevent the importation of unskilled labor which would compete with American laborers.  Justice Brewer then points out that beyond the intent of the statute to regulate the labor market, “no purpose of action against religion can be imputed to any legislation, state or national, because this is a religious people.”  The argument of the supreme Court demonstrates the protection once afforded to Americans of their religious freedom.  No Act of Congress could be construed to hinder religious freedom, because for 400 years there had never been a single legal argument that would abridge that right.  The unanimous supreme Court included a historic overview of America’s religious history from 1492 to 1892, establishing that a driving purpose for America’s founding was the Christian faith, and a labor act could not diminish the freedom of a church to call a foreign pastor.  The following illustrations are cited in the Holy Trinity case:
The First American Colonial Grant 1584		The first colonial grant made to Sir Walter Raleigh in 1584 was to enact statutes of the government of the proposed colony provided that “they be not against the true Christian faith nowe professed in the Church of England.”
Colonial Documents		The First Charter of Virginia directed the establishment of the Christian religion; the Mayflower Compact stated its mission as “Advancement of the Christian faith.”
State Charters		The fundamental orders of Connecticut instruct its people to “preserve the liberty and purity of the gospel of our Lord Jesus which we now profess.”   Similarly, the charter of Pennsylvania acknowledged “Almighty God being the only Lord of Conscience, Father of Lights and Spirits; and the Author as well as Object of all divine Knowledge, Faith, and Worship…”   The constitution of Massachusetts (1780) orders that “It is the right as well as the duty of all men in society publicly, and at stated seasons, to worship the Supreme Being, the great Creator and Preserver of the universe.”
America’s Organic Utterances		Justice Brewer concludes his examples of American Christianity by saying, There is no dissonance in these declarations.  There is a universal language pervading them all, having one meaning.  They affirm and reaffirm that this is a religious nation.  These are not individual sayings, declarations of private persons.  They are organic utterances.  They speak the voice of the entire people.”
One Hundred Ten Years of Change: 1892-2002 What Has Happened to America?		To every American alive and breathing today, it is evident that Justice Brewer’s unanimous and unquestioned declaration would invoke hysteria from the halls of the ACLU to the office of every public school principal.  One hundred ten years later, Justice Brewer’s statements that seemed so matter-of-fact are stunning to the “tolerant community” of 21st century America.  Who has changed America’s way of life to reject our Christian foundation and indoctrinate our people?  Who will cry restore?     Linda Jeffrey, Ed.D. Director of Research First Principles Press www.firstprinciplespress.org

[1] Noah Webster, 1828.  First American Dictionary of the English Language

[2] Federalist #15.  Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay, The Federalist Papers (New York:  Mentor Books, New American Library, 110.

[3] Herbert Hoover, 1934.  The Challenge to Liberty.  NY:  Charles Scribner’s Sons, pp. 14-15.

[4] Jefferson, T.  Memoir, Correspondence, and Miscellanies, From the Papers of Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Jefferson Randolph, ed. 1830.  Boston:  Gray and Bowen, Vol. IV, p. 373, to Judge William Johnson on June 12, 1823.

[5] Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., Collected Legal Papers.  NY:  Harcourt, Brace and Company, 1920.  P. 225, “The Law in Science—the Science in Law.”  Cited in Barton, Original Intent.  P. 229.

[6] Jefferson, Memoir, Vol. IV, p. 374, to Judge William Johnson on June 12, 1823.  Cited in Barton, p. 263.

[7] Lionni, Paolo.  1993  The Leipzig Connection (4^th ed.).  Sheridan, OR:  Heron Books, p. 9. 

[8] Holy Trinity Church vs. United States, 143 U.S. 471 (1892).