How Laura Ingalls Could Save our Country

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“I read something to the kids today from ‘Little Town on the Prairie’ that was so good. It brought me to tears.”

My wife reads to our homeschooled children throughout the week. They are presently in the “Little House” series of books by Laura Ingalls Wilder. She told me this recently while we were on a walk, explained the portion of the account from the book, and later read the passage to me.

And she was right. It is good. As a matter of fact, it is so good, that the simple message could literally save our country, if taken to heart. It demonstrates part of what makes America so great, and the only way we retain that greatness.

I would like to simply quote the short passage here and share it with you. But first, let me quickly set the stage. If you are interested in finding it in the classic book, it is in chapter 8, titled “The Fourth of July.”

Laura and her family are in town for the celebration of Independence Day in 1881, following the long winter (when they had lived in Pa’s store building and barely survived). The girls are stunned by all of the activity, noise and celebration in the town. At one point, a man stands on a platform under an American flag and begins speaking to the crowd. He gives a short and stirring remembrance of the war for independence, and then begins to quote the Declaration of Independence, which, the book tells us, “Laura and Carrie knew by heart, of course.” 

The book goes on to say, “It gave them a solemn, glorious feeling to hear the words. They took hold of hands and stood listening in the solemnly listening crowd. The Stars and Stripes were fluttering bright against the thin, clear blue overhead, and their minds were saying the words before their ears heard them.”

Once the reading of the Declaration ended, the solemn crowd sang together, with Pa leading them, “My Country, Tis of Thee.”

My country, ’tis of thee,
Sweet land of liberty,
of thee I sing…

Long may our land be bright,
With freedom’s holy light.
Protect us by Thy might,
Great God, our King!

The crowd was scattered away then, but Laura stood still. Suddenly she had a completely new thought. The Declaration and the song came together in her mind, and she thought: God is America’s King.

She thought: Americans won’t obey any king on earth. Americans are free. That means they have to obey their own consciences. No king bosses Pa; he has to boss himself. Why (she thought), when I am a little older, Pa and Ma will stop telling me what to do, and there isn’t anyone else who has a right to give me orders. I will have to make myself be good.

Her whole mind seemed to be lighted up by that thought. This is what it means to be free. It means, you have to be good. ‘Our father’s God, Author of liberty–‘ The laws of Nature and of Nature’s God endow you with a right to life and liberty. Then you have to keep the law of God, for God’s law is the only thing that gives you a right to be free.

Laura had no time then to think any further. Carrie was wondering why she stood so still, and Pa was saying, “This way, girls! There’s the free lemonade!“

Young Laura’s simple, yet profound revelation would be a completely new thought for many Americans today as well. But this realization is what it will take to save America. As John Adams famously stated, “Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.”

Now, the only way Laura or any other American can ever hope to truly “keep the law of God” or seek to “make myself be good” is by faith in the only One Who can do that for us sin-wrecked individuals, the Lord Jesus Christ. In this way, we are given the Spirit of God, Who enables us to keep the law of Christ in the world, and truly be Spirit/self governed. The gospel of Christ is what truly sets us free from ourselves and from sin, and I believe is the only way we can have a free society like America. The purpose of this post is not to delve deeply into a theological discussion. You are welcome to read more on this important topic here.

My purpose here is to simply demonstrate the early American heart that recognized that unless we have a moral foundation and internal compass that keeps each “free” individual under control, a free society is impossible. For most of our American forefathers and the pioneers who built this great land, that moral foundation was the Word of God and His Law contained therein. True freedom is not the freedom to do everything I want, but the freedom to do everything I ought.

No, Americans won’t obey any king on earth. Americans are free. And the only way we can ever hope to stay that way is if Americans can be good–goodness being determined and defined by God’s laws. And the only way that is possible is if Christ is King in every heart, truly having God as America’s King.