As you walk around the monument, a story is told. The pages are presented in order from the front panel to the right side (as you face the monument), the back and finishing on the left side. The II Chronicles verse also leads us in this direction and is the foundation of the monument.
The Ben Franklin panel is on the front directly beneath the front of the commandment tablets. Franklin’s words lay the foundation of the necessity of God.
On Panel 2, the Declaration of Independence becomes the crucial document that illustrates the tangible principle Franklin described on Panel 1. The State Preamble illustrates the vision of those who founded this state. The Douglas quote gives judicial acknowledgment of God’s law in relation to the state.
Panel 3 presents our 2nd and 6th Presidents, acknowledging that not only our government but also our civilization sits on the Commandments of God.
Panel 4 is a benediction. Our founding father and first President voices a prayer for his new nation in his letter to the Governors of the 13 States and in his Annapolis speech. This act in itself is Washington’s confession of our dependence, as a nation, upon God.
If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.
II Chronicles 7:14
The Four Panels
If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble
themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their
wicked ways; then will I hear from Heaven, and will forgive
their sin, and will heal their land. II Chronicles 7:14