Roger Sherman and the Creation of the American Republic

One of leading figures of his day, Roger Sherman was a member of the five-man committee that drafted the Declaration of Independence and an influential delegate at the Constitutional Convention. As a Representative and Senator in the new republic, he had a hand in determining the proper scope of the national government's power as well as drafting the Bill of Rights. In Roger Sherman and the Creation of the American Republic, Mark David Hall explores Sherman's political theory and shows how it informed his many contributions to America's founding. A close examination of Sherman's religious beliefs provides insight into how those beliefs informed his political actions. Hall shows that Sherman, like many founders, was influenced by Calvinist political thought, a tradition that played a role in the founding generation's opposition to Great Britain, and led them to develop political institutions designed to prevent corruption, promote virtue, and protect rights. Contrary to oft-repeated assertions that the founders advocated a strictly secular policy, Hall argues persuasively that most founders believed Christianity should play an important role in the new American republic.

Biographies & Memoirs

Hall, Mark David

Historical

Oxford University Press

Mark David Hall fills a void in the literature by providing a comprehensive analysis of Wilson's political and legal philosophy. By placing him in the context of the history of ideas, and by showing how his political theory influenced his concrete contributions to the creation of the American republic, Hall reveals Wilson's views of morality, epistemology, and human nature. These views made him the founding period's most important advocate of a strong and democratic national government that also protects the rights of the individual. The Political and Legal Philosophy of James Wilson, 1742-1798 is a significant examination of the intellectual and political legacy of one of America's leading founders. The book will be of great interest to political scientists, historians, and students of the law.

The Political and Legal Philosophy of James Wilson 1742-1798

Politics & Social Sciences

Politics & Government

Univ of Missouri Pr

Did America Have a Christian Founding?: Separating Modern Myth from Historical Truth

“Powerfully and thoroughly rebuts—claim by claim—the consistently errant assertions by a never-ending stream of prominent and popular commentators who report that the American Founding was a wholly secular and enlightenment affair.” —BARRY ALAN SHAIN, professor of political science, Colgate University, and author of The Myth of American Individualism
“A fresh look at the very real extent to which Christian thought and belief played a vital role in the making of our country.” —MAT THEW J. FRANCK, associate director, James Madison Program in American Ideals and Institutions, Princeton University
“Hall’s lucid volume . . . corrects many modern misconceptions about [the founders’] political philosophy and achievements.” —GEORGE H. NASH, historian, lecturer, and author of The Conservative Intellectual Movement in America Since 1945
“Hall’s beautifully written and immensely thoughtful new book should be read by anyone interested in the role of religion in the founding of the American Republic.” —DAVID G. DALIN, senior research fellow, Brandeis University, and author of Jewish Justices of the Supreme Court, from Brandeis to Kagan
“Hall clearly shows what’s most important: that Christian ideas profoundly influenced the Founders, and through them all of us.” —DR. MARVIN OLASKY, editor in chief of World and author of Fighting for Liberty and Virtue
“Beautiful. . . . Fully debunks the pervasive myth that America’s founders were deists. As I turned each page, my smile grew larger to know that here, in a single short book, history was being set aright.” —RODNEY K. SMITH, Stirling Chair and director of the Center for Constitutional Studies, Utah Valley University, and author of James Madison: The Father of Religious Liberty
A distinguished professor debunks the assertion that America's Founders were deists who desired the strict separation of church and state and instead shows that their political ideas were profoundly influenced by their Christian convictions.
Many Americans have been taught a distorted, inaccurate account of our nation’s founding, one that claims that the founders were deists who desired the strict separation of church and state and that the country’s founding political ideas developed without reference to Christianity. In this revelatory, rigorously argued new book, Mark David Hall thoroughly debunks that modern myth and shows instead that the founders’ political ideas were profoundly influenced by their Christian convictions.
Drawing from hundreds of personal letters, public proclamations, early state constitutions and laws, and other original documents, Professor Hall makes the airtight case that America’s founders were not deists; that they did not create a “godless” Constitution; that even Jefferson and Madison did not want a high wall separating church and state; that most founders believed the government should encourage Christianity; and that they embraced a robust understanding of religious liberty for biblical and theological reasons. In addition, Hall explains why and how the founders’ views are absolutely relevant today.
Did America Have a Christian Founding? is a compelling, utterly convincing closing argument in the debate about the role of faith in the nation’s founding, making it clear that Christian thought was crucial to the nation’s founding—and demonstrating that this benefits all of us, whatever our faith (or lack thereof).

History

Americas

Thomas Nelson

A distinguished professor debunks the assertion that America's Founders were deists who desired the strict separation of church and state and instead shows that their political ideas were profoundly influenced by their Christian convictions. In 2010, David Mark Hall gave a lecture at the Heritage Foundation entitled "Did America Have a Christian Founding" His balanced and thoughtful approach to this controversial question caused a sensation. C-SPAN televised his talk, and an essay based on it has been downloaded more than 300,000 times. In this new book, Hall expands upon this essay, making the airtight case that America's Founders were&nbsp;not&nbsp;deists; that they did not create a "godless" Constitution; that even Jefferson and Madison did not want a high wall separating church and state; that most Founders believed the government should encourage Christianity; and that they embraced a robust understanding of religious liberty for biblical and theological reasons. In addition, Hall explains why and how the Founders' views are absolutely relevant today. This compelling and utterly persuasive book will convince skeptics and equip believers and conservatives to defend the idea that Christian thought was crucial to the nation's founding--and that this benefits all of us, whatever our faith (or lack of faith).

Beyond Washington and Jefferson: Ranking the FoundersEven as Americans devour books about our Founding Fathers, the focus seldom extends past a half dozen or so icons—Franklin, Washington, Adams, Jefferson, Madison, Hamilton. Many of the men (and women) who made prodigious contributions to the American founding have been all but forgotten.America’s Forgotten Founders corrects this injustice. Editors Gary L. Gregg II and Mark David Hall surveyed forty-five top scholars in history, political science, and law to produce the first-ever ranking of the most neglected contributors to the American Revolution and our constitutional order. This unique book features engaging short biographies of the top ten most important Founders whose contributions are overlooked today: James Wilson, George Mason, Gouverneur Morris, John Jay, Roger Sherman, John Marshall, John Dickinson, Thomas Paine, Patrick Henry, and John Witherspoon. The latest entry in ISI Books’ Lives of the Founders series, America’s Forgotten Founders reshapes our understanding of America’s founding generation.

America's Forgotten Founders, second edition (Lives of the Founders)

Gregg II, Dr. Gary L.

ISI Books

Proclaim Liberty Throughout All the Land demonstrates that Christianity is responsible for advancing liberty and equality for all Americans. Scholars and popular authors regularly claim that Christianity, at least orthodox Christianity, has fostered oppression and intolerance. A common narrative is that liberty and equality have been advanced primarily when America's leaders embrace progressive manifestations of religion or reject faith altogether. Proclaim Liberty Throughout All the Land demonstrates that Christianity is responsible for advancing liberty and equality for all citizens. Throughout American history, Christians have been motivated by their faith to create fair and just institutions, fight for political freedom, oppose slavery, and secure religious liberty for all. The New York Times's 1619 Project is only a recent and prominent manifestation of the tendency of journalists, academics, and popular writers to portray American Christianity as a force of oppression and intolerance. Without shying away from the ways in which the Christian faith has been used to defend and even encourage harmful practices, Proclaim Liberty Throughout All the Land shows that it has far more often been a force for good. From the American Puritans--who created some of the most republican and free institutions the world had ever seen--to America's founders' opposition to slavery, to contemporary Christian legal advocacy groups that fight to protect religious liberty for everyone, this volume offers an important corrective to those who would downplay the role Christianity has played in advancing liberty and equality for all citizens.

Proclaim Liberty Throughout All the Land: How Christianity Has Advanced Freedom and Equality for All Americans

Fidelis Books

Who’s Afraid of Christian Nationalism: Why Christian Nationalism Is Not an Existential Threat to America or the Church

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Hall, Mark David. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Hall, Mark David

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Hall, Mark David. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Roger Sherman and the Creation of the American Republic

Roger Sherman and the Creation of the American Republic

The Political and Legal Philosophy of James Wilson 1742-1798

Did America Have a Christian Founding?: Separating Modern Myth from Historical Truth

Did America Have a Christian Founding?: Separating Modern Myth from Historical Truth

America's Forgotten Founders, second edition (Lives of the Founders)

Proclaim Liberty Throughout All the Land: How Christianity Has Advanced Freedom and Equality for All Americans

Who’s Afraid of Christian Nationalism: Why Christian Nationalism Is Not an Existential Threat to America or the Church