How the Declaration Paved the Way for Catholic Freedom in America
The Declaration of Independence and U.S. Constitution (photo: Mehaniq / Shutterstock)
Jerome C. Foss <www.ncregister.com/section/commentaries> CommentariesJuly 31, 2026
American Catholics have two good reasons to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence this year.
The first we share with all patriotic Americans and was best articulated by Abraham Lincoln at Gettysburg when he praised our nation for being “conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.”
We join our fellow citizens in our dedication to this great republic of liberty where the dignity of all people is honored in our principles and worked out, albeit too slowly at times, in practice.
The second reason is that the Declaration of Independence marked the beginning of the freedom to practice the Catholic faith in the English-speaking parts of North America. July 4 is not just Independence Day – it is also Catholic Freedom Day.
American Catholics have forgotten much of their history. They have forgotten that it was illegal to practice the Catholic faith in the original 13 colonies. Except for a Jesuit presence in Philadelphia, Catholic churches, monasteries and schools were nonexistent. There were no bishops teaching the faithful. What priests there were remained mostly hidden. They celebrated Mass in private homes and traveled great distances to administer the sacraments to a scattered faithful who were concentrated in Maryland and Pennsylvania, making up only 1% of the total colonial population at the dawn of the Revolution.
We tend to associate American religious liberty with the pilgrims who settled in New England in the 1620s. But these Puritans thought of liberty only for themselves. No region of colonial America was more anti-Catholic than New England, where priests could be punished simply for showing up. A 1647 Massachusetts law, for example, punished Catholic priests who dared to enter the colony. For the first offense, banishment; for the second, death.
Virtually all Catholics in colonial America were disenfranchised and barred from holding public office. They could not fully participate as coequal members of their local communities. Still, the economic opportunities of this new land may have drawn more Catholics had their immigration not been discouraged by requirements to take oaths that were deliberately phrased to make apostates of faithful Catholics. The message was clear: If you want to live in America, you had better acknowledge the King of England as your spiritual father.
For a time, Maryland appeared to be a haven for English-speaking Catholics. The Maryland Toleration Act of 1649 looked like a step in the right direction. It attempted to lay the legal groundwork for a cooperative public life between Catholics and Protestants. But the experiment was, unfortunately, short-lived. Within a few decades, the situation in Maryland became nearly as bad as any other English colony. And yet, because some Catholics did move to Maryland when things looked promising, a small but distinct Catholic life existed in the shadows. Those families who could afford to do so sent their sons to Catholic schools in Europe, where they received as good a formal education as could be found anywhere.
The Carrolls were such a family. They sent their sons to the College of Saint Omer, a Jesuit school in northern France that served English Catholics. Charles Carroll returned home from this prestigious school speaking multiple languages and familiar with the great ideas of civilization from ancient Greece to modern Europe.
As tensions grew between the colonies and England, Charles emerged as one of the leading lights from Maryland in the great political question of the day. In 1776, Maryland and the Continental Congress allowed him to serve as a voting delegate of the colony. The importance of a Catholic serving in a political capacity of this magnitude has been underemphasized in our retelling of the American Founding.
Carroll’s participation in the debates that led to the Declaration of Independence was momentous and set the tone of this new nation, “conceived in liberty,” where all men – including Catholics – really are equal.
Charles Carroll’s cousins John and Daniel also attended the College of Saint Omer. John joined the Jesuits. Though he planned to live out his life in Europe, Providence brought him back to Maryland just in time for the American Revolution. He would serve on a diplomatic mission to Canada alongside Benjamin Franklin, a man who had hitherto held a low opinion of Catholics. John did much to change Franklin’s mind. Later, as the first bishop in the United States, John would go on changing minds as he built up the Church.
Daniel Carroll, for his part, became a leading politician in Maryland and represented his state in 1787 at the Constitutional Convention. The document that emerged from that great assembly forbade those bigoted religious oaths previously used to keep Catholics out of politics. Daniel would later serve in Congress and help James Madison defend the language of what would become the First Amendment to the Constitution. By 1791, Catholic liberty was taken for granted under the law of the land, a dramatic change from the way of things prior to the Declaration of Independence.
All Americans should spend this year of the semiquincentennial celebrating our republic. American Catholics, however, have an additional reason to celebrate. The past 250 years have seen tremendous growth for the Church in America. We should be proud to join Charles Carroll in pledging our lives, fortunes and sacred honor to the political principles that have provided, “with a firm reliance on divine Providence,” fertile ground for the works of the Holy Spirit – the true spirit of 1776.
Jerome C. Foss is the assistant vice president of academic affairs and the Jack Miller Center scholar at Saint Vincent College in Latrobe, Pennsylvania.
www.ncregister.com/commentaries/foss-declaration-freedom

In Defense of Our Founding Fathers
We’re at least two decades into a battle over the re-telling of American history, wherein those who wish to destroy America’s future are doing so by attacking her past.

To commemorate the 250th anniversary of our nation, Netflix <www.netflix.com/tudum/articles/the-american-experiment-documentary- release-date-news> is streaming a five-part docuseries that delves into the history of America’s founding. Utilizing a conventional historical documentary style, the presentation includes commentary from historians and academics, accompanied by voice-over reenactments of events surrounding and following the American Revolution right up to the drafting and ratification of the U.S. Constitution.
Director Brian Knappenberger, while offering intriguing insights, also presents a skewed portrayal of historical facts, particularly regarding the reality that some of the most influential Founding Fathers and Framers of the Constitution were slave owners. Subsequently, men like Thomas Jefferson, who authored the Declaration of Independence and highlighted the fact that “all men are created equal,” and the Father of our nation, George Washington, are depicted as hypocrites. Such criticisms are trivial, at best.
In stark contrast, Jarrett Stepman, in his 2019 book titled The War on History: The Conspiracy to Rewrite America’s Past, <thefederalist.com/2019/10/01/why-the-left-moved-from-loving-thomas- jefferson-to-hating-him/> asserts that Americans “have lost touch with the immense accomplishments of this esteemed American whose greatest fault is that he dared to criticize an institution as ancient as mankind while failing to eradicate it within a single generation.” Throughout his political career, Jefferson, for example, consistently opposed institutional slavery. For instance:
* in his <ia800603.us.archive.org/24/items/notesonstatevir00jeffgoog/notesons tatevir00jeffgoog.pdf> Notes on the State of Virginia (1785), he articulated: “The whole commerce between master and slave is a perpetual exercise of the most boisterous passions, the most unremitting despotism on the one part, and degrading submissions on the other.”
* in a <tjrs.monticello.org/letter/107> Letter to Brissot de Warville dated February 11, 1788, Jefferson expressed: “You know that nobody wishes more ardently to see an abolition not only of the trade but of the condition of slavery: and certainly nobody will be more willing to encounter every sacrifice for that object.”
Jefferson not only denounced institutional slavery, but he also took <oll.libertyfund.org/publications/liberty-matters/2025-03-20-jeffers on-s-perspective-on-slavery> measures against it:
* in 1783, he proposed a bill to Congress aimed at liberating all slaves by the year 1800;
* in 1807, during his second presidential term, he enacted legislation that abolished the Atlantic slave trade, effectively prohibiting the importation of African slaves into the United States. While this did not eradicate slavery, this crucial legislation underscored Jefferson’s opposition to the institution of slavery.
The lingering question is, if Thomas Jefferson opposed the practice of slavery, why did he not emancipate his own slaves?
In his New York Times Bestseller The Jefferson Lies, David Barton notes that George Washington freed his slaves upon his death in 1799, whereas Virginia law prevented Thomas Jefferson from doing the same. Jefferson, along with his parents and father-in-law, had accumulated significant debts following the American Revolution, which amounted to $107,000 at the time of his death (equivalent to over $2 million today). According to Virginia law, slaves were classified as property, allowing creditors to seize them from debtors to settle outstanding debts. Consequently, Jefferson leveraged the growing number and value of his slaves to achieve two objectives: to enhance his access to capital and to safeguard his slaves from being sold.
<x.com/intent/tweet?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcrisismagazine.com%2Fopinion%2 Fin-defense-of-our-founding-fathers%3Futm_source%3Dtwitter%26utm_medium%3Dso cial%26utm_campaign%3Dnovashare&via=CrisisMag&text=In+his+New+York+Times+Bes tseller+The+Jefferson+Lies%2C+David+Barton+notes+that+George+Washington+free d+his+slaves+upon+his+death+in+1799%2C+whereas+Virginia+law+prevented+Thomas +Jefferson+from+doing+the+same.> In his New York Times Bestseller The Jefferson Lies, David Barton notes that George Washington freed his slaves upon his death in 1799, whereas Virginia law prevented Thomas Jefferson from doing the same.Tweet This
It is accurate that Jefferson, in his idealistic vision, believed that relocating black Americans to places like Sierra Leone would grant them a sovereign and independent homeland. He reasoned that “expanding the institution to the West would increase the number of taxpayers, who would finance the costs of deportation.”
However, Jefferson chose to remain largely silent on the matter of slavery in the latter part of his life. Author M. Andrew Holowchak suggests that his hesitance to address slavery further stemmed from his conviction that acting at that time would be premature for effective change. He believed, like most of his colleagues, that premature action on slavery could lead to greater harm rather than benefit-such as the disunion of the states, which ultimately occurred.
Undoubtedly-akin to the Smithsonian Museum in Washington, D.C., which wrongly accuses many Founding Fathers, like Benjamin Franklin, of being racists and anti-immigrant and asserts that Alexander Hamilton was a slave owner-such racist implications reflect revisionist publications, such as The 1619 Project: A New Origin Story (2019) by Nikole Hannah-Jones. This work characterizes slavery not simply as a form of forced and unwanted labor for economic benefit but as a representation of white racism.
To this, the White House Domestic Policy Council, after President Trump’s March 27, 2026, Executive Order 14253 (“Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History”) and the current review of the Smithsonian Institution, produced ” <www.whitehouse.gov/releases/2026/07/saving-americas-story/> Saving America’s Story.” The administration does not seek to try to cover up some of our nation’s dark history, but rather, to set the record straight-such as the crucial fact that, aside that Hamilton abhorred slavery and the revisionist claim that he was a slave owner-and this does lack foundation-he “was a vocal critic of slavery and helped found the anti-slavery New York Manumission Society in 1785, which worked to end the slave trade.”
All things being equal, individuals like Knappenberger and Hannah-Jones fail to note the phenomenon that blacks in colonial America owned other blacks as slaves.
<x.com/intent/tweet?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcrisismagazine.com%2Fopinion%2 Fin-defense-of-our-founding-fathers%3Futm_source%3Dtwitter%26utm_medium%3Dso cial%26utm_campaign%3Dnovashare&via=CrisisMag&text=All+things+being+equal%2C +individuals+like+Knappenberger+and+Hannah-Jones+fail+to+note+the+phenomenon +that+blacks+in+colonial+America+owned+other+blacks+as+slaves.> All things being equal, individuals like Knappenberger and Hannah-Jones fail to note the phenomenon that blacks in colonial America owned other blacks as slaves.Tweet This
In R. Halliburton’s work <www.jstor.org/stable/27567319> Free Black Owners of Slaves: A Reappraisal of the Woodson Thesis, it is stated that free black individuals owned black slaves in all 13 original states and, subsequently, in every state that permitted slavery. This practice extended further.
Moreover, for a certain period, free black individuals were also able to “own” the labor of white indentured servants in Virginia. Halliburton further notes that free blacks had ownership of slaves in Boston <www.africanamerica.org/topic/did-black-people-own-slaves> as early as 1724 and in Connecticut by 1783; by 1790, there were 48 black individuals in Maryland who owned a total of 143 slaves. A particularly infamous black farmer from Maryland, Nat Butler, was known to “regularly purchase and sell Negroes for the Southern trade.”
Revisionists argue that when black individuals owned slaves, they did so solely for humanitarian purposes, which they argue legitimized the “technical” slave status of those who were bought. This historical perspective was documented by Carter G. Woodson in his 1924 publication, <nationalvanguard.org/2017/03/blacks-in-america-owned-black-slaves/> Free Negro Owners of Slaves in the United States in 1830. The truth of the matter is that free blacks utilized slavery as a means to exert pressure or impose punishment on others.
This is not an attempt to obscure our nation’s complexities or its challenging moments, as with the disenfranchising <www.history.com/topics/early-20th-century-us/jim-crow-laws> Jim Crow laws, which constituted a formal, codified system of racial segregation that persisted for 75 years starting in the 1890s. Rather, the aim is to present a comprehensive history of the nation, including both its favorable and unfavorable elements, in order to understand the evolution that has formed our country into its current state.
The history of America is indeed complex. However, despite the reservations held by our Founding Fathers, the challenges, the conflicts, and the profound intellectual and moral determination required to create a society reflected the “self-evident truth” that all men are created equal and endowed with inalienable rights grounded in the “Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God.” As a result, throughout this journey which shaped the essence of our nation, religious convictions served as a continual source of inspiration and motivation, as evidenced in the fight against slavery and the civil rights movement. Even in our present day, especially during periods of crisis, Americans persist in drawing strength from this legacy of common ideals and ambitions.
crisismagazine.com/opinion/in-defense-of-our-founding-fathers

Justice Clarence Thomas Says Progressive Ideology is Threatening the Founding Ideals of America
He extolls everyone to rediscover the founding principles that made the nation great.
By Catholics for Catholics
As the U.S. is poised to celebrate the country’s 250th anniversary, America’s values are under threat and citizens need to vigorously defend the founding document’s principles of equality, freedom and liberty with conviction and courage against those motivated by greed, power or anti-American ideals, said Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas.
Thomas said the values hallowed in the Declaration of Independence have “fallen out of favor” among Americans, with “progressivism” looking to supersede the document’s assertions and the United States’ form of government, according to a story by Newsmax.
Speaking at the University of Texas Austin School of Law, Thomas gave a critique Wednesday of modern political trends, cautioning that the nation’s founding principles are under pressure from ideological shifts in academia and government.
“Progressivism seeks to replace the basic premises of the Declaration of Independence and hence our form of government,” Thomas said, contending that the movement shuns the idea that rights come from God and instead places power in government institutions.
As the Supreme Court’s longest-serving conservative justice, Thomas depicted a mounting “cynicism, rejection, hostility, and animus” toward the nation’s founding ideals.
Among the chief ideological culprits is the fact that many Americans no longer hold the belief that all people are created equal and endowed with unalienable rights.
In addition, Thomas stressed that the Constitution was conceived to limit government power and guard individual liberties.
In times where the country is deeply politically divided, Thomas called on Americans to revive the valor and fervor of the nation’s founders.
“In my view, we must find in ourselves that same level of courage that the signers of the Declaration have so that we can do for our future what they did for theirs,” he said.
Link here <cforc.com/2026/04/justice-clarence-thomas-says-progressive-ideology -is-threatening-the-founding-ideals-of-america/> .

The Meaning of Patriotism <zeale.co/video/the-meaning-of-patriotism> (link to video)
“.Patriotism is not a mere sentiment or political allegiance it is a moral virtue rooted in piety by which we render to honor to God and to the earthly bonds to which His Providence has granted to us Life and formed our identity.
To our parents, families and native lands, God has bestowed immeasurable blessings: the gift of life, the experience of love and the shaping of moral character.
Patriotism recognizes these gifts with gratitude and accepts the duties that arise from them. It belongs to justice for it gives what is due to our homeland and to charity for it seeks our nation’s true good according to the moral law written by God upon the human heart.
Rightly understood, patriotism ennobles the heart; It does not excuse wrongdoing but impels us to work for the conversion of society, the defense of the innocent, and the protection of human life from conception to natural death. It strengthens family life, civic virtue and fidelity to truth.
For the Christian, patriotism becomes a path of holiness, uniting earthly duty to heavenly hope. When lived in the light of Christ it helps prepare society to receive His reign in which justice flourishes, peace endures and the gospel shapes the destiny of nations.” Cardinal Burke

“True Patriotism calls us to love our country rightly.”

Click here for the full video <lp.catholicvote.org/america250?utm_campaign=129541854-The%20LOOP&ut m_medium=email&_hsmi=26979459&utm_content=26979459&utm_source=hs_email> .

What’s your winning idea?
America’s greatest innovations often begin as bold ideas – dreamed up in classrooms, garages, labs, and communities across the country. America’s Startup is designed to spotlight, support, and celebrate those ideas at their earliest stages.
As a signature program within America Innovates, America’s Startup provides a national platform for student founders, young entrepreneurs, and early-stage innovators whose ideas could help shape the next 250 years of American ingenuity, creativity, and progress.
America’s Startup is a national collegiate startup competition created to spotlight early-stage business ideas with the potential to drive America’s future economic, technological, and societal progress.
Participants submit a proposal and pitch video outlining their business idea, with selected teams advancing through a multi-stage review process that includes a live pitch experience.
Submit your idea here. <america250.org/americas-startup/?utm_campaign=a250_26_email&utm_sou rce=mailchimp&utm_medium=email&utm_content=americas_start_up_r2>

In a new episode of his “Virtue of Patriotism” series, Cardinal Raymond Burke said love of one’s homeland is a response to God’s providence, formed through family, culture, and nation. The episode, released ahead of America’s 250th anniversary, also warns against ideologies that detach people from their roots. It closes with a prayer for the nation. Join the Zeale for America 250 Prayer Movement. Register here <lp.catholicvote.org/america250> .

FREE COMMUNITY CONCERT
Experience an unforgettable evening of music with the Marine Corps West Coast Composite Band as they present “Freedom 250” on Wednesday, April 1! Get tickets here: artcenter.org/event/marinecompositeband_freedom250/

This FREE community concert will showcase an impressive performance in a beautiful venue, offering guests the opportunity to enjoy a special night of live music and patriotic spirit.
Doors open at 6:00 pm and the concert begins at 7:00 pm. Admission and parking are free, making this a wonderful opportunity to enjoy a memorable evening with family and friends.

Seating is limited, so be sure to reserve your spot in advance!

Get tickets here: artcenter.org/event/marinecompositeband_freedom250/

“Some of the United States’ most important historical documents began a first-of-its-kind journey Monday as part of the country’s 250th anniversary commemoration.
Typically housed in highly controlled vaults under the watch of preservation experts at the National Archives, documents such as the 1783 Treaty of Paris that formally ended the Revolutionary War and the 1774 Articles of Association that urged colonists to boycott British goods are rarely moved.
But those documents, signed by George Washington, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin and other American revolutionary leaders, will be making their way across the country and put on display for free at local museums.
“It’s tangible history, and tangible history inspires,” said Jim Byron, senior adviser to the acting archivist of the United States. “These documents have not traveled, and they’ve certainly not traveled collectively, ever. They are here in vaults.”
The Boeing 737 “Freedom Plane” transporting the documents is just one of many events and activities planned across the country to mark America’s upcoming 250th anniversary celebrating the signing of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776. The records include a rare original engraving of the Declaration of Independence printed in 1823 from a copperplate of the original; the Oaths of Allegiance signed in 1778 by George Washington, Alexander Hamilton and other officers of the Continental Army; and a rare draft copy of the U.S. Constitution that includes handwritten notes by the delegates.” NSJ article <nsjonline.com/article/2026/03/major-historical-documents-start-jour ney-across-us-america-250/>
Los Angeles, CA: <d2tbk404.na1.hubspotlinks.com/Ctc/2N+113/d2tbK404/VX9-pL6TR-HDW3Px3 Xb7gx_68W3wqskQ5Jkn5XN74Pqt03m2nnW69sMD-6lZ3lXW4nszBd6G-bHSN3G0PnF5c4VQW45mc cl8cddJrW8DB-yr6dSwX2W4XT9G97P6mpyW79dCVw54J3BrW1VYvPH40HSljW8Pvd9N2jhlHWVz5 QqC23Sf2tW1Dgm5d3fJKd8V3KBvq2kFRZTW90Q_p88nW_18VBpgpw22s67kW1HcLQd7ygVTHW8sL hLT1yVDqTVBz1Ch7Scd9ZVB3d445gJtypW5Mlc3X30fnNqW6-w0718-GFDwN2RzB_6CSr5Jf4pG_ Wn04> University of Southern California Fisher Museum of Art : Friday, April 17 – Sunday, May 3

Join a historic, week-long, continuous Bible-reading as leaders from every sphere speak the Scriptures aloud from beginning to end – reigniting America’s spiritual foundation as we celebrate 250 years of freedom. Visit: www.americareadsthebible.com/
Just as Ezra read the Word aloud to the people of Israel (Nehemiah 8:1-3), awakening revival and repentance, inspiring them to rebuild the temple, and working with Nehemiah to mobilize the people to rebuild Jerusalem’s walls, America Reads the Bible is a sacred opportunity to call our nation back to its spiritual foundations. Through a public, continuous reading of the entire Bible in our nation’s capital by our national leaders from all spheres of influence, we believe God can spark revival in individual hearts and inspire Americans to carry the Word forward in their lives and communities into the next 250 years of our national story.