
American Reformation Project
Copyright 1998-2008 American Reformation Project - A 501 (c) (4) organization
American Citizenship and American
Foundations
The Covenant Origins Of The American Polity - It is not uncommon for historians to view America as an experimental laboratory in political theory and practice in which the American character is represented as a triumph of common sense over ideology.
Models of Historical Interpretation - Every text has a context. Every vista has a viewpoint. As C. Gregg Singer contends: "It is impossible to understand completely the history of a nation apart from the philosophies and ideologies which lie at the heart of its intellectual life." What this means, as Richard Weaver has aptly expressed it, is that "ideas have consequences."
Francis Lieber on the Sources of Civil Liberty - Among the European visitors whose observations of early American life found a ready audience was a young émigré who consorted with the leading scholars, jurists, and literati of his day.1 Unaccountably neglected for over a century, Francis Lieber (1798-1872), one of the first university-trained German scholars to migrate to America, served as a bridge between the intellectual and political cultures of Germany, England, and America.
Charles Hodge on Law and Religion - Hodge here reflects the view of the Westminster divines that the ruler is a "nursing father". This does not mean that every precept of Christianity should be taught or enforced by government, since the state is not constituted for that purpose. "But as [government] cannot violate the moral law in its own action, or require the people to violate it, so neither can it ignore Christianity in its official action. It cannot require the people or any of its officers to do what Christianity forbids, nor forbid their doing anything which Christianity enjoins."