How are you spending this Father’s Day? As I was making preparations for the weekend, I thought of our Founding Fathers. It occurred to me that they had some traits of good fathers as they led this infant nation. Let’s take a look at a few of them:
A Father’s Day reflection through the writings of our Founding Fathers:
A good father provides for his family’s security: “…insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty..” -from the Preamble to the U.S. Constitution
A good father provides discipline and settles disputes equitably: “…establish Justice..” -from the Preamble to the U.S. Constitution
A good father teaches his children well: “Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other. “-John Adams
A good father has guidelines: “If in the opinion of the People, the distribution or modification of the Constitutional powers be in any particular wrong, let it be corrected by an amendment in the way which the Constitution designates. But let there be no change by usurpation; for though this, in one instance, may be the instrument of good, it is the customary weapon by which free governments are destroyed.”- George Washington
A good father gives roots: “…all men are created equal and that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness…”- from the Declaration of Independence
A good father gives wings: …“to secure the blessings of liberty upon ourselves and our posterity (that includes us, Americans that came before us, and Americans who will come after us)… -from the Preamble to the U.S. Constitution
A good father is brave: John Hancock and the other 55 signers of the Declaration of Independence.
A good father is loyal: “mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our Sacred Honor.”- the 56 signers of the Declaration of Independence
A good father stays the course: “The price of freedom is eternal vigilance.” -Thomas Jefferson
A good father warns of potential danger: “Those that can give up essential liberty to gain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.”
A good father understands his mission in life: “Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take, but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!”- Patrick Henry
Happy Father’s Day!
