Experience the American dream with today’s Patriots of the Past interview. I’m your host, John Gillespie.
It’s May 16, 1776. I’m with Princeton President John Witherspoon.
JG: “Reverend Witherspoon, British loyalists charge that you have poisoned the minds of your students and created the fire behind the revolution.”
JW: “Whether it’s my students, James Madison, Luther Martin, Benjamin Rush, or others, I have taught them that resistance to tyranny is obedience to God. With this in our hearts and minds, we shall achieve a light of liberty for the whole world.”
More alumni from Princeton attended the 1787 Constitutional Convention than from any other university.
The John Witherspoon plaque in Gifford Village, Scotland, reads, “In honoured memory of the Reverend John Witherspoon, D.D., LL. D. Only clergyman to sign the American Declaration of Independence, the first moderator of the Presbyterian General Assembly in America, and president of Princeton University. Born in the Manse of Yester, Gifford. Feb. 5th, 1723.
“‘… the states of America may hand down the blessings of peace and public order to many generations.'”
John and Jan Gillespie are the founders of the Rawhide Boys’ Ranch; they have fostered 351 teenagers and wrote the book Our 351 Sons; they have also assisted numerous churches in developing youth programs and expanding their total church ministries. After running for U.S. Senate, John founded 1776 American Dream, which exists to demonstrate the vision of our founding fathers and help our generation of youth passionately embrace those values.
