September 27 is the anniversary of the birth of two men who fought hard for liberty and country as statesmen, although Samuel Adams was born in 1722 and Hiram Rhodes Revels in 1827, more than a century apart. But while they lived in different centuries, while one helped spark the Revolution that created America while the other fought for civil rights after America almost fell apart, they both agreed that a widespread lack of morals would lead to national catastrophe.
Sam Adams was one of the most famous leaders of the Sons of Liberty, who held the Boston Tea Party and roused the militia who fired the shot heard around the world at the beginning of the Revolution. He signed the Declaration of Independence and later served as governor of Massachusetts.
Hiram Revels was a minister who helped slaves before the Civil War, black soldiers during the war, and newly free slaves needing education after the war. In 1870, with enthusiastic support of many newly empowered black constituents, Revels received the appointment as senator for Mississippi, and thus became the first black man to serve in the United States Congress, where he made civil rights a priority.
Adams and Revels both fought for liberty and basic human rights. And they both understood that a lack of integrity among leadership or citizens in our country, or a failure among leaders to feel the pressure of accountability, would spell doom for the rights they cherished.
Adams once cautioned, “A general dissolution of principles and manners will more surely overthrow the liberties of America than the whole force of the common enemy. While the people are virtuous they cannot be subdued; but when once they lose their virtue then will be ready to surrender their liberties to the first external or internal invader.”
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A quote attributed to Revels, and which does capture his consistent attitude toward his political work, says, “We are trying to do God’s will; and if we fail we shall have to plead guilty before His judgment seat.” In other words, if politicians fail to do what is right, they will not only have to answer to voters; they will have to answer to God.
As we look around our country now, we see all too clearly the results of ignoring the advice of such men as Adams and Revels. Transgenderism, abortion, homosexuality, broken families, a plummeting birth rate, political corruption, widespread fraud, educational decay, domestic terrorism, religious apathy, hatred of country, mass shootings — everywhere we look we see results of moral ruin among both leaders and citizens.
America cannot be great if its people and leaders are not good, or at least striving for moral excellence. To borrow the words of one of Adams’s fellow Founding Fathers, Ben Franklin, we have a republic only if we can keep it. And in the last few decades, we have not been doing a stellar job of keeping it, and that goes across the political spectrum.
Revels and Adams were visionaries, and they risked a great deal for the cause of liberty. We would do well to listen to their advice.
