RufusAtticus

Does someone have anymore information about the quotes in the following letter?

<a href="http://www.onlineathens.com/stories/071002/let_letter5.shtml" target="_blank">Settlers and others founded this nation on Christianity</a>

It's a response to a letter (not mine though) that quoted from the Treaty of Tripoli.

Toto

I saved these because letters tend to disappear.

The Adams quote sounds suspicious. The settlers' quote sounds possible - a certain number of the early settlers were religious nuts who were kicked out of Europe. But settling the country and founding the nation were two different things.

Toto

The quote attributed to John Adams is all over the internet on Christian sites and sites connnected to David Barton or Wallbuilders in particular. One source cites Lester J. Capon, ed., The Adams-Jefferson Letters 2 vols. (Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press, 1959), 2:339-40

There is nothing like it on <a href="http://www.positiveatheism.org/hist/quotes/adams.htm" target="_blank">Positive Atheism's List of Quotations from John Adams</a>, which contains a number of quotes that reflect a different point of view:

Buffman

You might find these a helpful starting place,,,especially the third one down. Watch out. The fellow that is in charge of that URL is a very strange kind of Christian. However, the source documents do appear to be authentic. I can not convirm that fact however.

<a href="http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/P?mtj:1:./temp/~ammem_IiNL::" target="_blank">http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/P?mtj:1:./temp/~ammem_IiNL::</a>

<a href="http://lcweb.loc.gov/exhibits/religion/vc006646.jpg" target="_blank">http://lcweb.loc.gov/exhibits/religion/vc006646.jpg</a>

<a href="http://members.aol.com/TestOath/27consensus.htm" target="_blank">http://members.aol.com/TestOath/27consensus.htm</a>

<a href="http://www.freethought-web.org/ctrl/buckner_ncn.html" target="_blank">http://www.freethought-web.org/ctrl/buckner_ncn.html</a>

<a href="http://www.ffrf.org/nontracts/xian.html" target="_blank">http://www.ffrf.org/nontracts/xian.html</a>

Stephen Maturin

Can't vouch for the accuracy of the Adams quote, but it's entirely in-character. After all, Adams was the guy who drafted the 1778(?) version of the Massachusetts Constitution, which provided that all men have an affirmative duty to worship God.

stryder2112

Adams, like many "founding fathers", is a contradictory character. Often they make contradictory statements about their beliefs on everything from politics to religion when their personal correspondences and writings are compared to one another for consistency. However, as a rule of thumb, Adams was more or less Jefferson's polar opposite in regards to personal philosophy on everything from religion to politics (Federalist/Anti-Federalist).

In that vein, much of Adams' writing, especially from his youth, are strongly pro-Christian. However, he later became a Unitarian and wrote disapprovingly of Calvinism. His later writings imply that his views became increasingly heretical as he aged.

Christian web sites often quote Adams profusely. His pre-Revolutionary war speeches and writings are more or less well-crafted sermons designed to garner support for the cause from the common people. Mostly good lawyering (his profession), imho. However, his correspondences with his wife and children do show that he was a somewhat pious Christian (although somewhat heretical) throughout his life.

Stryder