Light And The Glory Section: American History
The Light and the Glory The United States Constitution has been the bedrock for the longest lasting government in all history. Why is it that our constitution still exists after more than two hundred years? Is it the incredible minds of those that framed it, or is it something else? In 1620, the Pilgrims departed from Holland and set out for America.
Ten years later, they were followed by the Puritans. The Puritans and the Pilgrims experienced incredible hardships, which forced their reliance on God. There was little to eat, and shelter was no more than an uninsulated log cabin. As new generations grew up, they began to learn how to grow and harvest crops, which supplied them with plenty to eat, and comfortable lives.
They did not have to depend on God for their survival. Gradually, as the people strayed further away from God, there began to be witchcraft and many people with no moral standards at all. These once godly people had forgotten how God had miraculously provided for their grandparents. By the mid 1700's, America was in desperate need of a revival.
This burden was laid on a man's heart whose name was Jonathan Edwards. Jonathan Edwards, a graduate of Yale at seventeen, began and sustained a revival that changed the course of American history. Along with George Whitefield and countless other circuit riding preachers, Jonathan Edwards brought America down on her knees before God in repentance. America was indeed a new nation. It was about this time that America began to view itself as one nation, not just a handful of independent colonies.
The only problem was that the Americans were not the only ones who had settled in the New World. They were bordered on the north and west by the French and on the south by the Spanish. If anyone attempted to settle on the west side of the Appalachian Mountains, chances of survival were slim because of hostile Indians and cruel French trappers.
America was far from having enough manpower to take on the French all by themselves. When King George III realized that his prized possession, the American colonies, was in danger of being taken over by the French, he sent troops to push the French- American boundary line deeper into the interior of the continent.
This turned into an all out war known as the French and Indian War. Although the beginning of the war favored the French, the British eventually became successful in setting the French-American boundary well past the Appalachian Mountains. Along with the "Great Awakening," the French and Indian War would be another turning point in American history because the colonists now realized that they were capable of building an army.
The war also unveiled future heroes such as George Washington. Most of all, it brought the colonies together in unity. Relations were now beginning to change between the colonies and England. The colonists "were beginning to regard themselves as Americans rather than Englishmen." The colonies were now on a much higher spiritual level than England. King George again realized that his prize possession was in danger of being lost.
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