Florida Governor Ron DeSantis was sworn in for a second term Tuesday as the 46th governor of the Sunshine State using the Bible of the Revolution, which the Founding Fathers in the U.S. Congress endorsed over 240 years ago.
DeSantis took the oath of office on the steps of the state Capitol building in Tallahassee alongside his wife, Casey, and their three children, with his hand to the Aitken Bible from 1782.
Great photo of Ron DeSantis and family during his 2nd inauguration… pic.twitter.com/CZxGQ2oprL
— Citizen Free Press (@CitizenFreePres) January 3, 2023
The Bible came from the American Journey Experience, which the nationally syndicated radio host and co-founder of Blaze Media, Glenn Beck, founded two years ago as a state-of-the-art museum and research library to learn the history of the United States.
Beck told his media company he offered that DeSantis use the historic Bible and Mary Todd Lincoln’s Bible at his oath of office ceremony in Florida, saying the governor’s work in the state “has real historic significance.”
“It is the beginning of a renewal of the principles for which our Founders fought,” Beck said.
DeSantis, 44, a former congressman and U.S. Navy veteran of the war in Iraq, became one of the nation’s most high-profile governors in his first term, which secured his 2022 victory over challenger Charlie Crist with nearly 60% of the vote. During his inaugural address, DeSantis boasted about his successes during his first term, which helped make Florida the fastest-growing state in 2022 for the first time since 1957.
The Blaze reported that the Bible on which DeSantis and Lieutenant Gov. Jeanette Nuñez swore their oath on Tuesday “serves as a reminder of where we came from.”
Over 240 years ago, the Founding Fathers in the U.S. Congress in 1782 endorsed the King James translation of the Aitken Bible, which printer Robert Aitken published after America won the War of Independence. It is the first and only edition ever commissioned.
The Aitken Bible, published by Robert Aitken, was the first Bible printed in English in North America. It is known by many as “the Bible of the Revolution.” #ArtifactoftheDay #AitkenBible pic.twitter.com/B83aU7YhX2
— Museum of the Bible (@museumofBible) June 28, 2021
Beck said that “one of the rights new Americans fought for was the freedom of religion”; the British government regulated publishing Bibles and previously prohibited printing English-language Bibles without special licenses from authorities.
“The Founders understood where our rights came from,” Beck said, adding that the Bible is “a reflection of that understanding.”
Beck noted many issues the nation faces today come from a “loss of truth,” which he added has happened before.
“And until we return to the eternal truths, which Rudyard Kipling called the ‘Gods of the Copybook Headings,’ we will continue to — as a nation and as individuals — struggle,” Beck said. “The Bible played an essential role in our Founding, and if we are to remain a nation of individual rights, it must play the same role in our Re-Founding.”
DeSantis quoted from the book of Psalms during his inaugural address after noting how many states in the union have stripped away individual liberties.
“We face attacks, we take hits, but we weather the storms,” DeSantis said. “We stand our ground, and we do what’s right. As the book of Psalms reminds us, ‘I will not fear, though, tens of thousands assail me on every side.’”
Conservative commentator Beck said that no revolution could be successful and lead to greater peace, harmony, and expansion of the human spirit without God and the truths found in the Bible.
“It teaches us to fight for those things that are truth with love, not against with hatred,” he said.