Rare American Bible and founders’ letters trace faith’s role in birth of the nation

A rare collection of original letters, family Bibles and founding-era artifacts is offering new insight into the role Scripture played during the nation's founding.

The artifacts are on display at the Museum of the Bible in Washington, D.C., where a new collection marking America's 250th anniversary examines how Scripture influenced the country's earliest years through original documents and historical objects.

Among the featured items are the first Bible printed in English in America, family Bibles belonging to several founding fathers and other prominent Americans, and an original Thomas Jefferson letter on religious freedom.

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Together, the documents trace how biblical language appeared throughout the founding era, influencing conversations about liberty, education and public life.

Anthony Schmidt, the museum's director of collections and curatorial, told Fox News Digital that the collection uses primary sources to examine the Bible's role in early American history.

"The Bible has been an integral part of this nation's founding and history," Schmidt said.

"That's not a theological claim; it's what the documents show. The founding fathers referenced Scripture, argued from it, and built political frameworks on its language about human dignity and liberty."

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One section explores how Scripture was part of everyday life during the nation's earliest years, displaying the first Bible printed in English in America alongside family Bibles owned by several founding fathers and other historical figures.

Schmidt said the objects were intentionally selected to tell what he described as the fullest story possible about the Bible's influence on America's founding generation.

"These objects show the Bible's impact not only on religious life, but on early American art, education and politics."

Another section examines the relationship between faith and government through Jefferson's writings on religious liberty and one of the nation's earliest published arguments for resisting tyranny.

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Visitors can also view Revolutionary-era printed materials that helped unify the colonies, documents tracing early Jewish civic life in America, portraits of George Washington and other colonial-era figures, a hand-colored lithograph memorializing Abraham Lincoln, and busts of George Washington and Benjamin Franklin.

Schmidt said one of the collection's central goals is to encourage visitors to engage directly with original historical documents.

"We want visitors to encounter the history of this country and see, in the primary documents, what impact the Bible actually had on the people who built it," he said.

He noted that while the founding fathers often disagreed on matters of religion, the historical record shows many were still influenced by the Bible's language and ideas.

"Many of the founders disagreed about religion, and disagreed sharply, but they were still shaped by the Bible's language and arguments," Schmidt said. "We want people to engage with that evidence and come to their own conclusions."