Parable For The 4th of July (author unknown)
Once, in the 1820's, a little boy called Sam was playing in the yard behind his house. During his pretend fighting game, he knocked over the outhouse.

Now Sam was upset and worried that he would get into trouble so he ran into the woods and didn't come out until after got dark. When he arrived back home, his pappy was waiting for him. He asked suspiciously, "Son, did you knock over the outhouse this afternoon?"

"No, pappy," Sam lied.

"Well, let me tell you a story," said the father. "Once, not that long ago, Mr Washington received a shiny new axe from his father.

Excited, he tried it out on a tree, swiftly cutting it down. But as he looked at the tree, with dismay he realized it was his mother's favorite cherry tree," his pappy paused. "Just like you, he ran into the woods. When he returned, his pappy asked, 'George, did you cut down the cherry tree?' George answered with, 'Father, I cannot tell a lie. I did indeed chop down the tree.' Then his father said, 'Well, since you were honest with me, you are spared from punishment. I hope you have learned your lesson, though.' "So," Sam's father asked again, "did you knock down the outhouse?"

"Pappy, I cannot tell a lie any more," said the little boy. "I did indeed knock down the outhouse."

Then his pappy father spanked Sam boy red, white, and blue. The boy whimpered, "Pappy, I told you the truth! Why did you spank me?"

Pappy answered, "That's because George Washington's father wasn't in the tree when he chopped it down!"

John Adams
2nd U.S. President and Signer of the Declaration of Independence

The general principles on which the fathers achieved independence were the general principles of Christianity. I will avow that I then believed, and now believe, that those general principles of Christianity are as eternal and immutable as the existence and attributes of God.

Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD, the people he chose for his inheritance.
(Ps. 33:12)