Civil liberty

Almost all the civil liberty now enjoyed in the world owes its origin to the principles of the Christian religion…

It is the sincere desire of the writer that our citizens should early understand that the genuine source of correct republican principles is the bible, particularly the New Testament or the Christian religion...

The religion which has introduced civil liberty is the religion of Christ and His apostles, which enjoins humility, piety, and benevolence; which acknowledges in every person a brother, or a sister, and a citizen with equal rights. This is genuine Christianity, and to this we owe our free Constitutions of Government...

The moral principles and precepts contained in the Scriptures ought to form the basis of all of our civil constitutions and laws... All the miseries and evils which men suffer from vice, crime, ambition, injustice, oppression, slavery and war, proceed from their despising or neglecting the precepts contained in the Bible.

Noah Webster (1758-1843)
History of the United States, 1832

(http://crossandquill.com/journey/?p=269)