American Mission

American Mission
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American Mission explores faith, freedom, and the founding of America. Each episode looks honestly at the role the Bible and faith in God played in the nation's birth, through the sermons, hymns, letters, and lives of the people who were there, heard in their own words. Every claim is tied to a source, and where a story has only been handed down, we say so. Congregationalists, Presbyterians, Baptists, Methodists, Anglicans, Lutherans and more, side by side. Our mission: becoming Godly men and women.

Episodes

  1. 4d ago

    Why America Was Necessary, Part 1: Taxes and a Free Conscience

    On the night of April 18, 1775, in Lexington, Massachusetts, a country pastor put armed men at his front door. Ten years earlier, that same town had been "firmly resolved in all possible ways to express our filial duty and loyalty to our Sovereign."In this episode of American Mission, "Why America Was Necessary, Part 1: Taxes and a Free Conscience," we ask why a new nation became necessary. We follow two answers in their own documents: consent, a tax without a vote, and conscience, a church tax without consent. They built a government that would not compel religion. That is not the same as a nation without religion. They expected a Christian people, and they warned that the system would fail without a moral and religious one. In 1798, President John Adams wrote, "Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious People. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other."CHAPTERS00:00 Cold open: a parsonage under guard02:38 Intro03:31 The world they knew09:44 Loyal subjects: Lexington and the Stamp Act, 176511:53 No taxation without representation: where the words came from13:38 The pulpit had already answered: Mayhew, 175015:54 The tax collectors came to church: Isaac Backus19:44 Preaching the gospel was the crime: Virginia24:10 "Necessary": the road to 177628:22 Whose hand they saw in it31:03 Reflection: the vision35:28 OutroSELECTED SOURCES- Jonas Clarke, The Fate of Blood-Thirsty Oppressors (Boston, 1776); Lexington Town Meeting instructions, Oct 21, 1765, in Hudson, History of the Town of Lexington (1868)- James Otis, The Rights of the British Colonies Asserted and Proved (1764); the Declaratory Act (1766); Jonathan Mayhew, Unlimited Submission (1750)- Isaac Backus, An Appeal to the Public for Religious Liberty (1773); Elizabeth Backus to Isaac Backus, Nov 4, 1752- Madison to Bradford, Jan 24, 1774; Federalist No. 51 (1788); Virginia Declaration of Rights (1776); Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom (1786)- Declaration of Independence (1776); Jefferson, A Summary View of the Rights of British America (1774); Northwest Ordinance (1787), Article 1- Franklin at the Constitutional Convention, June 28, 1787; Washington, First Inaugural Address, April 30, 1789; Adams to the Massachusetts Militia, Oct 11, 1798FREE TO READ ONLINE- Declaration of Independence: https://www.archives.gov/founding-docs/declaration-transcript- Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom: https://law.lis.virginia.gov/vacode/title57/chapter1/section57-1/- Letters of Madison, Adams, and Washington: https://founders.archives.gov/- Hudson, History of the Town of Lexington (1868): https://archive.org/details/historyoftownofl00huds- Backus, An Appeal to the Public for Religious Liberty (1773): https://archive.org/details/bim_eighteenth-century_an-appeal-to-the-public-_backus-isaac_1773VOICESNarration and historical readings are AI-generated voices (Kokoro and ElevenLabs text-to-speech). Every quoted word comes from a documented sermon, letter, law or record, and where a story has only been handed down, we say so.Music: "Chester" (William Billings), U.S. Marine Band and Opus33, public domain; reflection piano on the FreePats Upright Piano KW (CC0); string music synthesized for the show.Cover photo: Augustus Lutheran Church, Trappe, Pa., HABS (Jack E. Boucher, 1994), Library of Congress.Questions or corrections: americanmission76@gmail.comAmerican Mission: Faith, freedom, and the founding of America.

  2. Nov 4

    From the Primer to the College: How Early Americans Learned to Read

    A child's first lesson began with a rhyme: "In Adam's Fall / We sinned all." The same little book then pointed her to the answer: "Christ crucify'd / For Sinners dy'd." In this episode of American Mission, "From the Primer to the College: How Early Americans Learned to Read," we follow the students. We start with the book in a child's hand, The New-England Primer, then the Massachusetts law of 1647 that required towns to provide a teacher, and then the colleges at the top of the ladder: Harvard, Yale, and Princeton. Along the way we meet John Adams, a farmer's son from Braintree, and Nathan Hale, a schoolmaster who laid down his life at twenty-one. We see how the ladder found its way into the Massachusetts Constitution of 1780 and the Northwest Ordinance of 1787, and we close with a reflection on what we hand down to our children. The settlers crossed an ocean to worship God as they believed Scripture taught, and they wanted every child to read that Scripture for themselves. The Primer carried an invitation: "Come unto Christ, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and he will give you Rest." CHAPTERS 00:00 Cold open: "In Adam's Fall" and "That Old Deluder" 01:20 Intro 02:21 The air they breathed: the New-England Primer 09:20 "That old deluder": a teacher in every town 12:37 The top of the ladder: Harvard, Yale, Princeton 20:38 The ladder goes to war: sacrifice and courage 27:34 The ladder in the law: Adams and the constitutions 30:38 They planted for us 32:35 Reflection: what we tell our children 35:31 Outro SELECTED SOURCES - The New-England Primer (Boston: S. Kneeland and T. Green, 1727); The New-England Primer Improved (Boston: A. Ellison, 1773) - John Cotton, Milk for Babes (London, 1646); the Westminster Shorter Catechism - Massachusetts Bay General Court, orders of 1642 and 1647; The Book of the General Lawes and Libertyes (Cambridge, 1648) - New Englands First Fruits (London, 1643); the Laws of Harvard College, 1642-46 - Connecticut General Court, "An Act for Liberty to Erect a Collegiate School" (1701); Yale's charter of 1745 - Charter of the College of New Jersey (1748); An Account of the College of New Jersey (1764) - John Adams, Autobiography; "A Dissertation on the Canon and the Feudal Law" (Boston Gazette, 1765) - Nathan Hale's letters of 1774 and 1775 and Benjamin Tallmadge's letter of July 4, 1775, as printed in George Dudley Seymour, Documentary Life of Nathan Hale (1941) - Constitution of Massachusetts (1780), Chapter V, Section II; Northwest Ordinance (1787), Article 3 FREE TO READ ONLINE - The New-England Primer Improved (Boston: A. Ellison, 1773), Library of Congress: https://www.loc.gov/item/22023945/ - The New-England Primer Enlarged (Boston, 1727), New York Public Library: https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/378a78c0-73ab-0130-1791-58d385a7b928 - New Englands First Fruits (London, 1643), Internet Archive: https://archive.org/details/newenglandsfirst00unse - George Dudley Seymour, Documentary Life of Nathan Hale (1941), Internet Archive: https://archive.org/details/documentarylifeo00seym VOICES Narration and historical readings are AI-generated voices (Kokoro and ElevenLabs text-to-speech). Every quoted word comes from a documented primer, law, letter, charter or record, and where a story has only been handed down, we say so. Music: "Chester" (William Billings), U.S. Marine Band and Opus33, public domain; "Old Hundredth" (Genevan Psalter, 1551) and the reflection piano played on the FreePats Upright Piano KW sound bank (CC0); psalm, lullaby and string music synthesized for the show. Cover photo: Augustus Lutheran Church, Trappe, Pa., HABS (Jack E. Boucher, 1994), Library of Congress. Questions or corrections: americanmission76@gmail.com American Mission: Faith, freedom, and the founding of America.

  3. Oct 28

    Songs of a Free People

    A sermon was preached once. A hymn was sung again and again: in the meetinghouse, at the singing school, around the table at home. In this episode of American Mission, "Songs of a Free People: The Hymn Writers Who Carried the Founding Faith," we follow the singers of the founding era, from the Pilgrims' psalter and the Bay Psalm Book to Isaac Watts, William Billings and his anthem "Chester," and Richard Allen and Phillis Wheatley. Most of what early Americans sang was simply praise to Almighty God. But some of their songs taught a free people the source of their liberty, and even the boldest of them gave the victory back to God. CHAPTERS 00:00 Cold open: "Chester" on the road 00:55 Intro 02:11 "The sweetest melody" 06:09 Isaac Watts in America 11:47 Billings and "Chester" 18:26 "Translated to America" 24:46 Richard Allen and Phillis Wheatley 28:39 So, why did they sing? 31:29 Reflection 34:11 Outro SELECTED SOURCES - Edward Winslow, Hypocrisie Unmasked (London, 1646) - Henry Ainsworth, The Book of Psalmes: Englished both in Prose and Metre (Amsterdam, 1612) - The Whole Booke of Psalmes (the Bay Psalm Book, Cambridge, 1640) - Jose (often given as Joseph) Glover, as he signed his 1638 will. - Isaac Watts, The Psalms of David Imitated; letters of Samuel Davies - William Billings, The Singing Master's Assistant (Boston, 1778) - Elihu Mycall's 1781 and Joel Barlow's 1785 American editions of Watts - Richard Allen's hymnal and writings; poems of Phillis Wheatley FREE TO READ ONLINE - The Bay Psalm Book (1640), Library of Congress: https://www.loc.gov/item/71002405/ - Isaac Watts, The Psalms of David Imitated (London, 1719): https://archive.org/details/staaaimi00watt - Elihu Mycall's American edition of Watts (Newburyport, 1781): https://archive.org/details/psalmappliedchriswatt - Joel Barlow's American edition of Watts (Hartford, 1785): https://archive.org/details/doctorwatts00watt - The Complete Works of William Billings, Vol. II (The Singing Master's Assistant, 1778), Colonial Society of Massachusetts: https://www.colonialsociety.org/publications/3333/complete-works-william-billings-volume-ii - Richard Allen's autobiography, Documenting the American South (UNC): https://docsouth.unc.edu/neh/allen/allen.html VOICES Narration and historical readings are AI-generated voices (Kokoro and ElevenLabs text-to-speech). Every quoted word comes from a documented hymn, letter or record, and where a story has only been handed down, we say so. Music: "Chester" (William Billings), U.S. Marine Band and Opus33, public domain; psalm melodies synthesized for the show. Cover photo: Augustus Lutheran Church, Trappe, Pa., HABS (Jack E. Boucher, 1994), Library of Congress. Questions or corrections: americanmission76@gmail.com American Mission: Faith, freedom, and the founding of America.

  4. Oct 22

    Out of the Pulpit

    Four men from four different churches, and one revolution that pulled every one of them in. John Witherspoon, a Presbyterian college president, signed the Declaration of Independence. John Peter Muhlenberg, a Shenandoah Valley pastor, became a Continental Army general. Isaac Backus, a Baptist, fought for liberty of conscience and sat in the convention that ratified the Constitution. Francis Asbury, a Methodist preacher sent by John Wesley, stayed in America through the war and helped build a new American church. In this first episode of American Mission, "Out of the Pulpit: Four Pastors and the Founding," we tell their stories side by side, in their own words, along with George Washington, Elizabeth Backus and the army surgeon James Thacher. Presbyterian, Lutheran, Baptist and Methodist: four churches, side by side. We close with a reflection and an invitation to open the same Bible they opened. CHAPTERS 00:00 Cold open: four pastors 02:42 Welcome: out of the pulpit 04:07 John Witherspoon: the signer 08:02 Peter Muhlenberg: the parson-general 14:52 Isaac Backus: conscience 20:50 Francis Asbury: the shepherd who stayed 27:10 What faithfulness required (reflection) 29:34 Outro and further reading SELECTED SOURCES - John Witherspoon, The Dominion of Providence over the Passions of Men (1776) - James Thacher, Military Journal (1823); Henry A. Muhlenberg's 1849 biography of Peter Muhlenberg - Isaac Backus, An Appeal to the Public for Religious Liberty (1773), his diary, and his speech in the Massachusetts ratifying convention (1788) - Francis Asbury, Journal - George Washington to the Bishops of the Methodist Episcopal Church, New York, [29 May] 1789. The Papers of George Washington, Presidential Series, vol. 2, ed. Dorothy Twohig (1987), pp. 411–412; the bishops' address is in note 1. Founders Online: https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/05-02-02-0297. VOICES Narration and historical readings are AI-generated voices (Kokoro text-to-speech; George Washington by ElevenLabs). Every quoted word comes from a documented sermon, letter, journal or record, and where a story has only been handed down, we say so. It's their story, told from the journals, letters and records they left behind. Music: "Chester" (William Billings), U.S. Marine Band and Opus33, public domain; J. S. Bach, performed by Kimiko Ishizaka (CC0) and the U.S. Air Force Strings (public domain). Cover photo: Augustus Lutheran Church, Trappe, Pa., HABS (Jack E. Boucher, 1994), Library of Congress. Questions or corrections: americanmission76@gmail.com

  • 4 Episodes

About

American Mission explores faith, freedom, and the founding of America. Each episode looks honestly at the role the Bible and faith in God played in the nation's birth, through the sermons, hymns, letters, and lives of the people who were there, heard in their own words. Every claim is tied to a source, and where a story has only been handed down, we say so. Congregationalists, Presbyterians, Baptists, Methodists, Anglicans, Lutherans and more, side by side. Our mission: becoming Godly men and women.

Information

  • Creator
    American Mission
  • Years Active
    2026
  • Episodes
    4
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © American Mission
  • Show Website
    American Mission