1. God's Principle of Individuality- God created each person for His own unique God given purpose in society (this idea opposes Communism.) Families often miss this idea in their home government when they try to fit their children to the mold they want them to fit into.) We also see this principle in our own personal responsibility for our actions.  A popular saying among the Pilgrims was "Reform without tarrying for any" because they recognized that each individual had a personal responsibity to God to change and could not wait for the church as a whole to follow suit, unlike the Puritans who remained and tried to purify the church from within. This is why the Pigrims were known as the separatists. The Puritans of course later realized that their efforts were in vain and eventually followed the Pilgrims to the New World.

2. Christian Self-Government- This is being ruled internally by God from His Word in our heart rather than externally by civil government (this is where reaching our children's hearts is so important- we often tend to expect our children to obey us because we said so instead of showing them why it is wrong Biblically- the result of this is that they learn to be governed externally rather than internally thus if they think they can get away with something when your back is turned they will try) The true purpose of civil governement should only be to serve its country by protecting those who are obeying God's law from those who are not, so less external government will be required if the individuals are governed internally.

3.  Christian Character- we must establish Christian character if we expect our children to govern themselves internally.  We have some awesome models of Christian character throughout history in such individuals as the Pilgrims.  Of course Jesus is the perfect model by which we measure ourselves by! ( : In my opinion, you won't find a better resource than 'For Instruction in Righteousness' by Pam Forster to teach this.

4.  "Conscience is the Most Sacred of all Property." -James Madison

Conscience is the tool we use for self-govenment.  It is a gift from God to be stewarded faithfully. We as Christians have liberty of conscience which is the ability to obey our conscience over civil governement when they are in conflict.  Daniel is such an awesome example of someone who obeyed his conscience over the government.  Martin Luther and all of the Reformers also recognized this.  Our Founding Fathers also knew this when they fought against the tyranincal rule of King George.

5. The Christian Form of Our Government- There is quite a bit to this one that I am still researching, but my understanding of this so far is that our Founding Father's set up our government using the Bible as their political text to guide them. We have the separation of powers seen in the Legislative, Executive, and Judiciary branches which gives us a system of checks and balances. What I found so interesting about this is that this is the same 3 ways we govern ourselves: we legislate what we are going to do like ride a bike or go get groceries, then we judge and decide if it is a good idea, and we execute what we have decided to do. Now with the purpose of government being to protect our God given rights we elect individuals to represent us to make laws that will protect our rights. Here we see the flow of God's power as those internally governed by God have the right to elect those who will represent them.  I think this makes evident that our Founding Father's never intended for the church to be separate from government, in fact just the opposite.  If God is to be the soveriegn King of our nation then the elected officials have to be men whose lives are submitted to Him and who will seek to maintain each individuals God given rights.

6. How the Seed of Local Self-Government is Planted- Of course self-government begins with the salvation of the individual where God comes in and writes the Law on the tablets of flesh (our hearts) and guides us by His Holy Spirit.  Now a man can't govern a nation or a church if he can't govern his own home, and he can't govern his own home if he can't govern himself.  So to be effective leaders in the civil, church, and home realms, one must understand how to govern himself by allowing God to rule from within. This is exactly what we are preparing our children for- we are discipling (they follow us as we follow Christ) them and someday they will disciple others including their own children. I think we all feel the need to raise our children up to be leaders with the only one they truly follow being Jesus Christ, and that their lives would be about leading others to Christ.

7. The Christian Principle of American Political Union- Now in order for Biblical government to be effective each individual must be able to act effectively together and to do this they must first be united in spirit in their purposes and convictions.  Jesus is the tie that binds the individuals making all  to be in internal agreement or unity that will produce external union visible in all spheres of life. This once again makes a case for the necessity of the church being a very important part of our government.  It also makes a case against political parties which George Washington warned against.