Continental Congress September 11, 1777, approved and recommended to the people that 20,000 copies of The Holy Bible be imported from other sources.  This was in response to the shortage of Bibles in America caused by the Revolutionary War interrupting trade with England.  The Chaplain of Congress, Patrick Allison, brought the matter to the attention of Congress, who assigned it to a special Congressional Committee, which reported:

"The use of the Bible is so universal and its importance so great that your committee refers the above to the consideration of Congress, and if Congress shall not think it expedient to order the importation of types and paper, the Committee recommends that Congress will order the Committee of Commerce to import 20,000 Bibles from Holland, Scotland, or elsewhere, into the different parts of the States of the Union.

"Whereupon it was resolved accordingly to direct said Committee of Commerce to import 20,000 copies of the Bible."  - 1777.  Robert Flood, The Rebirth of America (Philadelphia:  Arthur S. DeMoss Foundation, 1986), p. 39.  The Journals of the Continental Congress 1774-1789 (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1905), Vol. VIII, p. 731-735.  David Barton, The Myth of Separation (Aledo, TX: WallBuilder Press, 1991), p. 104.  Tim LaHaye, Faith of Our Founding Fathers (Brentwood, TN: Wolgemuth & Hyatt, Publishers, Inc., 1987), pp. 96.  B.F. Morris, The Christian Life and Character of the Civil Institutions of the United States (Philadelphia, PA: G.W. Childs, 1864), pp. 215-216.  Gary DeMar, The Untold Story (Atlanta, GA: American Vision, Inc., 1993), p. 47-48.