“Tyranny is so generally established in the rest of the world, that the prospect of an asylum in America for those who love liberty gives a general joy, and our cause is esteemed the cause of all mankind.”
Benjamin Franklin, in a 1777 letter while in France to the Committee of Secret Correspondence in Philadelphia
We are excited to share that alongside the epic adventure American Revolution series we are shooting, we also have a YouTube channel to showcase the documentary work that reaches back well before 1775, and explores what motivated the colonies into a strident want for liberty and independence.
Even among those who know the general timeline that takes us to the Declaration of Independence and through the signing of the Constitution, the reasons for wanting freedom are so often forgotten. Our goal is to recast what we have neglected as a people in this particular place, with a particular history that sought a new found sense of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness given by and through the hand of Providence.
As the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence is celebrated in 2026, it is important to tell our story without the bias of directors like famed documentarian Ken Burns who is owned by PBS, and if his Ben Franklin documentary is testament to what he plans for his upcoming series on the American Revolution, audiences are in for an indoctrination of untruths or half-truths as to the reasons we united to be free.
We present history from the experts with no commentary. And those conversations lean more closely to identifying Christianity as foundational to the early days of our republic. This particular honest approach to the historical analysis, even with all its complexities, is not being told at present even by conservative outlets. That makes our project rife with possibilities. Our hope is to educate. An Appeal to Heaven tells the honest story that leads to the War for Independence and the ratification of the Constitution. We also want to inspire others by highlighting the personal and corporate faith of the colonists.
Our Expert Guides
Mark Noll
Professor of History Emeritus of the University of Notre Dame and author of "In The Beginning Was the Word: The Bible in American Public Life, 1492-1783" (Oxford, 2015), "America's God: From Jonathan Edwards to Abraham Lincoln" (Oxford, 2005).
Jonathan Sarna
Director of the Schusterman Center for Israel Studies at Brandeis University and author "American Judaism: A History" (Yale, 2019), "The American Jewish Experience" (Holmes & Meier, 1997).
Kate Carté
Associate Professor of History at Southern Methodist University and author of "Religion and the American Revolution: An Imperial History" (UNC, 2021), "Religion and Profit: Moravians in Early America" (Penn, 2009).
W.B. Allen
Professor Emeritus of Political Philosophy at Michigan State University and author of “George Washington: America’s First Progressive” (P. Lang, 2008).
Sarah Eyerly
Associate Professor of Musicology and Director of the Early Music Program at Florida State University and author of “Moravian Soundscapes: A Sonic History of the Moravian Missions in Early Pennsylvania” (Indiana University, 2020).
Ken Minkema
Executive Editor of The Works of Jonathan Edwards and of the Jonathan Edwards Center & Online Archive at Yale University and editor of the "Sermons by Jonathan Edwards on the Matthean Parables, Volume I, II, III" (Cascade, 2012).
Don Hagist
Managing editor of the Journal of the American Revolution, and author of “The Revolution's Last Men: the Soldiers Behind the Photographs” (Westholme, 2015) and “British Soldiers, American War” (Westholme, 2012), among others.
Randall Balmer
Professor of Religion at Dartmouth College and author of "Religion in American Life: A Short History" (Oxford, 2011), "First Freedom: The Fight for Religious Freedom" (Covenant, 2012).
Mark David Hall
Professor of Politics at Regent University and author of "Did America Have a Christian Founding? Separating Myth from Historical Truth" (Thomas Nelson, 2019).
Doug Sweeney
Dean of Beeson Divinity School and editor of "The Oxford Handbook of Jonathan Edwards" (Oxford, 2021), "Jonathan Edwards and the Ministry of the Word: A Model of Faith and Thought" (IVP Academic, 2009).
Kathy Bullock
Professor Emeritus at Berea College and a choral conductor who specializes in gospel music, spirituals, and classical works by composers from the African diaspora.
Jim Byrd
Professor of American Religious History at Vanderbilt Divinity School and author of "Sacred Scripture, Sacred War: The Bible and the American Revolution" (Oxford, 2013).
Tim Larsen
Professor of Christian Thought and Professor of History and author "Every Leaf, Line, and Letter: Evangelicals and the Bible from the 1730s to the Present" (IVP Academic, 2021).
Gideon Mailer
Associate Professor of History at the University of Minnesota Duluth and author of “John Witherspoon’s American Revolution” (UNC Chapel Hill, 2017).
Richard Boles
Assistant Professor of American History at Oklahoma State University and author of "Dividing the Faith: The Rise of Segregated Churches in the Early American North" (NYU, 2020).
Gary Steward
Associate Professor of History at Colorado Christian University and author of "Justifying Revolution: The American Clergy's Argument for Political Resistance, 1750-1776" (Oxford, forthcoming).
Doug Bradburn
President of George Washington’s Mount Vernon and Founding Director for its Fred W. Smith National Library. He also serves as series editor of “Early American Histories” at the University of Virginia Press.
Andrew Zwerneman
President of Cana Academy and one of their Master Teachers. He is the author of “History Forgotten and Remembered” (Cana, 2021).
Harry “Skip” Stout
Retired Jonathan Edwards Professor of American Religion at Yale University and author of “The Divine Dramatist: George Whitefield and the Rise of Modern Evangelicalism” (Eerdmans, 1991) and “The New England Soul: Preaching and Religious Culture in Colonial New England” (Oxford, 2011).
George Marsden
Professor Emeritus of History at University of Notre Dame and author of “Jonathan Edwards: A Life” (Oxford, 2003) and “Religion and American Culture: A Brief History” (Eerdmans, 2018).
Daniel Dreisbach
Professor of Justice, Law & Criminology at American University and author of “Reading the Bible with the Founding Fathers” (Oxford, 2017).
John Fea
Professor of Early America at Messiah College and author of “The Bible Cause: A History of the American Bible Society” (Oxford, 2016) and “Was America Founded as a Christian Nation” (John Knox, 2011).
Keith Beutler
Professor of History at Missouri Baptist University and author of “George Washington’s Hair: How Early American Remembered the Founders” (UVA, 2021).
Sarah Crabtree
Associate Professor of History at San Francisco State University and author of "Holy Nation: The Transatlantic Quaker Ministry in an Age of Revolution (American Beginnings, 1500-1900)” (University of Chicago, 2015).
Peter Lillback
President and Professor of Historical Theology and Church History at Westminster Theological Seminary. He is author of “George Washington’s Sacred Fire” (ISI, 2008).
Steven Waldman
Co-founder of Beliefnet and author of “Founding Faith: How Our Founding Fathers Forged a Radical New Approach to Religious Liberty” (Random House, 2008).
Jonathan Yeager
Professor of Religious Studies at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga and editor of “Early Evangelicalism: A Reader" (Oxford, 2013).
Joseph Loconte
C.S. Lewis Scholar for Public Life at Grove City College and author of “God, Locke, and Liberty: The Struggle for Religious Freedom in the West” (Lexington Books, 2014).
Mary Thompson
Research Historian at the Fred W. Smith National Library at Mount Vernon. She is the author of several books including “‘In the Hands of a Good Providence’: Religion in the Life of George Washington” (UVA, 2008).
Harrison Taylor
Professor of History at Alabama State University and co-editor of "Revolution as Reformation: Protestant Faith in the Age of Revolutions, 1688–1832" (UAB, 2021) and "Unity in Christ and Country American Presbyterians in the Revolutionary Era, 1758–1801" (UAB, 2017).
Jared Burkholder
Professor of American and World History at Grace College and Seminary and author of various articles on the Moravians.
Raymond Wise
Professor of Practice, African American and African Diaspora Studies at Indiana University and minister of music for more than 40 years.
Robert Blythe
Pastor of the First Baptist Church in Richmond, Kentucky, for the past 40 years (and counting). He also serves as mayor of Richmond.
David Hildebrand
Instructor at the Peabody Institute, Specialist in Early American Music, and co-author of “Musical Maryland: A History of Song and Performance from the Colonial Period to the Age of Radio” (2017).
Michael Feldberg
Executive Director of the George Washington Institute for Religious Freedom based in Newport, Rhode Island.
Patrick O’Donnell
Author of “The Indispensables: The Diverse Soldier-Mariners Who Shaped the Country, Formed the Navy, and Rowed Washington Across the Delaware” (2021, Atlantic) and “Washington's Immortals: The Untold Story of An Elite Regiment Who Changed the Course of the Revolution” (2016, Atlantic).
Peter Messer
Associate Professor of History at Mississippi State University and author of “Stories of Independence: Identity, Ideology, and History in Eighteenth-Century America” (Northern Illinois University, 2005).
D.G. Hart
Professor of History at Hillsdale College and author of “Benjamin Franklin: Cultural Protestant” (Oxford, 2021).
Jonathan Den Hartog
Professor of History at Samford University and author of “Patriotism and Piety: Federalist Politics and Religious Struggle in the New American Nation” (UVA, 2015).
Gerald McDermott
Author and Editor of several books on Jonathan Edwards including “Jonathan Edwards Confronts the Gods: Christian Theology, Enlightenment Religion, and Non-Christian Faiths” (Oxford, 2000) and “The Theology of Jonathan Edwards” (Oxford, 2011).
John Yates
John Yates was the pastor of The Falls Church for 40 years. George Washington’s father helped build the parish and his son served as a vestry member. John is a student of history, especially the Anglican revivalist movement in Great Britain.
Robert Tracy McKenzie
Professor of United States History and author of “The First Thanksgiving” (IVP, 2013) and “We the Fallen People” (IVP, 2021).
Christian Cuthbert
Pastor of Union Church in Vernon, Connecticut, and an expert on the life and thought of Jonathan Edwards, especially Edwards’s view on war.
“ “We have appealed to Heaven for the justice of our cause, and in Heaven we have placed our trust. Numerous have been the manifestations of God’s Providence in sustaining us. We have been reduced to distress, and the arm of Omnipotence has raised us up. Let us still rely in humble confidence on Him who is mighty to save. Good tidings will soon arrive. We shall never be abandoned by Heaven while we act worthy of its aid and protection.”
Samuel Adams, 1776