As America prepares to mark its 250th anniversary, renewed attention is being paid to the nation’s founding documents and their religious foundations. The Declaration of Independence contains several references to divine authority that shaped the justification for American independence from Britain.
In the document’s initial section, Thomas Jefferson wrote that human equality and America’s right to break away from British rule stemmed from “the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God.” Historical research reveals that Benjamin Franklin contributed additional language stating that these fundamental rights were “endowed by their Creator.”
