He said to them, "But who do you say that I am?" Simon Peter replied, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." (Matthew 16:15-16 ESV)If you want to really understand something, one of the best things you can do is study its origin, or beginning. This is true of nations. If you want to understand why America is as it is today, what its institutions are about, how its self-identity formed, then you have to go back and learn about its birth in the Revolutionary War, its struggle as a colony seeking independence, its ideal of equality under God, its pursuit of life, liberty, and happiness.