Episode 16: Why Vote?

The Midterms and the Price of Freedom

1. "It's Only a Midterm"

The 1916 election: decided by 3,420 votes (full story)

Incumbent President Woodrow Wilson (D) ran against Charles Evans Hughes (R), a former New York governor and former Supreme Court Justice.

California, normally a Republican stronghold, had a party split between a conservative wing and a progressive wing led by Governor Hiram Johnson.

In August 1916, Hughes checked into the Virginia Hotel in Long Beach, not knowing Johnson was staying there. Johnson expected a courtesy call, never got one, and took it as an insult. Progressive Republicans largely withheld their support.

On Election Night, The New York Times went to press declaring Hughes the winner. But California was still counting.

Wilson carried California by 3,420 votes, and its 13 electoral votes gave him a second term. That term brought America into World War I and sweeping restrictions on speech and dissent.

The lesson: close House and Senate races decide who controls Congress, sets the agenda, and confirms judges. Nobody knows ahead of time whether the deciding margin will be 30,000 votes, 3,000, or 300.

When Christians stay home

In one past election cycle, five Senate candidates who stood for Godly principles lost by a combined 57,000 votes — fewer than 12,000 per state — while over 5 million Christians in those states didn't vote (Ten Steps to Change America).

Evangelical turnout has historically swung widely: about 15 million voted in 2000, 28.9 million in 2004, and 20.5 million in 2006 (Congress, the Culture, and Christian Voting).

2. What Freedom Cost the Founders

Signing the Declaration

Congress voted for independence on July 2, 1776, approved the Declaration on July 4, and most delegates signed the parchment on August 2 (the Declaration of Independence).

Signing was an act of treason against the British Crown, punishable by death. They pledged "our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor."

John Hancock reportedly said King George could "read my name without spectacles," adding, "we must all hang together." Benjamin Franklin reportedly answered, "we must indeed all hang together, or most assuredly we shall all hang separately!" (War for Independence lesson)

Benjamin Rush later recalled the "pensive and awful silence" as each man signed "what was believed by many at that time to be our own death warrants."

The only laugh: Benjamin Harrison of Virginia, a large man, told the slight Elbridge Gerry that when they were hanged, Harrison would die in minutes, but Gerry would "dance in the air an hour or two before you are dead!"

How old were the signers?

• Ages on July 4, 1776 ranged from 26 to 70, with an average of about 44.
• Youngest: Edward Rutledge and Thomas Lynch Jr. of South Carolina, both 26. Oldest: Benjamin Franklin, 70.
• Thomas Jefferson, who wrote the Declaration, was 33. John Adams was 40.
• 20 of the 56 signers were under 40. (Full list below; birth dates from the National Archives.)

What it cost them (the signers' sacrifices • more on the signers)

• Nine signers died of wounds or hardships during the war. Five were captured or imprisoned.
• Twelve had their homes burned. Seventeen lost everything they owned.
• Every signer was branded a traitor and hunted. Most were offered rewards or pardons to break their word.
• Not one signer defected or changed his stand.

John Witherspoon's eldest son was killed at Germantown. Francis Lewis' wife was held captive for months, which ruined her health.

Richard Stockton was dragged from his bed at night, imprisoned in winter, and died in 1781 without regaining his health (Richard Stockton).

The wives sacrificed too: Mary Bartlett's home was burned, and she moved her 12 children to the family farm and ran it herself (sacrifices of the wives).

"Honest John Hart" of New Jersey (John Hart's story)

A farmer, father of 13, church leader, and public servant for 29 years.

Voted for independence around age 60 "with unusual zeal," knowing the British were already in New York.

Hessian soldiers pillaged his property. He was chased from his dying wife's bedside and hunted, once hiding in a dog's den to escape a British patrol.

He refused every British pardon. His health broken and his farm later sold to pay war debts, he died before the war ended.

"Having put his hand to the plow, he would not turn back." (Luke 9:62)

Patrick Henry: "Give Me Liberty, or Give Me Death" (background • full speech)

1765: opposing the Stamp Act in the Virginia legislature, Henry was met with shouts of "Treason!" and replied, "If this be treason, make the most of it."

March 23, 1775: answering those who said the colonies were too weak to fight: "There is a just God Who presides over the destinies of nations... Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!"

The speech is full of Scripture: 2 Chronicles 32:8, Deuteronomy 32:4, Psalm 75:7, Daniel 4:17, Ecclesiastes 9:11, Jeremiah 6:14, and Matthew 20:6.

The pastors of the Revolution (the Black Robe Regiment)

The British called America's patriot preachers the "Black Robe Regiment" and blamed them for the Revolution.

On April 18, 1775, Paul Revere rode to the home of Rev. Jonas Clark of Lexington, where John Hancock and Samuel Adams were staying. Asked if his people would fight, Clark said: "I have trained them for this very hour!" (Jonas Clark)

The next morning, about 70 men of his congregation faced hundreds of British troops. Eighteen Americans fell, black and white, all members of his church. Clark declared, "From this day will be dated the liberty of the world!"

Connecticut had already set aside April 19, 1775 as a day of prayer for the colonies' liberties — the very day the fighting began.

Pastors marched with their people: Rev. David Grosvenor left his pulpit "rifle in hand" for Bunker Hill.

George Washington ordered his troops to "live and act as becomes a Christian soldier," and Congress issued 15 official calls for prayer during the war.

3. "A Republic, If You Can Keep It"

At the Constitutional Convention of 1787, with the delegates near deadlock, 81-year-old Benjamin Franklin called them to prayer: "God governs in the affairs of men... if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without His notice, is it probable that an empire can rise without His aid?" (Franklin's call to prayer)

Leaving the Convention, Franklin was asked, "Well, Dr. Franklin, what have you done for us?" He answered, "My dear lady, we have given to you a republic–if you can keep it." (republic vs. democracy)

• Democracy: rule by majority feeling. Republic: rule by law, through representatives the people elect.
• John Adams: "Remember, democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts, and murders itself."
• A midterm is exactly that: the people choosing their representatives.

Winning the republic was the easy part. Keeping it is hard, which is why we vote in every election, not just presidential ones (civics and America's future).

4. The Founders on Voting as a Duty to God

(Founders' quotes on voting)

Samuel Adams, "Father of the Revolution": the voter "is executing one of the most solemn trusts in human society for which he is accountable to God and his country."

Noah Webster, author of America's first dictionary: "God commands you to choose for rulers, 'just men who will rule in the fear of God'" (Exodus 18:21). "If a republican government fails... it must be because the citizens neglect the divine commands, and elect bad men."

Daniel Webster: voting "is a social duty of as solemn a nature as man can be called to perform... a man may not innocently trifle with his vote."

John Jay, first Chief Justice: "it is the duty, as well as the privilege and interest of our Christian nation, to select and prefer Christians for their rulers."

John Adams: every citizen should "be in some degree a statesman, and... examine and judge for himself."

Thomas Jefferson: "The elective franchise, if guarded as the ark of our safety, will peaceably dissipate all combinations to subvert a Constitution."

Alexander Hamilton: voting is "one of the most important rights of the subject, and in a republic ought to stand foremost in the estimation of the law."

John Witherspoon, pastor and signer: "The people in general ought to have regard to the moral character of those whom they invest with authority."

Rev. Matthias Burnett (1803): "Let not your children have reason to curse you for giving up those rights... which your fathers delivered to you."

Rev. Charles Finney: "Christians must vote for honest men and take consistent ground in politics or the Lord will curse them."

James Garfield (1877): "Now more than ever the people are responsible for the character of their Congress. If that body be ignorant, reckless, and corrupt, it is because the people tolerate ignorance, recklessness, and corruption."

Scripture: Exodus 18:21 • Proverbs 14:34 • Proverbs 29:2

5. How to Vote Biblically

(election resources)

• Get a sample ballot from your county election website.
• Pray for wisdom. There are no perfect candidates, but God can use imperfect people to do His will.
• Compare candidates to Scripture. Life, marriage, and property are all found in the Ten Commandments.
• Prioritize God's values. From school board to President, look at each candidate's record on Biblical morality and religious liberty.
• Research the candidates: campaign sites, endorsements, and ChristianVoterGuide.com.
• Vote Biblical values, not personal preference.

Free resource: A Nation Consecrated, a prayer guide for the midterms.

6. Closing

The signers gave their homes, fortunes, and in some cases their lives. We're asked to show up and vote.

The next election won't fix everything. The nation rises or falls on how each of us lives out our citizenship every day.

Shortly before his death in 1826, John Adams asked that his toast for July 4th be simply: "Independence forever." Asked if he wanted to add anything, he replied, "No, not a word." (Adams' final toast)

Ages of the 56 Signers on July 4, 1776

Youngest to oldest. "~" means only an approximate birth year is known. (birth dates)

Signer	State	Age
Edward Rutledge	SC	26
Thomas Lynch Jr.	SC	26
Thomas Heyward Jr.	SC	29
Benjamin Rush	PA	30
Elbridge Gerry	MA	31
Thomas Stone	MD	~33
Thomas Jefferson	VA	33
James Wilson	PA	33
Arthur Middleton	SC	34
William Hooper	NC	34
George Walton	GA	~35
Samuel Chase	MD	35
William Paca	MD	35
John Penn	NC	36
George Clymer	PA	37
Thomas Nelson Jr.	VA	37
Francis Hopkinson	NJ	38
Charles Carroll of Carrollton	MD	38
John Hancock	MA	39
Carter Braxton	VA	39
John Adams	MA	40
Button Gwinnett	GA	~41
Thomas McKean	DE	41
William Floyd	NY	41
Francis Lightfoot Lee	VA	41
Robert Morris	PA	42
George Read	DE	42
Richard Henry Lee	VA	44
Samuel Huntington	CT	45
William Williams	CT	45
Robert Treat Paine	MA	45
Richard Stockton	NJ	45
Joseph Hewes	NC	45
George Ross	PA	46
William Whipple	NH	46
Josiah Bartlett	NH	46
Caesar Rodney	DE	47
William Ellery	RI	48
Oliver Wolcott	CT	49
George Wythe	VA	~50
Lewis Morris	NY	50
Benjamin Harrison	VA	50
Abraham Clark	NJ	50
John Morton	PA	~52
Lyman Hall	GA	52
John Witherspoon	NJ	53
Samuel Adams	MA	53
Roger Sherman	CT	55
James Smith	PA	~57
George Taylor	PA	~60
Philip Livingston	NY	60
John Hart	NJ	~60
Matthew Thornton	NH	~62
Francis Lewis	NY	63
Stephen Hopkins	RI	69
Benjamin Franklin	PA	70