Before America declared independence, America prayed. In this brief reflection, Nathan Winters looks back to May 17, 1776, when the Second Continental Congress called the colonies to a day of humiliation, fasting, and prayer.

It is a timely reminder that liberty is not merely a political inheritance. It is a gift entrusted to a people who recognize their dependence upon God.

In the spring of 1776, the air of Philadelphia was thick with anxiety. The unmistakable sense that history was at a turning point was felt in the Pennsylvania State House (now known as Independence Hall) and among the delegates to the Continental Congress.

Muskets had cracked at the Battles of Lexington and Concord in April of 1775. And the Battle of Bunker Hill, fought two months later, revealed a far deeper commitment among the American colonists to fight for “the rights of Englishmen” than had previously been recognized in Parliament.

The Second Continental Congress, hoping to bring resolution to the conflict, sent an appeal directly to the King in July of 1775, called “the Olive Branch Petition,” but in August of that year, King George issued “The Proclamation of Rebellion.”

War was inevitable.

Thomas Paine’s pamphlet, Common Sense, argued that it was unreasonable for an entire continent to be governed by an island, galvanizing the colonies.

In the early spring of 1776, the unthinkable happened from a British point of view: George Washington occupied and fortified the hills above Boston and successfully drove the British out of one of the continent’s most important cities.

On May 15th of 1776, Virginia, the largest and most influential colony, voted to declare independence from Great Britain and totally dissolve the King’s government.

As the news reached Philadelphia, the delegates were fully aware that the world’s most powerful navy and one of its most formidable armies were now arrayed against them. And, they knew that such an undertaking would be impossible without the help of Almighty God.

So, before they declared independence, they called the budding nation to prayer. On March 16, 1776, the Second Continental Congress issued a proclamation asking the colonies to set aside Friday, May 17, as a day of “humiliation, fasting, and prayer.”

The wording is extraordinary. Congress urged the people to confess their sins, seek God’s forgiveness, and ask Him to guide their leaders. The delegates prayed that God would preserve their liberties and advance “that kingdom which consisteth in righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost.”

In other words, before they stood against King George III, they knelt before the King of Kings.

From New England meetinghouses to frontier churches, Americans gathered to pray. Farmers, merchants, soldiers, mothers, and children humbled themselves before God. They understood what Psalm 127:1 teaches: “Unless the LORD builds the house, they labor in vain who build it.”

Then, on June 7, Richard Henry Lee rose and introduced the Lee Resolution: “That these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent States.”

The die was cast.

One month later, Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence.

The sequence is worth remembering. Before America declared independence, America prayed.

“Before America declared independence, America prayed.”

That is not a minor footnote in our history. It tells us something essential about the men who founded this nation.

They were bold, but they were not presumptuous. They believed liberty was a gift from God, not a political invention. They understood that rights come from the Creator and that free government depends on a moral people.

As John Adams later wrote, “Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.” The founders were not claiming perfection. They were acknowledging dependence.

And perhaps that is the most enduring lesson of May 17, 1776.

At the very moment when America was preparing to take the greatest political risk in its history, her leaders did not begin with celebration or bravado. They began with prayer.

Before they pledged their lives, fortunes, and sacred honor, they bowed their heads. And before they announced their independence to the world, they confessed their dependence upon God.

May we be a people who remember that freedom requires more than courage. It requires humility, virtue, and dependence upon God.

Thank you for standing with Wyoming Family Alliance as we work to defend faith, family, and freedom for the next generation.