Aitken Bible

This is the Aitken Bible. Before independence, every English Bible in the colonies had to be imported from Britain, printed only under license from the crown. Printing one here without royal permission was illegal.

But one man, Robert Aiken, a humble printer from Philadelphia, dared to defy that system. In the midst of war, when trade with Britain was impossible, he set out to do what no one else had ever done. Print the first English-language Bible in America. Aiken went to Congress asking for permission, but what happened next is astonishing. The Continental Congress officially approved it. It is the only bible that was ever endorsed by congress. And do you know what it was endorsed for? Schools. This was America’s first textbook. The Founders, our Founders, in the midst of war still took the time to ensure that the people of this nation had access to God's Word.