Rick Green [00:00:12] You found your way to the intersection of faith and the culture. This is WallBuilders Live, where we talk about today's hottest topics on policy and faith in the culture, always from a biblical, historical, and constitutional perspective. We're doing that today. Actually, we started yesterday and then picking up today, we're doing a TBN special that David and Tim Barton did, and we're going to pick up where we left off yesterday. This is actually a three-part independence day special. And so you, if you missed yesterday, you definitely want to go to wallbuilderslive.com and listen to that program. It's available right now. On the website and then today of course we get the middle part of that. Tomorrow we'll get the conclusion. We'll dive right into where we left off yesterday. You're listening to WallBuilders Live.

David Barton [00:00:50] We're in Princeton, New Jersey, and this is the home of Richard Stockton. He's one of the signers of the declaration from New Jersey. When he got back, his library had been burned by the British. He had one of greatest legal collections in the state. They had taken his horses, they butchered his livestock. He had nothing but desolation when he got back, and so he's back and he has six kids. He's dying, he knows it, and he knows his kids are about to be fatherless. So what do you do? What he did was, in his last will and testament, he starts and he says, as my children shall have frequent occasion of perusing this document, and may wonder as to the beliefs of their father, he then went through and listed all the doctrines of Christianity, all the necessity of living a moral life, how it's important in this life, and that he just gave fatherly guidance to his kids that are about to be without their father. Great leader, great attorney, he was on the Supreme Court here in New Jersey, but a great story of Richard Stockton. 

Tim Barton [00:01:52] We're in Quincy, Massachusetts, actually at the home of John and Abigail Adams. Now, John and Abigale Adams, probably more notable names when it comes to the founding era, although probably most Americans couldn't tell a lot about their story. Well, John Adams specifically, he was born in 1735. He was a descendant of both Pilgrims and Puritans. So really cool family history, fun family tree. As a young man, he very engaged in the culture around them, got involved in politics, decides he wants to become a lawyer and becomes a lawyer.  He meets a young woman named Abigail Smith, and thanks, this one was really impressive. I need to know her more. Well, her father was one of the local pastors. John Adams becomes so impressed with Abigail, they end up getting married. Together they have six children, although one daughter actually died when she was one year old, and one daughter was stillborn. So for the survived, one son goes on to become the sixth president of the United States, John Quincy Adams. But, in 1770 was the infamous Boston Massacre. Now, There was already some tension with the Americans and British anyway, but when the massacre happened, it really brought unrest between the Americans and British. And the Americans were so frustrated, they wanted to execute the officer and the soldiers involved. Well, John Adams was a lawyer. In fact, he was a lawyer tasked with defending the British in this scenario, which no American was proud of. In, fact, they were very frustrated, but John Adams did it with great integrity. Now, John Adams actually argued the case so well that the officer in the soldiers got off free, which again, no American was happy about, although they at least had the understanding and integrity to recognize it wasn't John Adams trying to defend them because he liked what they did, it was rather a condition of the law and John Adams wanted justice. Well, the people actually supported John Adams enough that John Adams was then elected to become part of their General Assembly that same year. Well, shortly after that, 1774, is when there's the first Continental Congress and this is where the very first time you have people from all 13 colonies coming together, trying to figure out what's going on in the midst of the problems with the British. What's during these congresses as they're meeting together, John Adams actually proposes that George Washington be the commander of chief. He says that man from Virginia ought to be our commander. Well, as John Adams continues on, he stays involved in this political realm. In fact, he becomes known as one of the sons of liberty. In the midst of this, in 1776, he was put on the Committee of Five that was tasked with drafting the Declaration of Independence. And although Thomas Jefferson really is a guy who did the writing of the Declaration, when they brought back the Declaration and presented it to the rest of Congress, John Adams was a chief advocate. He was the one encouraging the rest the Congressman, we have to get this done. We need the Declaration. We need this now. So, he became the leader on the floor of actually getting the declaration passed. The following year in 1777, he was appointed by Congress to go over to Europe and actually spent the next many years in Europe trying to negotiate an end to the war with Britain, working with France, working in Holland. In 1788, he resigned his post in Europe and came back to America. Now, while he was in Europe, they actually did the Constitution. So, they had nothing to do with the Constitution, although when he returned, he did write in favor supporting the Constitution and said, as great as what we need to do. Well, the following year he becomes the first vice president of the United States under the first president George Washington and he serves in that post for eight years at the end of eight years He then was chosen to be the second president of The United States now his vice president was Thomas Jefferson And it was unique because at that point you didn't pick your vice president The vice president, was the person who had the second most votes so Thomas Jefferson had run against him So they were not political friends well at the beginning of his first term Thomas Jefferson decides that he wants to be president and runs and so John Adams loses in his bid to become a president for a second turn. At this point, he decides, 1801, he's going to retire from public life. He served for so many years. He comes back to this home again in Quincy, Massachusetts. Well, even though they had great disagreements throughout their political career, at the end of their life, he and Jefferson became friends. Quite uniquely on the 50th anniversary of the declaration, July 4th, 1826, he and Thomas Jefferson, both being friends, both died on that day. On the morning of the 50th anniversary, John Adams wasn't able to get out of bed. His family, friends recognized this is probably the end of his life. They gathered around the bed and they asked if he would like to propose a toast. So John Adams raised his glass and his last words were independence forever. 

David Barton [00:06:21] We're in Hopewell, New Jersey, and this is the home of John Hart, one of the signers of the Declaration from New Jersey. Now, he was actually one of older signers. He was in his upper 60s when he signed the Declaration, and he was a favorite of all of his neighbors. Now, He had a farm here. There's 400 acres here. He loved farming. He loved being outdoors, and his neighbors loved him because he always did what was right. Matter of fact, they called him Honest John Hart. And they so trusted him that for nearly 20 years they elected him to local offices and the state legislature and he just did what was right, time after time. Well, when he signed the Declaration of Independence, that certainly made the British mad at him and so they wanted him and they wanted them bad. When word came that the British were coming, he was in his house at the bedside of his wife who was sick and was dying. He had 13 kids, he had all the responsibilities of the farm, but the neighbors come in and say, you gotta leave, the British are just around the corner, you gotta go. And his friends and neighbors get him out of the house just before the British arrive. And so as it turns out, his wife actually ended up dying. He wasn't there when she did. And the British hunted him for the next several months all over the state. And amazingly, he never spent two nights in a row in the same place. He would sleep in a cave or sleep under a creek bank. He even said that there were times he would crawl in where dogs were sleeping and sleep there with the dogs, like in a dog house. And for a year, this man in his upper 60s was living in all this rough area and the British were chasing him. Well, when the British finally left the area, he returns home. His kids have been scattered. His estate has been pillaged. All of his livestock has been butchered. It's just been desolated and his wife is now gone. And it hurt him so much and really just weighed on him that he never recovered from it. He died before the end of the American Revolution. But he was a strong Christian man, as well as a strong patriot. He was a Baptist, and that was pretty unusual in this part of the country at the time. And he actually gave the land to the Baptist Church for them to have their meeting house and for them have their cemetery. He's actually buried in that cemetery. Turns out, that's the first Baptist meeting house that's built in America for a place of worship. So with John Hart, you have a sign of the declaration, he's a great patriot, strong family man, has a great sacrifice that he paid, and he's a strong man of faith. This is like many of the Founding Fathers. 

Tim Barton [00:09:55] Can you name anybody to sign the declaration? 

Speaker [00:09:57] John Hancock. 

Tim Barton [00:09:59] Exactly. Yeah. He would. And who was John Hancock? 

Speaker [00:10:01] He was the president of Congress. 

Tim Barton [00:10:02] You're brilliant, right? You're so smart. Do you know anybody else who signed the declaration? 

Speaker [00:10:06] Benjamin Franklin. 

Tim Barton [00:10:07] Benjamin Franklin did sign. Okay, so we have two, there's 54 left. Can you name anybody that signed it? 

Speaker [00:10:13] Uh, George Washington. 

Tim Barton [00:10:16] Was the commander of the military. 

Speaker [00:10:17] George Washington. 

Tim Barton [00:10:18] It's a really good guess. He was the commander of the military. 

Speaker [00:10:22] Well, Hancock? Yep. Franklin? Dead? G-dubs, George Washington do it? Was he involved? 

Tim Barton [00:10:33] So he actually signed the Constitution. Can you name any people that signed it? 

Speaker [00:10:36] John Hancock, of course, Thomas Jefferson,. 

Tim Barton [00:10:39] Of course,. 

Speaker [00:10:40] John Adams, yes, George Washington,. 

Tim Barton [00:10:42] No, the Constitution,. 

[00:10:44] Hancock. 

Tim Barton [00:10:44] John Hancock, yeah. J. 

Speaker [00:10:46] Ohn Hanock. 

Tim Barton [00:10:47] Absolutely. 

Speaker [00:10:49] Um, John Hancock? 

Tim Barton [00:10:51] Absolutely. John Hanock, who was born about a hundred yards up the street from me. 

Tim Barton [00:10:56] Absolutely. Makes me know. Robert Treat Payne. A fella named Fairfield. Uh, I don't know if Benji signed it. I'm sure John Adams signed it-. 

Tim Barton [00:11:07] Absolutely. 

Tim Barton [00:11:15] All right, we want to welcome you guys watching today. Welcome to the audience. Thank you guys for being here. We're going to start talking about signers of the Declaration as we celebrate 4th of July. Probably the most famous signature on the Declaration is this guy's up here, John Hancock. John Hancock is the name most people have seen the signature. Most people have a general understanding of the name, but probably not a lot about the person or the character. John Hanock was the president of Congress during the Revolution. He was one of the guys who was part of the Sons of Liberty. But he also became the first governor of the state of Massachusetts. Under the king, the king appointed all the governors. So once we separated in 1776, at that point, all the states begin electing their own leaders. Well, John Hancock was chosen to be the first Governor of Massachusetts, and one of the things he did was a practice actually that goes all the way back to the time of the pilgrims, and every spring, the pilgrim's would do a day of prayer and fasting, asking for God to send the rain, right? Help grow the crops. Well, every single fall, they would do a Thanksgiving day and let's thank God for what he's done. Well, John Hancock follows that up. In fact, this is one of the original John Hanock Thanksgiving Proclamations. He had 22 different prayer proclamation as governor, calling on people to recognize God, to thank God, for God's provision, for what God had done for them. Well, this one is actually a unique Thanksgiving proclamation, because in this proclamation It actually happens and at the bottom, it says on the eighth day of November and the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and eighty. So it's seventeen eighty. What happened that year prior to this was actually the revelation of the traitor Benedict Arnold, where they find out the mission that's going on, this plot to overthrow Washington and West Point and really try to end the revolution. Well, one of the things he says is that we are thankful for the watchful providence and rescuing the person of our commander in chief and the army from imminent danger at the moment when treason was ripened for execution. On he goes. What's interesting to me though, is this isn't just some saying that every fall we have this arbitrary thanksgiving to God, he's actually noting specific details. So even like we would talk about in our life, what can we be thankful for? What has God done for us? He's literally looking at things happening around him and saying, we need to thank God for what God is doing. Well, that's what happened in the fall. 

David Barton [00:13:35] He also has- They did that with prayer and fasting. This is one of his prayer and fastin proclamations. You go through, he's got the state of Massachusetts praying and fasting for specific things. I mean, that's what you see in the fasting proclimations as well. 

Tim Barton [00:13:48] And this is one of his fasting proclamations. And this is also interesting to me because not only is he calling them to fast, which certainly is a spiritual thing that Christians were kind of called to do at times. One of the things he says about this is that we need to implore the divine forgiveness through the merits and mediation of Jesus Christ, our Savior. 

David Barton [00:14:05] Ooh. Now that sounds Christian. 

Tim Barton [00:14:07] Yeah, that's a big deal because right today, everybody knows the name John Hancock, but most people have heard the founding fathers were atheists or they're agnostics or they are deists. Well, atheists, agnostic, and deists don't talk about the fact that we need the forgiveness to the merits and mediation of Jesus Christ our Savior. Not only does he believe in Jesus, he's saying that we need Jesus in our life. We need that and recognizes him as savior. Well, John Hancock is one of those names that certainly is well-known. People don't know a lot about him. One of the cool things we actually have is there's been a reprint of a lot of those original prayer proclamations. So really fun, right? So if parents want to help their kids see some of these old things, or if you're a teacher or a homeschool parent. But there's a lot of these proclamations. So actually at wallbuilders.com, you can go and you can see some of these. This is one of the examples from Founding Fathers, certainly names we recognize but we don't know much of their story. 

David Barton [00:16:12] Well, we don't know much about their story or even the culture back then, what happened, because as governor of the state of Massachusetts, where he issued these 22 proclamations, this is not quite as big as those proclimations, but right up top, it's got the big title that says sermon. And then right under that, it says John Hancock. And it's not that he preached a sermon, it's that every year, the governor, Governor Hancock, would bring in a preacher to preach the entire state government. And so he and the Lieutenant Governor and the House and the Senate, they all get together. And that's how they started every legislative session was with a preacher giving them guidance. Oh, if you're looking at education this year, here's what you need to know out of the scriptures. You're looking to taxes. Here's what do you need know. Looking at military. So there's a lot of sermons with John Hancock's name on them because he brought preachers in and had preachers preach, which was a custom in Massachusetts and a lot in the Northeastern colonies. 

Tim Barton [00:17:05] So not only was he a guy who was obviously open to faith and religion and doing proclamations as governor, he's a guy that says, I want to know what the Bible says. I want pastors come teach me. So he's also being mentored by pastors, which is also kind of a cool deal. We don't hear about today, but John Hancock, again, it's a name we know. We just don't always know a lot about him. Another name that is really well known today is Sam Adams, although probably the reason he's most known today is probably not really who he was and what he did. What do you know about Sam Adams? What's kind of the number one thing with the name association, alcohol, right? He's the beer guy, right. That's what he's known as, although he had a different title for generations, He was known as the father of the revolution. The reason he was known as the father of the revolution, he was a guy back early 1770s. He's already saying we need to get the British off our backs. We need some freedom. This tyrannical king, he is already fighting for freedom on a lot of levels. In fact, one of the things that he was very heavily involved in, he's one of these guys who leads these Sons of Liberty. Now, the Sons Of Liberty were well known for things like the Boston Tea Party, which actually

David Barton [00:18:18]  And everybody knows what teabag is and we think the Boston Tea Party, they threw a bunch of teabags in the harbor, that's tea. 

Tim Barton [00:18:24] This is a T block. So on the back, you actually can break off a block of it. And then you would scrape to get the amount of tea you need, right? And you can take that tea, well, so the Sons of Liberty, they dressed up as Indians so as not to identify themselves, although I don't know how well they disguised themselves, like probably like, well, he took off his shirt, but that's still Sam Adams, right? Like probably they still could find you. Nonetheless, they dress up and they're throwing blocks of tea into the harbor. Well, most people have heard of the Boston Tea Party. Well, Sam Adams. He and John Hancock were both leaders of the Sons Of Liberty, but Sam Adams is really the guy helping lead a lot of this

David Barton [00:19:02]  And you know you mentioned Hancock and Adams together and they were both governors of Massachusetts but there's a big difference between the guys I mean you got him here side by side he's one of the wealthiest guys in America hands down not him I mean he is so poor that when he got elected to the Congress he didn't even have a shoe to close his neighbors got together and took up a collection said let's buy Sam some socks and some new pants and a shirt. I mean, he's going to Congress. 

Tim Barton [00:19:30] Yeah, so literally they said he's our he's, our best speaker He's the one that will represent us the best but the only suit he had is what he wore and had holes in it He had a pair of stockings with holes in so they took up a collection They bought him five pair of new stockings they bought him a new suit But then the problem is he's still got to get from Massachusetts down to where Congress is meeting So they actually wrote to his cousin John Adams and said could your cousin borrow a horse? Apparently they didn't have a horse in the town. They could loan him They're using them to work on the farms. And so he has to borrow horse just to be able to not have to walk to get to the Continental Congress. So yeah, he's an example of we often hear today, well, there are these really rich white guys. Well, there were some guys that were rich, but certainly that's a stereotype that's not accurate to all of them. 

David Barton [00:20:12] The Founding Fathers really were typical Americans. They were rich, they were poor, some were old, some were young, there were all sorts of denominations. 

Tim Barton [00:20:21] Lawyers, doctors, teachers, farmers.

David Barton [00:22:34] So what happens is on the 4th of July is when Congress approved the Declaration of Independence. But the copy we see with all their signatures on it, that wasn't done until August the 2nd because they said, hey, let's do a big one we can all sign because the one on the 4th July only has two names on it and that's the President of Congress and the Secretary of Congress. But then they did this big one and on the day they did that, August the 2nd, This piece is released. And this is a piece that is done by Sam Adams, a tribute to Sam Adams. I'll just read you here. It says, an oration delivered at the State House in Philadelphia, which is where they did the declaration. A very numerous audience on Thursday, the 1st of August, 1776, by Samuel Adams, member of the General Congress. This is the day before the big declaration is generally signed. I want to read to you what Sam says here. What are they saying about this day and about the specialness of the day? He said, we have this day, and think of the significance of that day, we have, this day restored the sovereign to whom alone men ought to be obedient. He reigns in heaven and with a propitious eye beholds his subjects, affirming that freedom of thought and dignity of self-direction which he bestowed on them. From the rising to the setting of the sun, may his kingdom come. Pretty powerful statement for what they did on that day and what they were doing at that period of time. I mean that 

Tim Barton [00:23:56] Well, especially recognizing that at that time, right, the king was generally recognized as being the sovereign, right, appointed by God, representing God. And he says, no, no. We've put the actual sovereign back in place, right? That's who we're actually submitting to. 

David Barton [00:24:09] Well, the other founding fathers said that Sam Adams was the most openly Christian of all the founding fathers. I mean, he wore it on his sleeve, literally. He was what today we would call an evangelical, and people know that he was the beer guy, but they don't know about his faith. Although it's very evident when you see their writings. Yeah, another guy that's really key among the founding father's is this one. This is Charles Carroll of Carrollton. Now, interesting, he signs the declaration Charles Carroll Of Carrollton, And that's because there were nine Charles Carols living at the time in his area. So he's the one from Carrollton, and that's the town and area, and that is his place. And this is one of the documents from him, Mr. Charles Carroll of Carrollton to the trustees of the Catholic Cathedral Church. He's the only Catholic signer of the Declaration of Independence. Now, this actually is, he's renting his pew. One of the ways you helped fund the church back then was not only in tithes, And today we have customs, if you go to church much, you know where people generally sit. Well, back then you actually kind of bought the seat where you sat. 

Rick Green [00:25:12] Hi friends, we are out of time for today. So let's make sure that you join us tomorrow for the conclusion of the Independence Day special that David and Tim Barton did for their TBN special. And it's available online right now if you wanna go watch the video or you can listen to yesterday's program in our archive section there at wallbuilderslive.com and then today's program and tomorrow, that three pieces, those three pieces when you put them together is the entire program and we'll have it available to you at wallbilderslive,com as always. Also, I want to encourage you while you're at wallbuilderslive.com, they're on the website. Click on that donate button and celebrate our independence and our freedom by actually doing what the founding fathers did, giving of your life, your fortune and your sacred honor, investing in freedom. It takes dollars to make this program happen where a listener-supported program and your contributions every time, it's helping to spread the word. It's helping equip and train citizens to preserve liberty. It helps us train pastors, young leaders. Legislators, all these different things we're doing, it's because of your help. So thank you so much for investing in freedom by donating to WallBuilders. Right now today at wallbuilderslive.com, click on that donate button. Be sure you're teaching your family this week how we became free. Take some time out of your schedule and actually talk about freedom and the importance of being good citizens. We sure appreciate you listening today. We'll pick up where we left off today with our conclusion tomorrow. Thanks for listening to WallBuilders Live.