Rockwall, TX (June 29, 2025) – All boom and no doom. Americans love fireworks—the sounds of war without its destruction. We delight in patriotic events that, for most of us, require no national duty.
Patriotism is defined by love for one’s country, best displayed by courage and self-sacrifice during times of threat. On the unpretty side, dogmatic forms of patriotism lead to division, name-calling, and worse. Such discord reflects current times yet likely sprouts from seeds of a tree our revolutionary forefathers planted.
Though we revere those early patriots for their unified defeat of British tyranny, we might not realize they nearly failed in their efforts to unite the original 13 states into one nation. Washington, Hamilton, Jefferson and others made noble contributions to America’s struggle for independence, but their clashing ideas in forming a new government caused infighting that eventually led to a two-party system. Despite their political conflicts, these leaders worked for the sake of the common good.
Influential people of today often use social media platforms to wage verbal battles in the court of public opinion. Their “followers” either applaud them, keep quiet, or type words of contradiction that can be easily deleted by said platform person. But these word wars are no more intense than the political wranglings of our founding fathers.
In our nation’s infancy, men of importance used servants who flew on foot or by horseback to deliver messages. The more articulate among them aired their complaints and opposing views via newspapers or self-published pamphlets. Their harsh and often slanderous words sometimes caused real harm. Consider reading this news headline: Vice President Shoots, Kills Former Treasury Secretary.
On July 11, 1804, Aaron Burr Jr. shot Alexander Hamilton in a duel. Weeks before this tragic event, the former Secretary of the Treasury had agreed to Vice President Burr’s challenge rather than apologize for publishing career damaging words about him. Yet Hamilton told his wife that his Christian faith would prevent him from firing at his opponent. In his final words before dying on July 12, Hamilton expressed his forgiveness of Burr and reliance upon God’s mercy through Jesus Christ.
That tale is told at length in Ron Chernow’s excellent biography, Alexander Hamilton. Though I eventually read the thick book from front to back, I initially began toward the end, searching for words of redemption concerning the less noble character, Aaron Burr Jr. Saddened at the behavior of both Hamilton and Burr, I yearned to deliver messages back in time, urging them to esteem God’s ways over their political views and arguments.
I had previously learned that Burr Jr. was a grandson of the great preacher and theologian Jonathan Edwards, of Puritan stock. Sadly, Burr was orphaned at age 19 months when his godly parents and grandparents, including Edwards, died within months of each other. The later tragedy (so apparent in Chernow’s book) was Burr’s seeming disregard for his faith heritage.
God’s Word holds the antidote to man’s hostilities—then and now. The warnings that early patriots needed apply today: “If you bite and devour one another, watch out that you are not consumed by one another” (Galatians 5:15*); “Do not repay evil for evil … seek peace and pursue it” (1 Peter 3:9, 11); “Be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish…” (Philippians 2:15).
Despite our failures, God desires that no one should perish, and he waits patiently for sinners to repent (2 Peter 3:9). With this in mind, it seems that Alexander Hamilton, not Aaron Burr, was better prepared to meet his maker that day.
*All quoted scripture: English Standard Version
Faith columnist Patti Richter writes and edits Christian faith articles and has co-authored Signs of His Presence: Experiencing God’s Comfort in Times of Suffering. Read more of her essays on Blue Ribbon News.
On Faith by Patti Richter: Patriots, Saints, and Sinners – 1700’s and Now added by Melanie M on
View all posts by Melanie M →