Turning the World Upside Down

Authors: John Stonestreet and Dr. Timothy Padgett

250 years ago this month, on Lexington Green in Massachusetts, “the shot heard round the world” was fired, and the American Revolution began. At dawn, in a common area not far from Boston, a little over 70 colonial militiamen faced down a much larger number of British regular troops. After a brief stand-off where an army officer declared, “Throw down your arms! Ye villains, ye rebels,” the locals refused to disperse. Instead, someone fired their weapon. Though to this day nobody knows who, eight Americans were dead or dying when it was over.

A few hours later, a force of over 200 Redcoats were confronted by nearly 400 angry colonials at North Bridge. This time it was the army’s turn to retreat. Three British soldiers died at the bridge and, over the next 12 hours, the colonials—consisting of farmers, shopkeepers, and other ordinary folk—ambushed the fleeing column, all the way back to Boston. By evening, the British had lost 73 soldiers, compared to 49 Americans. Even more, by that night, observers could reasonably speak of the two sides, British and Americans, as two distinct groups. 

The Americans would proclaim their freedom a year later in July 1776 but would not earn their independence until October 19, 1781. The British surrender at Yorktown came six and a half years after the first blood was shed outside of Boston. In fact, that April morning set in motion events that led to some of the most important and prized words in human history. The Declaration of Independence insists: 

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness. 

These beautiful words, which emerged from warring against England, are now honored alongside older works of the English tradition, such as the Magna Carta of 1215 and the Bill of Rights of 1689. This makes sense given that the American Revolution was not a rejection of what came before. Rather, it was birthed from the insistence that our most important rights are given by God and cannot ultimately be ignored or rejected.  

It is said that, after the Battle of Yorktown, surrendering British troops sang the old folk song, “The World Turned Upside Down,” as they marched away in shock and despair. Though it may not have actually happened, the sentiment rings true. The American Revolution was more than the military defeat of a great empire. It sparked a revolutionary age that spread not only to France but also around the world. 

And yet, despite the comparisons and historical proximities, the revolution of 1776 in America and the one of 1789 in France were dramatically different. One was fought on principles of limited government due to an understanding of human frailty and the God-given rights and responsibilities of all citizens. The other was built on utopian ideas that attributed to humanity freedoms with responsibilities to self instead of to God. The utopia, however, never came. A better word, historians of the French Revolution might say, would be dystopia. The horrifying celebration of terror that resulted from the French Revolution became an inspiration for tyrannies, oppressions, and genocides ever since.  

As Os Guinness has argued for years, the contrast between 1776 and 1789 should provide clarity for our future.  

Does America still have the will and the strength to rise to the demands of the present hour, or has its success made it complacent and its power made it corrupt, and have America’s exertions left it tired and unable to carry the torch of freedom as today’s challenges require? 

Despite various levels of turmoil throughout its history, America succeeded because, unlike 1789, the revolution of 1776 was rooted in reality. Though the Founding Fathers were not all devout Christians, they breathed an intellectual air that reflected Christian assumptions about divinely ordained human dignity, freedom, moral responsibility, and humanity’s propensity for sin and moral weakness. The promise of America depends on these and other principles shaped from the worldview given in Holy Scripture. What is required of us is the patience and hard work of taking Guinness’ challenge seriously in both our personal and our public lives.