Declarations and Evidences of Christian Faith in America’s Colonial Charters, State Constitutions, and other Historical Documents during over 375 years of American History: 1606 to 1982
Let any man that will, who foolishly claims that America’s historical record is not replete with evidence that the constituting of civil government in America was founded principally upon the Rock of Jesus Christ, take the time to read the excerpts below, and thereby become convinced of the errancy of his former historically unsustainable prejudice.
It has oft been said, almost at times like some vacuous incantation, “Politics is the art of compromise.” Perhaps so for the worldly pursuit of “Politics.” However, “Christian statesmanship” on the other hand, is the God-ordained ministry and holy undertaking, of establishing justice in the gate.”
“Justice and judgment are the
habitation [foundation] of Thy throne:
mercy and truth shall go before
Thy face.” Psalm 89:14
Steve Lefemine - Columbia, SC - Memorial Day - May 31, 2004
All excerpts below are taken from America’s God and
Country Encyclopedia Of Quotations,
by William J. Federer, 1994 (page numbers listed in brackets
at end of excerpt), except as noted.
The excerpts from Colonial Charters, State Constitutions, and other Historical Documents
are presented below in four periods of American History:
1. Pre-Revolutionary War (1606 to 1775)
2. Revolutionary War to signing of
U.S. Constitution (1775 to1787)
3. U.S. Constitution to War
Between the States (1787 to 1865)
4. Post-War Between the States (1865 to 1982)
1. Pre-Revolutionary
War (1606 to 1775)
……………………………….…..…… 5
First Charter of Virginia (April 10, 1606)
Second Charter of Virginia (May 23, 1609)
Mayflower Compact (November 11,1620)
First Charter of Massachusetts (March 4, 1629)
Fundamental Orders (Constitution) of Connecticut (January 14, 1639)
Exeter, New Hampshire (August 4, 1639)
Constitution of the New England Confederation (May 19, 1643)
New Haven Colony Charter (April 3, 1644)
Charter of Carolina (1663)
Charter of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations (July 8, 1663)
Charter of Pennsylvania (1681)
Fundamental Constitutions of Pennsylvania (1682)
Great Law of Pennsylvania (April 25, 1682)
Charter of Privileges of Pennsylvania (1701)
The Committees of Correspondence… began sounding the cry across the Colonies (ca. 1774):
Continental Congress (September 1774), passed the Articles of Association
2. Revolutionary
War to signing of U.S. Constitution (1775 to 1787)
…... 9
North Carolina: Mecklenburg County Resolutions (May 20, 1775)
The Declaration of Independence (July 2, 1776), approved in wording by Continental Congress; July 4, 1776, delegates voted to accept it, declare America’s independence from Great Britain
Constitution of the State of North Carolina (1776)
Constitution of the State of Maryland (August 14, 1776)
Articles of Confederation (November 15, 1777)
Constitution of the State of South Carolina (1778)
The Constitution of the State of Massachusetts (1780)
Continental Congress (September 10, 1782)
Continental Congress (1783), ratified a peace treaty with Great Britain at the close of the
Revolutionary War
Constitution of the State of New Hampshire (1784,1792)
Constitution of the State of Vermont (1786)
The Constitution of the United States(September 17, 1787)
3. U.S. Constitution to War Between the States (1787 to 1865) ……... 13
Constitution of the State of New Hampshire (1784,1792)
The Constitution of the State of Delaware (until 1792)
Constitution of the State of Tennessee (1796)
John Jay (1745-1829), quote October 12, 1816
Constitution of the State of Mississippi (1817)
The Constitution of the State of Connecticut (until 1818)
Congress of the United States of America (1822)
Definition of RELIGION. [Webster’s 1828 Dictionary]
Constitution of the State of North Carolina (1776)
Congress of the United States of America (January 19, 1853)
Congress of the United States of America (March 27, 1854)
Congress of the United States of America (May 1854)
The Constitution of the State of Massachusetts (through 1862)
Congress of the United States of America (March 3, 1863)
Congress of the United States of America (October 3, 1863)
Congress of the United States of America (March 3, 1865)
4. Post-War Between the States (1865 to 1982) …………………………... 18
Constitution of the State of North Carolina (1776)
Constitution of the State of New Hampshire (1784,1792)
United States Supreme Court (February 29, 1892), Church of the Holy Trinity v. United States
Arkansas Supreme Court (1905), was quoted by Supreme Court Justice David J. Brewer in his lecture, entitled, “The United States a Christian Nation.”
Congress of the United States of America (March 3, 1931), adopted The Star Spangled Banner as our National Anthem
Congress of the United States of America (July 20, 1956), official national motto of the U.S.
Congress of the United States of America (October 4, 1982), declared 1983 the Year of the Bible
Date Unknown - Constitution of the State of
Pennsylvania ………………………………..
20
1. Pre-Revolutionary War (1606 to 1775)
First Charter of Virginia (April 10, 1606), was granted by King James I to those who would endeavor to settle “Jamestown Colony” in Virginia:
We, greatly commending and graciously accepting of their Desires for the Furtherance of so noble a Work, which may, by the Providence of Almighty God, hereafter tend to the Glory of His Divine Majesty, in propagating of Christian Religion to such People, as yet live in Darkness and miserable Ignorance of the true Knowledge and Worship of God, and may in time bring the Infidels and Savages, living in those Parts, to human Civility, and to a settled and quiet Government… [p.624]
Second Charter of Virginia (May 23, 1609), granted by King James I, stated:
Because the principal Effect which we can expect or desire of this Action is the Conversion and reduction of the people in those parts unto the true worship of God and the Christian Religion.
[pp.625-626]
Mayflower Compact
(November 11,1620), was America’s first great governmental document, signed by
the Pilgrims before they disembarked their ship, the Mayflower. This covenant was
so revolutionary, that it has influenced all other constitutional instruments
in America since. It reads:
In ye name of God, Amen. We whose names are underwritten,… having undertaken, for ye glorie of God, and advancemente of ye Christian faith, and honour of our king, & countrie, a voyage to plant ye first colonie in ye Northerne parts of Virginia,
doe by these
presents solemnly & mutually in ye presence of God, and one of another,
covenant & combine our selves togeather into a civill body politick, for
our better ordering & preservation & furtherance of ye ends aforesaid;
and by vertue
hearof to enacte, constitute, and frame such just & equall lawes,
ordinances, acts, constitutions & offices, from time to time, as shall be
thought most meete & convenient for ye generall goodof ye Colonie, unto
which we promise all due submission and obedience.
In witness wherof
we have hereunder subscribed our names at Cap-Codd ye 11. of November, in ye
year of ye raigne of our soveraigne lord, King James, of England, France, &
Ireland ye eighteenth, and by Scotland ye fiftie fourth, Ano:Dom. 1620. [pp.435-436]
First Charter of Massachusetts (March 4, 1629) granted by
King Charles I, stated:
For the directing, ruling, and disposeing of all other Matters and Things, whereby our said People… maie be soe religiously, peaceable, and civilly governed, as their good life and orderlie Conversation, maie wynn and incite the Natives of the Country to the Knowledg and Obedience of the onlie true God and Savior of Mankinde, and the Christian Fayth, which, in our Royall Intention,
and the Adventurers free
profession, is the principall Ende of this Plantation…” [p.424]
Fundamental Orders (Constitution) of Connecticut (January 14, 1639), was the first constitution written in America, instituting a provisional government and later serving as the model for the United States Constitution. It was penned by Roger Ludlow in 1638, after hearing a sermon by Thomas Hooker, the famous Puritan minister, who, along with his congregation, help to found Connecticut. So important was this work that Connecticut became known as “The Constitution State.”
6 The committee convened to frame the orders was charged to make the laws:
As near the law of God as they can be.
The Connecticut towns of Hartford, Wethersfield, and Windsor adopted the constitution,
January 14, 1639, which stated
in its Preamble:
Forasmuch as it has pleased the Almighty God by the wise disposition of His divine providence so to order and dispose of things that we the inhabitants and residents of Windsor, Hartford and Wethersfield and now cohabiting and dwelling in and upon the River Connecticut and the lands thereunto adjoining;
and well knowing when a people are
gathered together the Word of God requires, that to
meinteine the peace and union
of such a people, there should bee an orderly and decent government
established according to God,
to order and dispose of the affairs of all the people at all seasons as
occasion shall require;
do therefore associate and conjoin
ourselves to be as one public State or Commonwealth, and do, for ourselves and
our successors and such as shall be adjoined to us at any time hereafter, enter
into Combination and Confederation together, to meinteine and presearve the
libberty and purity of the Gospell of our Lord Jesus which we now professe…
Which, according to the truth of the said
Gospell, is now practised amongst us; as allso, in our civill affaires to be
guided and governed according to such laws, rules, orders, and decrees.
Articles of the Constitution of Connecticut:
Article I That the Scriptures hold forth a perfect rule for the direction and government of all men in all duties which they are to perform to God and men, as well in families and commonwealths as in matters of the church.
Article II That as in matters which concern the gathering and ordering of a church, so likewise in all public offices which concern civil order, -- as the choice of magistrates and officers, making and repealing laws, dividing allotments of inheritance, and all things of like nature, -- they would all be governed by those rules which the Scripture held forth to them.
Article III That all those who had desired to be received free planters had settled in the plantation with a purpose, resolution, and desire that they might be admitted into church fellowship according to Christ.
Article IV That all the free planters held themselves bound to establish such civil order as might best conduce to the securing of the purity and peace of the ordinance to themselves, and their posterity according to God. [pp. 177-178]
Exeter, New Hampshire (August 4, 1639), the colonists defined the purpose of government, stating:
Considering with ourselves the holy will of God and our own necessity, that we should not live without wholesome laws and civil government among us, of which we are altogether destitute, do, in the name of Christ and in the sight of God, combine ourselves together to erect and set up among us such governments as shall be, to our best discerning, agreeable to the will of God… [p.468]
Constitution of the New England Confederation (May 19,
1643), as covenanted together by the colonists of New Plymouth, New Haven,
Massachusetts & Connecticut, stated:
The
Articles of Confederation between the plantations under the government of
Massachusetts, the
7
plantations under the
government of New Plymouth, the plantations under the government of Connecticut, and the government
of New Haven with the plantations in combination therewith:
Whereas we all came to these parts of
America with the same end and aim, namely, to advance the Kingdome of our Lord
Jesus Christ, and to injoy the liberties of the Gospell thereof with purities
and peace, and for preserving and propagating the truth and liberties of the
gospell.” [p.466]
New Haven Colony Charter (April 3, 1644), adopted the
rules for governing the courts of the New Haven Colony, stating:
The judicial laws of God, as they were delivered by Moses… [are to] be a rule to all the courts in this jurisdiction… [p.472]
Charter of Carolina (1663), was granted by King Charles II
to Sir William Berkeley and the seven other lord proprietors, (initially
granted by King Charles I to Sir Robert Heath in 1629). The Charter stated:
Being excited with a laudable and pious zeal for the propagation of the Christian faith… [they] have humbly besought leave of us… to transport and make an ample colony… unto a certain country… in the parts of America not yet cultivated or planted, and only inhabited by some barbarous people, who have no knowledge of Almighty God. [p.481]
Charter of Rhode Island and
Providence Plantations (July 8, 1663), was granted by King Charles II to Roger
Williams. In 1636, Williams left
Massachusetts with his followers, for the purpose of religious freedom, and
founded Providence Plantation. It was
there they established the First Baptist Church in America in 1639. The colonial patent of 1644 was confirmed by
the Royal Charter of 1663, which read:
We submit our persons, lives, and estates unto our Lord Jesus Christ, the King of kings and Lord of lords and to all those perfect and most absolute laws of His given us in His Holy Word.
That they, pursueing, with peaceable and loyall mindes, sober, serious and religious intentions, of godlie edifieing themselves, and one another, in the holie Christian ffaith and worshipp… together with the gaineing over and conversione of the poore ignorant Indian natives… a most flourishing civill state may stand and best bee maintained… grounded upon gospell principles. [p.532]
Charter of Pennsylvania (1681), granted to William Penn by King Charles II of England, consisted of all the land between Maryland and New York. Added to this the following year was the area of Delaware, which was given by the Duke of York. William Penn had named it “Sylvania” meaning “woodland,” but King Cahrles changed it to “Pennsylvania.” The goal of the plantation, as stated in the Charter, was:
To reduce the savage natives by gentle and just manners to the Love of Civil Societe and Christian
Religion. [p.502]
Fundamental Constitutions of
Pennsylvania (1682), written by William Penn, formulated the government of the
colony, stating:
I Constitution.
Considering that it is impossible that any
People or Government should ever prosper, where men
render not unto God, that
which is God’s, as well as to Caesar, that which is Caesar’s;
8 and also perceiving that disorders and Mischiefs that attend those places where force is used in matters of faith and worship, and seriously reflecting upon the tenure of the new and Spiritual Government, and that both Christ did not use force and that he did expressly forbid it in his holy Religion, as also that the Testimony of his blessed Messengers was, that the weapons of the Christian warfare were not Carnall but Spiritual…
Therefore, in reverence to God the Father
of lights and spirits, the Author as well as object of all divine knowledge,
faith and worship, I do hereby declare for me and myn and establish it for the
first fundamental of the Government of my Country;
that
every Person that does or shall reside therein shall have and enjoy the Free
Possession of his or her faith and exercise of worship towards God; in such way
and manner as every Person shall in Conscience believe is most acceptable to
God and so long as every such Person useth not this Christian liberty to
Licentiousness, that is to say to speak loosely and prophainly of God, Christ
or Religion, or to Committ any evil in their Conversation [lifestyle], he or
she shall be protected in the enjoyment of the aforesaid Christian liberty by
the civill Magistrate… [pp.502-503]
Great Law of Pennsylvania
(April 25, 1682), was the first legislative act of Pennsylvania. It proclaimed:
Whereas the glory of Almighty God and the good of mankind is the reason and the end of government, and, therefore government itself is a venerable ordinance of God… [there shall be established] laws as shall best preserve true Christian and civil liberty, in opposition to all unchristian, licentious, and unjust practices, whereby God may have his due, and Caesar his due, and the people their due, from tyranny and oppression. [p.503]
Charter of Privileges of
Pennsylvania (1701), granted by William Penn to the province of Pennsylvania,
stated:
Almighty God being the only Lord of Conscience… and Author as well as object of all Divine Knowledge, faith and worship, who only doth enlighten the minds and persuade and convince the understandings of people, I do hereby grant and declare: that no person or persons, inhabiting in this province or territory who shall confess and acknowledge our Almighty God and Creator, Upholder and Ruler of the world; and profess him or themselves obliged to live quietly under civil government, shall in any case molested or prejudiced in his or her person or estate…
And that all persons who also profess to
believe in Jesus Christ, the Savior of the World, shall be capable to serve
this government in any capacity, both legislatively or executively.
No people can be truly happy, though under the greatest enjoyment of civil liberties, if abridged of… their religious profession and worship… [p.503]
The Committees of Correspondence… began sounding the cry across the
Colonies (ca. 1774):
No King but King Jesus. [pp.58-59]
Continental Congress (September 1774), passed the Articles
of Association, as recorded by the Secretary of Congress, Charles Thomson, in
the Journals of Congress. It stated:
Article X. That the late Act of Parliament for establishing… the French Laws in that extensive country now called Quebec, is dangerous in an extreme degree to the Protestant Religion and to the civil rights and liberties of all America; and therefore as men and protestant Christians, we are indispensably obliged to take all proper measures for our security. [p.139]
2. Revolutionary War to signing of U.S. Constitution (1775 to 1787)
North Carolina: Mecklenburg County Resolutions (May 20, 1775), reads:
We hereby declare ourselves a free and independent people; are, and of a right ought to be, a sovereign and self-governing association, under control of no power other than that of our God and the general government of Congress. [p.482]
The Declaration of Independence (July 2, 1776), was
approved in wording by the Continental Congress. On July 4, 1776, the delegates voted to
accept it and declare America’s independence from Great Britain. On July 8, 1776, the Declaration was read in
public for the first time, outside Independence Hall, Philadelphia, accompanied
by the ringing of the Liberty Bell. Only
July 19, Congress ordered it engrossed in script on parchment, and on August 2,
1776, the members of Congress signed the parchment copy:
When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitles them…
We hold these truths to be self-evident,
that all men are created equal. That
they are endowed by their Creator with certain [u]nalienable Rights, that among
these are Life…
We, Therefore, the Representatives of the
United States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the
Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions…
And for the support of this Declaration,
with a firm reliance on the protection of [d]ivine
Providence, we mutually pledge
to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor.
As the parchment copy of the Declaration
of Independence was being signed by the members of the Continental Congress,
August 2, 1776, Samuel Adams declared:
We have this day restored the Sovereign to Whom all men ought to be obedient. He reigns in heaven and from the rising to the setting of the sun, let His kingdom come. [pp.200-201]
The 56 signers of the Declaration of
Independence paid a tremendous price for our freedoms:
5 were arrested by the British
as traitors, 12 had their homes looted and burned by the enemy,
17 lost their fortunes, 2 lost
sons in the Continental Army and 9 fought and died during the Revolutionary
War. [p.144]
Note: The Declaration of Independence is part of
the organic law of the United States of America,
http://uscode.house.gov/search/criteria.shtml (search
“Declaration of Independence”)
Constitution of the State of
North Carolina (1776), stated:
There shall be no establishment of any one religious church or denomination in this State in preference to any other.
Article XXXII That no person who shall deny the being of God, or the truth of the Protestant religion, or the divine authority of the Old or New Testaments, or who shall hold religious principles incompatible with the freedom and safety of the State, shall be capable of holding any office or place of trust or profit in the civil department within this State. (until 1876)
In 1835 the word “Protestant” was changed to “Christian.” [p.482]
10
Constitution of the State of Maryland (August 14, 1776), stated:
Article XXXV That no other test or qualification ought to be required, on admission to any office of trust or profit, than such oath of support and fidelity to this State and such oath of office, as shall be directed by this Convention, or the Legislature of this State, and a declaration of a belief in the Christian religion.”
That, as it is the duty of every man to worship God is such a manner as he thinks most acceptable to him; all persons professing the Christian religion, are equally entitled to protection in their religious liberty;
wherefore no person ought by any law to be
molested… on account of his religious practice; unless, under the color
[pretense] of religion, any man shall disturb the good order, peace or safety
of the State, or shall infringe the laws of morality… yet the Legislature may,
in their discretion, lay a general and equal tax, for the support of the
Christian religion. (until 1851)
[pp.420-421]
Articles of Confederation
(November 15, 1777), were proposed and signed.
They constituted the government in America during the period between the
end of the Revolutionary War and the writing of the Constitution. The Articles were finally ratified by the
states on March 1, 1781:
… on the fifteenth day of November in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and seventy seven.
And whereas it has pleased the Great Governor of the world to incline the hearts of the Legislatures we respectively represent in Congress, to approve of, and to authorize us to ratify the said articles of confederation and perpetual union. [p.29]
Constitution of the State of South Carolina (1778), stated:
Article XXXVIII. That all persons and religious societies who acknowledge that there is one God, and a future state of rewards and punishments, and that God is publicly to be worshipped, shall be freely tolerated… That all denominations of Christian[s]… in this State, demeaning themselves peaceably and faithfully, shall enjoy equal religious and civil privileges. [p.568]
The Constitution of the State of Massachusetts (1780) stated:
The Governor shall be chosen annually; and no person shall be eligible to this office, unless, at the time of his election… he shall declare himself to be of the Christian religion.
Chapter VI, Article I [All persons elected to State office or to the Legislature must] make and
subscribe the following
declaration, viz. “I, _______, do declare, that I believe the Christian
religion, and have firm persuasion of its truth.”
Part I, Article III And every denomination of Christians, demeaning themselves peaceably, and as good subjects of the commonwealth, shall be equally under the protection of the law: and no subordination of any sect or denomination to another shall ever be established by law.” [p.429]
Continental Congress (September 10, 1782), in response to
the need for Bibles which again arose, granted universal approval to print “a
neat edition of the Holy Scriptures for the use of schools.” … This edition has come to be known as the Bible of the Revolution. The following Endorsement of Congress was
printed on its front page.
11
Whereupon, Resolved,
That the United States in Congress assembled… recommended this edition of the
Bible to the inhabitants of the United States, and hereby authorize [Robert
Aitken] to publish this recommendation in the manner he shall think proper. [pp.148-149]
Continental Congress (1783), ratified a peace treaty with
Great Britain at the close of the Revolutionary War. The treaty began:
In the name of the Most Holy and Undivided Trinity. It having pleased the Divine Providence
to dispose the hearts of the most serene and most potent
Prince George the Third, by the Grace of God, King of Great Britain, France,
and Ireland, Defender of the Faith… and of the United States of America, to
forget all past misunderstandings and differences… [p.149]
Constitution of the State of New Hampshire (1784,1792), required senators and representatives to be of the:
Protestant religion. (in force until 1877)
The Constitution stipulated:
Article I, Section VI. And every denomination of Christians demeaning themselves quietly, and as good citizens of the state, shall be equally under the protection of the laws. And no subordination
of any one sect of denomination
to another, shall ever be established by law.
[p.469]
Constitution of the State of
Vermont (1786), stated:
Frame of Government, Section 9. And each member [of the Legislature], before he takes his seat, shall make and subscribe the following declaration, viz: “I do believe in one God, the Creator and Governor of the universe, the rewarder of the good and punisher of the wicked. And I do acknowledge the Scripture of the Old and New Testament to be given by divine inspiration, and own and profess the [Christian] religion. And no further or other religious test shall ever, hereafter, be required of any civil officer or magistrate in this State.” [p.623]
The Constitution of the
United States(September 17, 1787), reads:
Article I, Section 7, Paragraph 2: If any bill shall not be returned by the President within ten Days (Sundays excepted)…
Done in Convention, by the unanimous consent of the States present, the seventeenth day of September, in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and eighty seven.
[Of note is the fact that virtually every one of the 55 writers and signers of the United States Constitution of 1787, were members of Christian denominations: 29 were Anglicans, 16 to 18 were Calvinists, 2 were Methodists, 2 were Lutherans, … [and] 1 lapsed Quaker and sometimes Anglican.]
[p. 180]
Note: There were also two who were Roman Catholic, and one was an open Deist – Dr. Benjamin Franklin who attended every kind of Christian worship, called for public prayer, and contributed to
all denominations.
What did the Constitution mean in 1787 by "no religious test" ? (Steve Lefemine)
The very last sentence of the
last substantive article (Article VI.) of the Constitution states:
The Senators and Representatives before mentioned, and the Members of the several State Legislatures, and all executive and judicial Officers, both of the United States and of the several States, shall be bound by Oath or Affirmation, to support this Constitution; but no religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States.
1) The US Constitution went into effect June 21, 1788 as New Hampshire became the ninth State
to ratify, as required by Article VII.
2) The first ten Amendments (the Bill of
Rights) were ratified effective December 15, 1791.
3) As can be seen by study of the numerous
state constitutions which contained statements
requiring governors, legislators, and
others appointed or elected to public office to make
declarations as to their belief in
Protestant Christianity, the divine inspiration of both the
Old and New Testaments, and / or a future
state of rewards and punishments, some after 1791 and
into the 1800’s, the last sentence of
Article VI. of the US Constitution did not preclude such
required declarations of belief in
general Christianity by officials of civil government in the states.
4)
The term “religion” in 1787
meant “the Duty which we owe our
Creator, and the Manner of
discharging it,..” It was to “be directed only by Reason and
Convictions, not by Force or
Violence; and therefore all Men [were]
equally entitled to the free exercise of Religion, according
to the Dictates of Conscience; and [it
was] “the mutual Duty of all to practice Christian
Forbearance, Love, and Charity towards
each other.” (Virginia Bill of Rights,
June 12, 1776)
[pp.627-628]).
5)
The Virginia Statute of Religious Liberty (January
16, 1786) stated: “Well aware that
Almighty
God hath created the mind free; that all
attempts to influence it by temporal punishments or
burdens, or by civil incapacitations…
are a departure from the plan of the Holy Author
of our religion.”
[emphasis added] [p.628]
6)
In 1787, the term “religion” included the various forms of
Christianity expressed by the different
Christian denominations. The phrase, “no religious test” in 1787 meant there would be
“no denominational test,” as we would understand it
today in 2004; no test as to whether a man
was a Presbyterian, Baptist, or
Anglican; however, “no religious test” did not mean any
exclusion of a required declaration of
Christian beliefs for men aspiring to office in civil
government, as can be seen by
examination of the early state constitutions.
7)
David Barton states, “Our current understanding of
what constitutes a religious test was
considerably different from that of early
Americans, as demonstrated by this excerpt from
the 1796 Tennessee constitution:”
Article VIII, Section II. No person who denies the being of God, or a future state of
rewards and punishments,
shall hold any office in the civil department of this State.
Article XI, Section IV. That no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification
to any office or public trust under
this state.
“A fixed set of religious beliefs for an office holder is prescribed in Article VIII, and then a
religious test is prohibited in
Article XI. Obviously, in their view,
requiring a belief in God
and in future rewards and
punishments was not a religious test.
“… Prescribing a requirement professing ‘I, ________, do profess faith in God the Father,
and in Jesus Christ
His only Son, and in the Holy Ghost, one God, blessed for evermore;
and I do acknowledge
the holy scriptures of the Old and New Testament to be given by
divine inspiration [DELAWARE,
1776]’ was not considered a religious test.”
[The Myth of Separation, David Barton, Wallbuilder Press, 1991]
2. Revolutionary War to signing of U.S. Constitution (1775 to 1787)
North Carolina: Mecklenburg County Resolutions (May 20, 1775), reads:
We hereby declare ourselves a free and independent people; are, and of a right ought to be, a sovereign and self-governing association, under control of no power other than that of our God and the general government of Congress. [p.482]
The Declaration of Independence (July 2, 1776), was
approved in wording by the Continental Congress. On July 4, 1776, the delegates voted to
accept it and declare America’s independence from Great Britain. On July 8, 1776, the Declaration was read in
public for the first time, outside Independence Hall, Philadelphia, accompanied
by the ringing of the Liberty Bell. Only
July 19, Congress ordered it engrossed in script on parchment, and on August 2,
1776, the members of Congress signed the parchment copy:
When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitles them…
We hold these truths to be self-evident,
that all men are created equal. That
they are endowed by their Creator with certain [u]nalienable Rights, that among
these are Life…
We, Therefore, the Representatives of the
United States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the
Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions…
And for the support of this Declaration,
with a firm reliance on the protection of [d]ivine
Providence, we mutually pledge
to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor.
As the parchment copy of the Declaration
of Independence was being signed by the members of the Continental Congress,
August 2, 1776, Samuel Adams declared:
We have this day restored the Sovereign to Whom all men ought to be obedient. He reigns in heaven and from the rising to the setting of the sun, let His kingdom come. [pp.200-201]
The 56 signers of the Declaration of
Independence paid a tremendous price for our freedoms:
5 were arrested by the British
as traitors, 12 had their homes looted and burned by the enemy,
17 lost their fortunes, 2 lost
sons in the Continental Army and 9 fought and died during the Revolutionary
War. [p.144]
Note: The Declaration of Independence is part of the organic law of the United States of America,
http://uscode.house.gov/search/criteria.shtml (search
“Declaration of Independence”)
Constitution of the State of
North Carolina (1776), stated:
There shall be no establishment of any one religious church or denomination in this State in preference to any other.
Article XXXII That no person who shall deny the being of God, or the truth of the Protestant religion, or the divine authority of the Old or New Testaments, or who shall hold religious principles incompatible with the freedom and safety of the State, shall be capable of holding any office or place of trust or profit in the civil department within this State. (until 1876)
In 1835 the word “Protestant” was changed to “Christian.” [p.482]
10
Constitution of the State of Maryland (August 14, 1776), stated:
Article XXXV That no other test or qualification ought to be required, on admission to any office of trust or profit, than such oath of support and fidelity to this State and such oath of office, as shall be directed by this Convention, or the Legislature of this State, and a declaration of a belief in the Christian religion.”
That, as it is the duty of every man to worship God is such a manner as he thinks most acceptable to him; all persons professing the Christian religion, are equally entitled to protection in their religious liberty;
wherefore no person ought by any law to be
molested… on account of his religious practice; unless, under the color
[pretense] of religion, any man shall disturb the good order, peace or safety
of the State, or shall infringe the laws of morality… yet the Legislature may,
in their discretion, lay a general and equal tax, for the support of the
Christian religion. (until 1851)
[pp.420-421]
Articles of Confederation
(November 15, 1777), were proposed and signed.
They constituted the government in America during the period between the
end of the Revolutionary War and the writing of the Constitution. The Articles were finally ratified by the
states on March 1, 1781:
… on the fifteenth day of November in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and seventy seven.
And whereas it has pleased the Great Governor of the world to incline the hearts of the Legislatures we respectively represent in Congress, to approve of, and to authorize us to ratify the said articles of confederation and perpetual union. [p.29]
Constitution of the State of
South Carolina (1778), stated:
Article XXXVIII. That all persons and religious societies who acknowledge that there is one God, and a future state of rewards and punishments, and that God is publicly to be worshipped, shall be freely tolerated… That all denominations of Christian[s]… in this State, demeaning themselves peaceably and faithfully, shall enjoy equal religious and civil privileges. [p.568]
The Constitution of the State of Massachusetts (1780) stated:
The Governor shall be chosen annually; and no person shall be eligible to this office, unless, at the time of his election… he shall declare himself to be of the Christian religion.
Chapter VI, Article I [All persons elected to State office or to the Legislature must] make and
subscribe the following
declaration, viz. “I, _______, do declare, that I believe the Christian
religion, and have firm persuasion of its truth.”
Part I, Article III And every denomination of Christians, demeaning themselves peaceably, and as good subjects of the commonwealth, shall be equally under the protection of the law: and no subordination of any sect or denomination to another shall ever be established by law.” [p.429]
Continental Congress (September 10, 1782), in response to
the need for Bibles which again arose, granted universal approval to print “a
neat edition of the Holy Scriptures for the use of schools.” … This edition has come to be known as the Bible of the Revolution. The following Endorsement of Congress was
printed on its front page.
11
Whereupon, Resolved,
That the United States in Congress assembled… recommended this edition of the
Bible to the inhabitants of the United States, and hereby authorize [Robert
Aitken] to publish this recommendation in the manner he shall think proper. [pp.148-149]
Continental Congress (1783), ratified a peace treaty with
Great Britain at the close of the Revolutionary War. The treaty began:
In the name of the Most Holy and Undivided Trinity. It having pleased the Divine Providence
to dispose the hearts of the most serene and most potent
Prince George the Third, by the Grace of God, King of Great Britain, France,
and Ireland, Defender of the Faith… and of the United States of America, to
forget all past misunderstandings and differences… [p.149]
Constitution of the State of New Hampshire (1784,1792), required
senators and representatives to be of the:
Protestant religion. (in force until 1877)
The Constitution stipulated:
Article I, Section VI. And every denomination of Christians demeaning themselves quietly, and as good citizens of the state, shall be equally under the protection of the laws. And no subordination
of any one sect of denomination
to another, shall ever be established by law.
[p.469]
Constitution of the State of
Vermont (1786), stated:
Frame of Government, Section 9. And each member [of the Legislature], before he takes his seat, shall make and subscribe the following declaration, viz: “I do believe in one God, the Creator and Governor of the universe, the rewarder of the good and punisher of the wicked. And I do acknowledge the Scripture of the Old and New Testament to be given by divine inspiration, and own and profess the [Christian] religion. And no further or other religious test shall ever, hereafter, be required of any civil officer or magistrate in this State.” [p.623]
The Constitution of the
United States(September 17, 1787), reads:
Article I, Section 7, Paragraph 2: If any bill shall not be returned by the President within ten Days (Sundays excepted)…
Done in Convention, by the unanimous consent of the States present, the seventeenth day of September, in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and eighty seven.
[Of note is the fact that virtually every one of the 55 writers and signers of the United States Constitution of 1787, were members of Christian denominations: 29 were Anglicans, 16 to 18 were Calvinists, 2 were Methodists, 2 were Lutherans, … [and] 1 lapsed Quaker and sometimes Anglican.]
[p. 180]
Note: There were also two who were Roman Catholic, and one was an open Deist – Dr. Benjamin Franklin who attended every kind of Christian worship, called for public prayer, and contributed to
all denominations.
12
What did the
Constitution mean in 1787 by "no religious test" ? (Steve Lefemine)
The very last sentence of the
last substantive article (Article VI.) of the Constitution states:
The Senators and Representatives before mentioned, and the Members of the several State Legislatures, and all executive and judicial Officers, both of the United States and of the several States, shall be bound by Oath or Affirmation, to support this Constitution; but no religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States.
1) The US Constitution went into effect June 21, 1788 as New Hampshire became the ninth State
to ratify, as required by Article VII.
2) The first ten Amendments (the Bill of
Rights) were ratified effective December 15, 1791.
3) As can be seen by study of the numerous
state constitutions which contained statements
requiring governors, legislators, and
others appointed or elected to public office to make
declarations as to their belief in
Protestant Christianity, the divine inspiration of both the
Old and New Testaments, and / or a future
state of rewards and punishments, some after 1791 and
into the 1800’s, the last sentence of
Article VI. of the US Constitution did not preclude such
required declarations of belief in
general Christianity by officials of civil government in the states.
4)
The term “religion” in 1787
meant “the Duty which we owe our
Creator, and the Manner of
discharging it,..” It was to “be directed only by Reason and
Convictions, not by Force or
Violence; and therefore all Men [were]
equally entitled to the free exercise of Religion, according
to the Dictates of Conscience; and [it
was] “the mutual Duty of all to practice Christian
Forbearance, Love, and Charity towards
each other.” (Virginia Bill of Rights,
June 12, 1776)
[pp.627-628]).
5)
The Virginia Statute of Religious Liberty (January
16, 1786) stated: “Well aware that
Almighty
God hath created the mind free; that all
attempts to influence it by temporal punishments or
burdens, or by civil incapacitations…
are a departure from the plan of the Holy Author
of our religion.”
[emphasis added] [p.628]
6)
In 1787, the term “religion” included the various forms of
Christianity expressed by the different
Christian denominations. The phrase, “no religious test” in 1787 meant there would be
“no denominational test,” as we would understand it
today in 2004; no test as to whether a man
was a Presbyterian, Baptist, or
Anglican; however, “no religious test” did not mean any
exclusion of a required declaration of
Christian beliefs for men aspiring to office in civil
government, as can be seen by
examination of the early state constitutions.
7)
David Barton states, “Our current understanding of
what constitutes a religious test was
considerably different from that of early
Americans, as demonstrated by this excerpt from
the 1796 Tennessee constitution:”
Article VIII, Section II. No person who denies the being of God, or a
future state of
rewards and punishments,
shall hold any office in the civil department of this State.
Article XI, Section IV. That no religious test shall ever be
required as a qualification
to any office or public trust under
this state.
“A fixed
set of religious beliefs for an office holder is prescribed in Article VIII,
and then a
religious test is prohibited in
Article XI. Obviously, in their view,
requiring a belief in God
and in future rewards and
punishments was not a religious test.
“… Prescribing a requirement professing ‘I, ________, do profess faith in God the Father,
and in Jesus Christ
His only Son, and in the Holy Ghost, one God, blessed for evermore;
and I do acknowledge
the holy scriptures of the Old and New Testament to be given by
divine inspiration [DELAWARE,
1776]’ was not considered a religious test.”
[The Myth of Separation, David Barton, Wallbuilder Press, 1991]
3. U.S. Constitution to War Between the States
(1787 to 1865)
Constitution of the State of New Hampshire (1784,1792), required senators and representatives to be of the:
Protestant religion. (in force until 1877)
The Constitution stipulated:
Article I, Section VI. And every denomination of Christians demeaning themselves quietly, and as good citizens of the state, shall be equally under the protection of the laws. And no subordination
of any one sect of denomination
to another, shall ever be established by law.
[p.469]
The Constitution
of the State of Delaware (until 1792) stated:
Article XXII Every person who shall be chosen a member of either house, or appointed to any
office or place of trust…
shall… make and subscribe the following declaration, to wit: “I, _______,
do profess faith in God the
Father, and in Jesus Christ His only Son, and in the Holy Ghost, one God,
blessed forevermore; I do acknowledge the holy scriptures of the Old and New
Testament
to be given by divine
inspiration.” [p.203]
Constitution of the State of
Tennessee (1796), stated:
Article VIII, Section II. No person who denies the being of God, or a future state of rewards and punishments, shall hold any office in the civil department of this State. [pp.580-581]
John Jay (1745-1829), was the
first Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court, having been appointed
by President George Washington. He was a
Founding Father, a member of
the First and Second
Continental Congresses… He was very instrumental in causing the Constitution to
be ratified by writing the Federalist Papers, along with James Madison and
Alexander Hamilton.
On October 12, 1816, John Jay admonished:
Providence has given to our people the choice of their rulers, and it is the duty, as well as the privilege and interest of our Christian nation to select and prefer Christians for their rulers. [p.318] [emphasis added]
Constitution of the State of Mississippi (1817), stated:
No person who denies the being of God or a future state of rewards and punishments shall hold any office in the civil department of the State. [p.451]
The Constitution of the State
of Connecticut (until 1818), contained the wording:
The People of this State… by the Providence of God… hath the sole and exclusive right of governing themselves as a free, sovereign, and independent State… and forasmuch as the free fruition of such liberties and privileges as humanity, civility, and Christianity call for, as is due to every man in his place and proportion… hath ever been, and will be the tranquility and stability of Churches and Commonwealth; and the denial thereof, the disturbances, if not the ruin of both. [p.179]
14
Congress of the United States of America (1822), ratified
in both the House and Senate of the United States, along with Great Britain and
Ireland, the Convention for Indemnity
under Award of Emperor of Russia as to the True Construction of the First
Article of the Treaty of December 24, 1814.
It begins with these words:
In the name of the Most Holy and Indivisible Trinity. [pp.167-168]
Definition of RELIGION.
RELIGION. Includes a belief in the being and perfections of God, in the revelation of his will to man, and in man’s obligation to obey his commands, in a state of reward and punishment, and in man’s accountableness to God; and also true godliness or piety of life, with the practice of all moral duties… the practice of moral duties without a belief in a divine lawgiver, and without reference to his will or commands, is not religion. [Webster’s 1828 Dictionary]
Note: David Barton states, “Our current understanding of what constitutes a religious test was
considerably different from that of
early Americans, as demonstrated by this excerpt from
the 1796 Tennessee constitution:”
Article VIII, Section II. No person who denies the being of God, or a future state of
rewards and
punishments, shall hold any office in the civil department of this State.
Article XI, Section IV. That no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification
to any office or
public trust under this state.
“A fixed set of religious beliefs for an office holder is prescribed in Article VIII, and then a
religious test is prohibited in
Article XI. Obviously, in their view,
requiring a belief in God
and in future rewards and
punishments was not a religious test.
“… Prescribing a requirement professing ‘I, ________, do profess faith in God the Father,
and in Jesus Christ His
only Son, and in the Holy Ghost, one God, blessed for evermore;
and I do acknowledge the
holy scriptures of the Old and New Testament to be given by
divine inspiration [DELAWARE,
1776]’ was not considered a religious test.”
[The Myth of Separation, David Barton, Wallbuilder Press, 1991]
Constitution of the State of
North Carolina (1776), stated:
There shall be no establishment of any one religious church or denomination in this State in preference to any other.
Article XXXII That no person who shall deny the being of God, or the truth of the Protestant religion, or the divine authority of the Old or New Testaments, or who shall hold religious principles incompatible with the freedom and safety of the State, shall be capable of holding any office or place of trust or profit in the civil department within this State. (until 1876)
In 1835 the word “Protestant” was changed to “Christian.” [p.482]
Congress of the United States
of America (January 19, 1853), as part of a Congressional investigation,
records the report of Mr. Badger of the Senate Judiciary Committee:
The [First Amendment] clause speaks of “an establishment of religion.” What is meant by that expression? It referred, without doubt, to that establishment which existed in the mother-country…
endowment at the public
expense, peculiar privileges to its members, or disadvantages or penalties upon
those who should reject its doctrines or belong to other communities,-- such
law would be a “law respecting an establishment of religion…”
They intended, by this amendment, to
prohibit “an establishment of religion” such as the English Church presented,
or any thing like it. But they had no fear or jealousy of religion itself, nor
did they wish to see us an irreligious people…
They did not intend to spread over all the
public authorities and the whole public action of the nation the dead and
revolting spectacle of atheistic apathy. Not so had the battles of the
Revolution been fought and the deliberations of the Revolutionary Congress been
conducted.
In the law, Sunday is a “dies non,”… The executive departments, the public establishments, are all closed on Sundays; on that day neither House of Congress sits…
Sunday, the Christian Sabbath [sic],
recognized and respected by all the departments of the
Government…
Here is a recognition by law, and by universal usage, not only of a Sabbath, but of the Christian Sabbath [sic], in exclusion of the Jewish or Mohammedan Sabbath… the recognition of the Christian Sabbath [sic] [by the Constitution] is complete and perfect.
We are a Christian people… not because the law demands it, not to gain exclusive benefits or to avoid legal disabilities, but from choice and education; and in a land thus universally Christian, what is to be expected, what desired, but that we shall pay due regard to Christianity. [pp.168-169]
Congress of the United States
of America (March 27, 1854), receives the report of
Mr. Meacham of the House
Committee on the Judiciary:
What is an establishment of religion? It must have a creed, defining what a man must believe; it must have rites and ordinances, which believers must observe; it must have ministers of defined qualification, to teach the doctrines and administer the rites; it must have tests for the submissive and penalties for the non-conformist. There never was as established religion without all these…
At the adoption of the Constitution… every State… provided
as regularly for the support of the Church as for the support of the
Government… [emphasis added]
Down to the
Revolution, every colony did sustain religion in some form. It was deemed
peculiarly proper that the religion of liberty should be upheld by a free
people.
Had the people, during the Revolution, had a suspicion of
any attempt to war against Christianity, that Revolution would have been
strangled in its cradle. [emphasis
added]
At the
time of the adoption of the Constitution and the amendments, the universal
sentiment was that Christianity should be encouraged, not any one sect
[denomination]. Any attempt to level and discard all religion would have been
viewed with universal indignation. The object was not to substitute
Judaism or Mohammedism,
or infidelity, but to prevent rivalry among the [Christian] sects to the
exclusion of others. [emphasis added]
It [Christianity] must be considered as the foundation on
which the whole structure rests. Laws will not have permanence or power without the
sanction of religious sentiment, --
without a firm belief that there is a Power above us that will reward
our virtues and punish our vices. [emphasis
added]
In this age there can be no substitute for
Christianity; that, in
its general principles, is the great conservative element on which we must rely
for the purity and permanence of free institutions. That was the religion of the founders of the republic, and they
expected it to remain the religion of their descendants. There is a great and very prevalent
error on this subject in the opinion that those who organized this Government
did not legislate on religion. [emphasis added] [pp.169-170]
16
Congress of the United States
of America (May 1854), passed a resolution in the House which declared:
The great vital and conservative element in our system is the belief of our people in the pure doctrines and divine truths of the gospel of Jesus Christ. [emphasis added] [p.170]
The Constitution of the State of Massachusetts (through 1862)
included:
The right of the people of this commonwealth to… invest their Legislature with power to authorize and require, the several towns, parishes, precincts, and other bodies-politic or religious societies to make suitable provision, at their own expense, for the institution of the public worship of God and for the support and maintenance of public Protestant teachers of piety, religion, and morality in all cases where such provision shall not be made voluntary. [pp.429-430]
Congress of the United States
of America (March 3, 1863), passed this resolution in the United States Senate:
Resolved, That devoutly recognizing the supreme authority and just government of Almighty God in all the affairs of men and nations, and sincerely believing that no people, however great in numbers and resources, or however strong in the justness of their cause, can prosper without His favor, and at the same time deploring the national offenses which have provoked His reighteous judgment, yet encouraged in this day of trouble by the assurance of His Word, to seek Him for succor according to His appointed way, through Jesus Christ, the Senate of the United States does hereby request the President of the United States, by his proclamation, to designate and set apart a day for national prayer and humiliation.
On March 30, 1863, President Abraham Lincoln issued a
historic Proclamation Appointing a
National Fast Day:
Whereas, the Senate of the United States devoutly recognizing the Supreme Authority and just Government of Almighty God in all the affairs of men and of nations, has, by a resolution, requested the President to designate and set apart a day for national prayer and humiliation:
And whereas, it is the
duty of nations as well as of men to own their dependence upon the
overruling power of God, to
confess their sins and transgressions in humble sorrow yet with assured
hope that genuine repentance
will lead to mercy and pardon, and to recognize the sublime truth,
announced in the Holy Scriptures and proven by all history: that those nations
only are blessed whose God is the Lord:
[emphasis added]
And, insomuch as we know that, by
His divine law, nations
like individuals are subjected to punishments and chastisement in this world, may we not justly
fear that the awful calamity of civil war, which now desolates the land may be but a
punishment inflicted upon us for our presumptuous sins to the needful end of
our national reformation as a whole people? [emp. add.]
We have been the recipients of the
choicest bounties of Heaven. We have
been preserved these many years in peace and prosperity. We have grown in numbers, wealth and power as
no other nation has ever grown.
But we have forgotten God. [emp.
add.] We have forgotten the gracious Hand which preserved us in peace, and
multiplied and enriched and strengthened us; and we have vainly imagined, in
the deceitfulness of our hearts, that all these blessings were produced by some
superior wisdom and virtue of our own.
Intoxicated by unbroken success, we have
become too self-sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving
grace, too proud to pray to the God that made us!
It behooves us then to humble ourselves
before the offended Power, to confess our national sins and to pray for
clemency and forgiveness.
Now, therefore, in compliance with the
request and fully concurring in the view of the Senate, I do, by this my
proclamation, designate and set apart Thursday, the 30th day of
April, 1863, as a day of national humiliation, fasting and prayer.
And I do hereby request all the people to
abstain on that day from their ordinary secular pursuits,
and to unite, at their several
places of public worship and their respective homes, in keeping the day holy
to the Lord and devoted to the humble discharge of the religious duties proper to
that solemn occasion. [emphasis added]
All this being done, in sincerity and
truth, let us then rest humbly in the hope authorized by the Divine teachings,
that the united cry of the nation will be heard on high and answered with
blessing no less than the pardon of our national sins and the restoration of
our now divided and suffering country to its former happy condition of unity
and peace. [emphasis added]
In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my
hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed. By the President:
Abraham Lincoln. [pp.170-172]
Congress of the United States
of America (October 3, 1863), as proclaimed by President Abraham Lincoln,
passed an Act of Congress designating an annual National Day of Thanksgiving:
I do, therefore, invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United States… to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the heavens… [it is] announced in the Holy Scriptures and proven by all history, that those nations are blessed whose God is the Lord… [emphasis added] It has seemed to me fit and proper that God should be solemnly, reverently and gratefully acknowledged, as with one heart and one voice, by the whole American people. [p.172]
Congress of the United States
of America (March 3, 1865), approved Salmon Portland Chase’s instruction to the
U.S. mint. As the Secretary of the
Treasury under Abraham Lincoln, Chase instructed the mint to prepare a “device”
to inscribe U.S. coins with the motto:
In God We Trust [p.172]
3. Post-War Between the States (1865 to 1982)
Constitution of the State of
North Carolina (1776), stated:
There shall be no establishment of any one religious church or denomination in this State in preference to any other.
Article XXXII That no person who shall deny the being of God, or the truth of the Protestant religion, or the divine authority of the Old or New Testaments, or who shall hold religious principles incompatible with the freedom and safety of the State, shall be capable of holding any office or place of trust or profit in the civil department within this State. (until 1876)
In 1835 the word “Protestant” was changed to “Christian.” [p.482]
Constitution of the State of New Hampshire (1784,1792), required
senators and representatives to be of the:
Protestant religion. (in force until 1877)
The Constitution stipulated:
Article I, Section VI. And every denomination of Christians demeaning themselves quietly, and as good citizens of the state, shall be equally under the protection of the laws. And no subordination
of any one sect of denomination
to another, shall ever be established by law.
[p.469]
United States Supreme Court
(February 29, 1892), in the case of Church
of the Holy Trinity v. United States, 143 US 457-458, 465-471, 36 L ed 226,
Justice Josiah Brewer rendered the high court’s decision:
Our laws and our institutions must necessarily be based upon and embody the teachings of the Redeemer of mankind. It is impossible that it should be otherwise; and in this sense and to this extent our civilization and our institutions are emphatically Christian.
No purpose of action against religion can
be imputed to any legislation, state or national, because this is a religious
people. This is historically true. From the discovery of this continent to the
present hour, there is a single voice making this affirmation.
The commission to Christopher Columbus…
[recited] that “it is hoped that by God’s assistance some of the continents and
islands in the ocean will be discovered…”
The first colonial grant made to Sir
Walter Raleigh in 1584… and the grant authorizing him to enact statutes for the
government of the proposed colony provided that they “be not against the true
Christian faith…”
The first charter of Virginia, granted by
King James I in 1606… commenced the grant in these words: “… in propagating of
Christian Religion to such People as yet live in Darkness…”
Language of similar import may be found in
the subsequent charters of that colony… in 1609 and 1611; and the same is true
of the various charters granted to the other colonies. In language more or less
emphatic is the establishment of the Christian religion declared to be one of
the purposes of the grant. The
celebrated compact made by the Pilgrims in the Mayflower, 1620, recites:
“Having undertaken for the Glory of God, and advancement of the Christian
faith… a voyage to plant the first colony in the northern parts of Virginia…”
The fundamental orders of Connecticut,
under which a provisional government was instituted in 1638-1639, commence with
this declaration: “… And well knowing where a people are gathered together the
word of God requires that to maintain the peace and union… there should be an
orderly
19
and decent government
established according to God… to maintain and preserve the liberty and purity
of the gospel of our Lord Jesus which we now profess… of the said gospel
[which] is now practiced amongst us.”
In the charter of privileges granted by
William Penn to the province of Pennsylvania, in 1701, it is recited: “… no
people can be truly happy, though under the greatest enjoyment of civil
liberties, if abridged of… their religious profession and worship…”
Coming nearer to the present time, the
Declaration of Independence recognizes the presence of the Divine in human
affairs in these words:
“We hold these truths to be self-evident,
that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with
certain unalienable Rights… appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the
rectitude of our intentions… And for the support of this Declaration, with firm
reliance on the Protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each
other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor.”
… We find everywhere a clear recognition
of the same truth… because of a general recognition of this truth [that we are
a Christian nation], the question has seldom been presented to the courts…
There is no dissonance in these
declarations. There is a universal
language pervading them all, having one meaning; they affirm and reaffirm that
this is a religious nation. These are not individual sayings, declarations of
private persons: they are organic utterances; they speak the voice of the
entire people.
While because of a general recognition of
this truth the question has seldom been presented to the courts, yet we
find that in Updegraph v. The
Commonwealth, it was decided that, Christianity, general Christianity, is,
and always has been, a part of the common law… not Christianity with an
established church… but Christianity with liberty of conscience to all men.
And in The
People v. Ruggles, Chancellor Kent, the great commentator on American law,
speaking as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of New York, said:
“The people of this State, in common with
the people of this country, profess the general doctrines of Christianity, as
the rule of their faith and practice… We are a Christian people, and the
morality of the country is deeply engrafted upon Christianity, and not upon the
doctrines or worship of those imposters [other religions].”
And in the famous case of Vidal v. Girard’s Executors, this Court…
observed:
“It is also said, and truly, that the
Christian religion is a part of the common law…”
If we pass beyond these matters to a view
of American life as expressed by its laws, its business, its customs and its
society, we find everywhere a clear recognition of the same truth. Among other matters note the following: The
form of oath universally prevailing, concluding with an appeal to the Almighty;
the customs of opening sessions of all deliberative bodies and most conventions
with prayer; the prefatory words of all wills, “In the name of God, amen”; the
laws respecting the observance of the Sabbath, with the general cessation of all
secular business, and the closing of courts, legislatures, and other similar
public assemblies on that day; the churches and church organizations which
abound in every city, town and hamlet; the multitude of charitable
organizations existing everywhere under Christian auspices; the gigantic
missionary associations, with general support, and aiming to establish
Christian missions in every quarter of the globe.
These, and many other matters which might
be noticed, add a volume of unofficial declarations to the mass of organic
utterances that this is a Christian nation… we find everywhere a clear
recognition of the same truth.
The happiness of a people and the good
order and preservation of civil government essentially depend upon piety,
religion and morality.
Religion, morality, and knowledge [are]
necessary to good government, the preservation of liberty, and the happiness of
mankind. [pp.599-601]
20
Arkansas Supreme Court
(1905), was quoted by Supreme Court Justice David J. Brewer in his lecture,
entitled, “The United States a Christian Nation.” The opinion they rendered in the case of Shover v. The State, 10 English, 263,
included:
This system of religion (Christianity) is recognized as constituting a part and parcel of the common law. [p.28]
Congress of the United States
of America (March 3, 1931), adopted The
Star Spangled Banner as our National Anthem (36 U.S.C. Sec. 170). Written by Francis Scott Key, September 14,
1814, at the Battle of Fort McHenry during the War of 1812. The fourth verse is as follows:
O! thus be it ever when free men shall stand
Between their loved home and the war’s
desolation;
Blest with vict’ry and peace, may the
Heav’n-rescued land
Praise the Pow’r that hath made and preserved
us a nation!
Then conquer we must, when our cause it is
just;
And this be our motto, “In God is our
trust!”
And the star spangled banner in triumph
shall wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of
the brave!
Congress of the United States
of America (July 20, 1956), by Joint Resolution, adopted Rep. Charles E.
Bennett’s (FL) bill providing that the official national motto of the United
States of America be:
In God We Trust [p.175]
Congress of the United States
of America (October 4, 1982), by a Joint Resolution of both the Senate and
House of Representatives of the 97th Congress, declared 1983 the Year of the Bible:
Public Law 97-280. Whereas that renewing our knowledge of and faith in God through Holy Scripture can strengthen us as a nation and a people… The Bible, the Word of God, has made a unique contribution in shaping the United States as a distinctive and blessed nation… Deeply held religious convictions springing from the Holy Scriptures led to the early settlement of our Nation… Biblical teaching inspired concepts of civil government that are contained in our Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States. [p.175]
Date Unknown
Constitution of the State of Pennsylvania stated:
Frame of Government, Section 10. And each member [of the legislature], before he takes his seat, shall make and subscribe the following declaration, viz: “I do believe in one God, the Creator and Governour of the universe, the rewarder of the good and punisher of the wicked, and I do acknowledge the Scriptures of the Old and New Testament to be given by Divine inspiration.” [p.504]
America’s God and Country Encyclopedia Of Quotations,
by William J. Federer, 1994
FAME Publishing, Inc.
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Coppell, Texas
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1 (800) 404-FAME
