Immediately after Jefferson became President in 1801, Barbary pirates demanded $225,000, plus an annual tribute of $25,000. When Jefferson refused, the Pasha (Lord) of Tripoli declared war -- the first war the U.S. was in after becoming a nation. Jefferson sent U.S. frigates to the Mediterranean to protect American shipping.
Edwards wrote in Narrative of the Surprising Word of God in the Conversion of Many Hundred Souls, 1737: "The Spirit of God began extraordinarily to ... work amongst us ... Suddenly, one after another ... were ... savingly converted ... in a very remarkable manner ... A young woman, who had been one of the greatest company-keepers in the whole town ... gave an account ... that God had given her a new heart, truly broken and sanctified ... God made it, I suppose, the greatest occasion of awakening to others ... News of it seemed to be almost like a flash of lighting upon the hearts of young people all over the town."
Secretary of War James McHenry became President of the first Bible Society in Baltimore, Maryland, stating in 1813: "Bible ... is a book of councils and directions, fitted to every situation in which man can be placed."
President Wilson,Executive Order, January 20, 1918: "The sacred rights of Christian soldiers and sailors ... the best sentiment of a Christian people ... demand that Sunday labor in the Army and Navy be reduced to the measure of strict necessity."
