The Bible and the Creation of the Nation

During the American Revolution and the formative years of the creation of the nation, the Bible was pivotal in shaping the public discourse and contemporaries’ political imagination. The Bible, especially the Old Testament, enabled politicians, commentators, laymen, and ministers to depict their young nation as a new, chosen Israel and to rely on its lessons for political guidance. This chapter examines the nature of that distinct biblicism in the early United States at one of its most formative political periods. It studies the ways in which the Bible shaped and helped to facilitate crucial discussions at every level of society when it came to issues regarding republican ideology and constitutional principles.