This is a government that was ALWAYS founded on Christianity. This was a nation for Christians.
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.”
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. 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, United States Code Annotated 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]
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 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.
The first ten Amendments (the Bill of Rights) were ratified effective December 15, 1791.
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 fromthe 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]
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.
Who are these 14 democrats? I want to know.
This is a government that was ALWAYS founded on Christianity. This was a nation for Christians.
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:
Second Charter of Virginia (May 23, 1609), granted by King James I, stated:
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:
First Charter of Massachusetts (March 4, 1629) granted by King Charles I, stated:
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.”
Articles of the Constitution of Connecticut:
Exeter, New Hampshire (August 4, 1639), the colonists defined the purpose of government, stating:
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:
New Haven Colony Charter (April 3, 1644), adopted the rules for governing the courts of the New Haven Colony, stating:
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:
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:
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:
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…
Great Law of Pennsylvania (April 25, 1682), was the first legislative act of Pennsylvania. It proclaimed:
Charter of Privileges of Pennsylvania (1701), granted by William Penn to the province of Pennsylvania, stated:
The Committees of Correspondence… began sounding the cry across the Colonies (ca. 1774):
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:
2. Revolutionary War to signing of U.S. Constitution (1775 to 1787)
North Carolina: Mecklenburg County Resolutions (May 20, 1775), reads:
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:
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/search/criteria.shtml (search “Declaration of Independence”)
Constitution of the State of North Carolina (1776), stated:
In 1835 the word “Protestant” was changed to “Christian.” [p.482]
Constitution of the State of Maryland (August 14, 1776), stated:
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:
Constitution of the State of South Carolina (1778), stated:
The Constitution of the State of Massachusetts (1780) stated:
subscribe the following declaration, viz. “I, _______, do declare, that I believe the Christian religion, and have firm persuasion of its truth.”
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.
Continental Congress (1783), ratified a peace treaty with Great Britain at the close of the Revolutionary War. The treaty began:
Constitution of the State of New Hampshire (1784,1792), required senators and representatives to be of the:
The Constitution stipulated:
Constitution of the State of Vermont (1786), stated:
The Constitution of the United States(September 17, 1787), reads:
[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 first ten Amendments (the Bill of Rights) were ratified effective December 15, 1791.
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.
*** 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:
The Constitution stipulated:
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:
Constitution of the State of Tennessee (1796), stated:
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:
Constitution of the State of Mississippi (1817), stated:
The Constitution of the State of Connecticut (until 1818), contained the wording:
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:
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:”
Constitution of the State of North Carolina (1776), stated:
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:
Congress of the United States of America (March 27, 1854), receives the report of Mr. Meacham of the House Committee on the Judiciary:
Congress of the United States of America (May 1854), passed a resolution in the House which declared:
The Constitution of the State of Massachusetts (through 1862) included:
Congress of the United States of America (March 3, 1863), passed this resolution in the United States Senate: