God in American History
Without Divine intervention our nation would not have been established, and without His influence we would likely be just another nation under tyranny. Have we forgotten our utter dependence upon God?
Below are just a few selections from history to remind us of the One who made a way for America! The same One who preserves it today. May He receive the gratitude, the praise and devotion He is so worthy of!
One notable Day of Prayer was in 1746, when French Admiral d’Anville sailed for New England, with a raging spirit of revenge, commanding 70 ships with 13,000 troops. He intended to recapture Louisburg, Nova Scotia, and destroy from Boston to New York, all the way to Georgia!
Massachusetts Governor William Shirley declared a Day of Prayer and Fasting, October 16, 1746, to pray for deliverance.
In Boston’s Old South Meeting House, Rev. Thomas Prince prayed “Send Thy tempest, Lord, upon the water...scatter the ships of our tormentors!” Historian Catherine Drinker Bowen related that as he finished praying, the sky darkened, winds shrieked and church bells rang “a wild, uneven sound...though no man was in the steeple.”
A hurricane subsequently sank and scattered the entire French fleet. With 4,000 sick and 2,000 dead, including Admiral d’Anville, French Vice-Admiral d’Estournelle threw himself on his sword. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow wrote in his Ballad of the French Fleet:
“Admiral d’Anville had sworn by cross and crown, to ravage with fire and steel our helpless Boston Town...From mouth to mouth spread tidings of dismay, I stood in the Old South saying humbly: ‘Let us pray!’...Like a potter’s vessel broke, the great ships of the line, were carried away as smoke or sank in the brine.”
On August 27, 1776, British forces launched an assault on American troops positioned at the western end of Long Island, now known as Brooklyn. By the evening, many American soldiers had been captured, killed, or forced to retreat further west. The British then besieged the American stronghold at Brooklyn Heights. On August 29, Washington ordered a withdrawal, whereby 9,000 troops would have to cross the East River to Manahattan Island from the evening to dawn.
A heavy fog miraculously developed so dense that a man could not be seen more than 6 feet away, making it possible for Washington’s troops to safely retreat.
The same week Congress passed the Bill of Rights, President George Washington declared, October 3, 1789: “It is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the Providence of Almighty God, to obey His will...and humbly to implore His protection and favor; and Whereas both Houses of Congress have by their joint Committee requested me ‘to recommend to the People of the United States a Day of Public Thanksgiving and Prayer to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many signal favors of Almighty God, especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness’..."
“I do recommend...the 26th day of November next, to be devoted by the People of these United States to the service of that great and glorious Being, who is the beneficent Author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be; That we may then all unite in rendering unto Him our sincere and humble thanks...for the peaceable and rational manner in which we have been enabled to establish constitutions of government for our safety and happiness, and particularly the national one now lately instituted, for the civil and religious liberty with which we are blessed... Humbly offering our prayers...to the great Lord and Ruler of Nations, and beseech Him to pardon our national and other transgressions.”
On August 25, 1814, when the British marched on Washington, D.C., citizens evacuated, along with President and Dolly Madison. The British burned the White House, Capitol and public buildings.
Suddenly dark clouds rolled in and a tornado touched down sending debris flying, blowing off roofs and knocking down chimneys on British troops. Two cannons were lifted off the ground and dropped yards away.
A British historian wrote:
“More British soldiers were killed by this stroke of nature than from all the firearms the American troops had mustered.”
British forces then fled and rains extinguished the fires.