Benjamin Franklin Credits Providence for America’s Independence

Benjamin Franklin and “Providence”
Benjamin Franklin loomed as large as any of the key leaders of the movement toward independence. Though many consider Franklin to have been a man of questionable faith in God, he spoke frequently of his belief that God Himself was directing the parties who led the Revolution. In fact, said Franklin, it was God who orchestrated the whole history-making event!

Using the colonial term for the hand of God, “Providence,” Franklin here testifies to his belief that God’s hand was ever active in the birth of our nation:
“The longer I live, the more convincing proofs I see of this truth, that God governs in the affairs of men. And if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without His notice, is it probable that an empire can rise without His aid?”

Below are two more quotes from Franklin that express his understanding of God:

“My dear friend, do not imagine that I am vain enough to ascribe our success [Revolution] to any superiority…If it had not been for the justice of our cause, and the consequent interposition of Providence, in which we had faith, we must have been ruined. If I had ever before been an atheist, I should now have been convinced of the being and government of a Deity!”
—In a letter to William Strahan, August 19, 1784

“I must own I have so much faith in the general government of the world by Providence that I can hardly conceive a transaction of such momentous importance to the welfare of millions now existing, and to exist in the posterity of a great nation, should be suffered to pass without being in some degree influenced, guided, and governed by that omnipotent, omnipresent, and beneficent Ruler.”
—On the impact of Independence on generations of Americans during the Constitutional Convention