The IM Writers Association. We aim to create a community of writers who share a common faith and passion for writing that advances the Life of Jesus Christ. Consider assisting us with our costs - a safe donor link is available HERE. #96 | FIRST MONDAY IN DECEMBERIDENTITY POLITICS | Mark Boonstra: The first Monday in December may be a date whose significance has been forgotten.
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The First Monday in DecemberToday marks the first Monday in December.That date has a certain historical significance in America. But it is one that is now largely forgotten. It is, of course, commonly known that the United States Supreme Court begins its annual terms on the first Monday in October. There was even a movie, First Monday in October, starring Walter Matthau and Jill Clayburgh, released in 1981 right after President Ronald Reagan nominated Sandra Day O’Connor to be the first female Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court. But, the first Monday in December??? Well, just as the first Monday in October is a date of significance to the judicial branch of our government, the first Monday in December is—or at least at one time was—a date of significance to another branch of our government. The legislative branch. As we all know, there are three branches of government—the executive, the legislative, and the judicial. Article II of the United States Constitution vests the executive power in a President of the United States of America. Article III vests the judicial power in “one supreme Court, and in such inferior Courts as the Congress may from time to time ordain and establish.” But before Congress could ordain or establish inferior courts, there first had to be a Congress. That’s where Article I of the Constitution comes in. Article I of the Constitution provides for the legislative branch of government. In Section 1 of that Article, the framers of our country provided: All legislative Powers herein granted shall be vested in a Congress of the United States, which shall consist of a Senate and House of Representatives. Upon the adoption of the Constitution in 1787—which became effective upon its ratification by the state of New Hampshire in 1788 (ratification by nine states being required, and ratification becoming unanimous among the original 13 colonies upon the assent of the state of Rhode Island in 1790), the newly effective Constitution provided in its Section 4: The Congress shall assemble at least once in every Year, and such Meeting shall be on the first Monday in December, unless they shall by Law appoint a different Day. Hence, the first Monday in December was officially designated as the date on which the Congress’s legislative terms would begin. But what once was, now is no more. Upon the ratification of the Twentieth Amendment to the United States Constitution in 1933, the Constitution was amended to provide (in Section 2 of that amendment): The Congress shall assemble at least once in every year, and such meeting shall begin at noon on the 3d day of January, unless they shall by law appoint a different day. Thus, the significance of the “first Monday in December” has now largely been forgotten. But it is worth remembering in the context of a broader remembrance of what came before, and how we got to where we are today. Remember, the 13 colonies declared independence in 1776, eleven years before the Constitution was even drafted at the Constitutional Convention of 1787. So, what existed before? Well, it was the Continental Congress that then functioned as a de facto government, and it was that Congress that adopted the Declaration of Independence in 1776. Actually, it was the Second Continental Congress (the First Continental Congress having convened earlier, but it stopped short of declaring independence). On July 2, 1776, the delegates to the Second Continental Congress adopted the Lee Resolution, which had been put forth by Richard Henry Lee of Virginia. It boldly declared the united American colonies to be “free and independent states.” Most prominent, of course, among the 56 signatures that adorn the resulting Declaration of Independence is the iconic moniker of the then-President of the Continental Congress, John Hancock of Massachusetts. Hancock was the son of Rev. John Hancock, who as pastor of the First (Congregational) Church in Braintree Massachusetts, baptized, among others, a young future president, John Adams. Adams was himself a member of the Second Continental Congress. Indeed, he seconded the Lee Resolution and also signed the Declaration of Independence. So, who were these men? These Founding Fathers of our nation? Rebels.Patriots.Thought leaders.And fervent Christians.John Hancock, the President of the Continental Congress, later served as the President of the United States in Congress Assembled, under the Articles of Confederation (which were adopted by the Congress in 1777 and governed the new nation until the adoption of the Constitution). While later serving as Governor of Massachusetts in 1780, Hancock issued a public statement that included: Sensible of the importance of Christian piety and virtue to the order and happiness of a state, I cannot but earnestly commend to you every measure for their support and encouragement. . . . [T]he very existence of the republics . . . depend much upon the public institutions of religion. John Adams, shortly before seconding the Lee Resolution, wrote to Mercy Otis Warren, an activist poet and playwright who actively supported the independence movement: The Form of Government, which you admire, when its Principles are pure, is admirable indeed. It is productive of every Thing, which is great and excellent among Men. But its Principles are as easily destroyed, as human Nature is corrupted. Such a Government is only to be supported by pure Religion, or Austere Morals. Public Virtue cannot exist in a Nation without private, and public Virtue is the only Foundation of Republics. Just weeks later, after seconding the Lee Resolution and while awaiting the drafting of the Declaration, Adams wrote to his cousin, Rev. Zabdiel Adams: Statesmen my dear Sir, may plan and speculate for Liberty, but it is Religion and Morality alone, which can establish the Principles upon which Freedom can securely stand. . . . The only foundation of a free Constitution, is pure Virtue, and if this cannot be inspired into our People, in a greater Measure, than they have it now, They may change their Rulers, and the forms of Government, but they will not obtain a lasting Liberty.—They will only exchange Tyrants and Tyrannies. Adams later would write to another signer of the Declaration, Benjamin Rush: Religion and Virtue are the only Foundations; not only of Republicanism and of all free Government: but of Social Felicity under all Governments and in all the Combinations of human Society. Richard Henry Lee, one of the most radical of the early advocates for independence, and one of the great orators of the Congress, also was among our most fervently religious Founding Fathers. Although opposed to an established church and favoring religious freedom, he firmly believed that government could—and should—promote religion, as the only pure basis of public and private morality, and that citizens should be taxed to support the Christian churches. In 1784, following the adoption of the Constitution, Lee—the author of the resolution of independence—wrote to James Madison, the future president known as the Father of the Constitution: Refiners may weave as fine a web of reason as they please, but the experience of all times shews Religion to be the guardian of morals—; And he must be a very inattentive observer in our Country, who does not see that avarice is accomplishing the destruction of religion, for want of a legal obligation to contribute something to its support. The declaration of Rights, it seems to me, rather contends against forcing modes of faith and forms of worship, than against compelling contribution for the support of religion in general. The first Monday in December may be a date whose significance has been forgotten.But as we are pausing to remember it, let’s also remember those who crafted those words of the Constitution, and those who crafted the Declaration and the Articles that came before it. Those whose bravery, perseverance, and religious and moral fervency established a new nation and built it upon, in the words of President George Washington’s Farewell Address in 1796, the “indispensable supports” of religion and morality, the very “pillars of human happiness”: Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, Religion and morality are indispensable supports. In vain would that man claim the tribute of Patriotism, who should labour to subvert these great Pillars of human happiness, these firmest props of the duties of Men & citizens. . . . And let us with caution indulge the supposition, that morality can be maintained without religion. The significance of the “first Monday in December” may have waned. But the significance of the words of our Founding Fathers never will. Let us resolve never to forget them. Indeed, let us instill new life into them, applying them anew in modern-day America. Let us reassert the God-given nature of our inalienable rights. And let us stand strong against those who would subvert the “pillars of human happiness” and undermine the “indispensable supports” of religion and morality that our Founding Fathers established as the bedrock of our American society.Mark’s Substack | Visit Mark’s Website
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