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restoring our biblical and constitutional foundations
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No King But King Jesus!
Declarations and Evidences of Christian Faith in America’s Colonial Charters, State Constitutions, and Other Historical Documents over 375 Years of American History: 1606 to 1982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
“… there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained
[commissioned] of God.”
“For he [the civil ruler] is the minister of God to thee for good. But if
thou do that which is evil,
be afraid; for he beareth not the sword in vain: for he is the minister of
God, a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil.” Romans
13:1,4 [God’s intention for proper role of government]
“… governors,… sent by Him for the punishment of evildoers, and for the
praise of them that
do well.” 1 Peter 2:14 [God’s intended purpose for properly functioning
civil government]
“… righteousness and judgment are the habitation of His throne.” Psalm
97:2
“The God of Israel said, the Rock of Israel spake to me, He that ruleth
over men must be just, ruling in the fear of God.” 2 Samuel 23:2 [true
for all men, for all nations, for all time]
“Righteousness exalteth a nation: but sin is a reproach to any people.”
Proverb 14:34
“The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget
God.” Psalm 9:17
“Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD [Yahweh];…” Psalm 33:12
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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.
3.
4.
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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
CONTENTS
1.
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.
(1775 to 1787)
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.
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.
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
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1.
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.”
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 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;
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.
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,
United States Code Annotated
http://uscode.house.gov/usc.htm
(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]
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.
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 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.
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]
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]
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]
4.
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
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]
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.
820 S. MacArthur Blvd., Suite 105-220
Coppell, Texas 75019-4214
1 (800) 404-FAME
June 16, 2004
Steve Lefemine is a pro-life missionary and the director of
Columbia Christians for Life
in Columbia, SC. He may be reached for comment
here.