Books

From an early age, we were taught that the Founding Fathers were Christian, church goers, and eager to inject Christian values into the fabric of the Democratic-Republic they were about to fashion. Although they were all “Protestant”(except for John Carroll of Carrollton the only Roman Catholic signer of the Declaration of Independence, and his cousin Daniel one of two Catholic signers of the Constitution – Thomas Fitzsimmons of Pennsylvania being the other– it was stressed that ALL of these men were religious and that our country was founded on “Christian” principles. Of course, it was! They chose “In God We Trust” as our motto, hadn’t they? It was indeed, but not until 1956 when it replaced “E Pluribus Unum” (Out of many One). And “Under God” wasn’t added to the Pledge of Allegiance until 1954. That the “Star Spangled Banner” did not officially become our National Anthem until 1931 might surprise you…it did me. I would later learn that many of our forebears were not at all religious, which is partly the reason that I have undertaken this work. 

The other is that I love history, research, and I like to stir the pot.