George Washington has often been – incorrectly – Quoted as saying some version of; “The United States of America is not a Christian Nation”. This statement has often been used by revisionists attempting to distort American history by refuting the Christian foundations of the United States. Washington never made this statement.
This misquote is a corruption of Article 11 (English Version) of The Treaty of Tripoli (Treaty of Peace and Friendship between the United States of America and the Bey and Subjects of Tripoli of Barbary), signed in 1796; “As the government of the United States of America is not in any sense founded on the Christian Religion…”. At the time the treaty was signed (by President John Adams), Washington was no longer even in office.
Additionally, the statement is in a treaty. Treaties occur between governments. The quote clearly states only that the government of the United States of America (as a legal “entity” on its own) is not founded on the Christian Religion. It says nothing about the people, their society or country not being founded on any aspect of the Christian Religion. Any claim to the contrary is completely unfounded.
In over half a century I have traveled a goodly part of the world and observed many different societies, religions and governments. I have lived in countries with many different attitudes towards religion, from the religious freedom of America to eastern monarchies and the totalitarian theocracies of Islam.
In all cases I have observed that the principals of a local dominant religion have, to one degree or another, formed the basis of a nation’s principles, moral code concerning how people treat each other and, in the vast majority of cases, this code is reflected in their societal morals, mores, traditions and laws.
This can be no better seen than in the Christian history of the United States of America. Within the Executive, judicial and legislative branches can be found numerous references to the Christian Religion such as:
– “In every country, the morals of a people – whatever they may be – take their form and spirit from their religion. . . . In the United States, Christianity is the original, spontaneous, and national religion”. CONSTITUTIONAL LAW PROFESSOR EDWARD MANSFIELD (1801-1880)
UNITED STATES PRESIDENTS
– “The general principles on which the fathers achieved independence were. . . . the general principles of Christianity.” JOHN ADAMS
– “No nation has ever existed or been governed without religion. Nor can be. The Christian religion is the best religion that has been given to man and I, as Chief Magistrate of this nation, am bound to give it the sanction of my example.” PRESIDENT THOMAS JEFFERSON
– “[T]he teachings of the Bible are so interwoven and entwined with our whole civic and social life that it would be literally….impossible for us to figure to ourselves what that life would be if these teaching were removed.” TEDDY ROOSEVELT
– “This is a Christian Nation. More than a half century ago that declaration was written into the decrees of the highest court in this land” [in an 1892 decision] HARRY TRUMAN
– “America was born a Christian nation – America was born to exemplify that devotion to the elements of righteousness which are derived from the revelations of Holy Scripture.” WOODROW WILSON – EVEN AMERICA’S FIRST SOCIALIST PRESIDENT AGREED!
** The ONLY United States President TO DENY THE FACT THAT THE UNITED STATES IS A CHRISTIAN NATION WAS – THE REVISIONIST, SOCIALIST TRAITOR BARACK OBAMA!
UNITED STATES SUPREME COURT
– “[W]ith us, Christianity and religion are identified. It would be strange, indeed, if with such a people our institutions did not presuppose Christianity and did not often refer to it and exhibit relations with it.” FOUNDING FATHER AND US SUPREME COURT CHIEF JUSTICE JOHN MARSHALL
– “I believe the entire Bill of Rights came into being because of the knowledge our forefathers had of the Bible and their belief in it: freedom of belief, of expression, of assembly, of petition, the dignity of the individual, the sanctity of the home, equal justice under law, and the reservation of powers to the people. . “. .SUPREME COURT CHIEF JUSTICE EARL WARREN
The link to the Christian Foundations lies in the concept of “Natural Law”. American law owes much of its founding principles to English Law. The definitive source of the law, at the time of the Founders, was Sir William Blackstone’s Commentaries on the Laws of England (1765-1769)
Commentaries on the Laws of England in Four Books, vol.1 [1753]
“…his words would shape the Declaration of Independence, Constitution and primal laws of a land he considered no more than conquered territory of the British crown…” Greg Bailey, Sir William Blackstone in America
To Blackstone and the Founders all Law is derived from the two foundations of law, Natural Law – “dictated by God himself” and “Revealed Law” – “…found only in the holy scriptures“. “Upon these two foundations, the law of nature and the law of revelation, depend all human laws; that is to say, no human laws should be suffered to contradict these.”
Edmund Burke famously observed in Parliament that nearly as many copies of the Commentaries had been sold in the colonies as in England. Relative to the population at that time it was also claimed that Blackstone’s Commentaries sold more copies than any other book in the colonies, except the bible.
Blackstone’s Commentaries, Book the first: Of the Rights of Persons, Chapter I: Of the Absolute Rights of Individuals, contains numerous examples of principles within both The Declaration of Independence and The United States Constitution, for example:
- 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, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.
- That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed
- Constitution & Constitutional limitations on the powers of government
- Trial by jury of peers
- Right of Habeas Corpus
- Due process in criminal and civil cases
- Right to reasonable bailxation but by representation
- Right to apply to the government for redress of grievances
- Right to apply to the courts for redress of injuries
** Basically, Constitutional Amendments 1,2,4,5,6,8
- Innumerable other criminal and civil legal concepts such as Murder, slander, libel, protection from eminent domain seizure, assault/battery
AND
- “Life is the immediate gift of God, a right inherent by nature in every individual; and it begins in contemplation of law as soon as an infant is able to stir in the mother’swomb. For if a woman is quick with child, and by a potion or otherwise, killeth it in her womb; or if any one beat her, whereby the child dieth in her body, and she is delivered of a dead child; this, though not murder, was by the ancient law homicide or manslaughter”
The sentiments addressed above are but a tiny portion of the innumerable statements of our Founders, Leaders, patriots and clergy that, along with scores of congressional actions for more than two centuries, prove the inseparable relationship between the Christian Religion and virtually every aspect of American principles, society, government and laws. The totality of the quantitative evidence is irrefutable – AMERICA WAS FOUNDED AS, AND REMAINS TODAY, A CHRISTIAN NATION. (Despite loathsome attempts by the left AXIS OF EVIL to revise such history)
The, inescapable, conclusion is that RELIGION IS ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY FOR THE SURVIVAL OF A FREE SOCIETY – TO WHIT:
“…we have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion. Avarice, ambition, revenge, or gallantry, • would break the strongest cords of our Constitution as a whale goes through a net. Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.” John Adams, October 11, 1798
Next: America is at War – The Assault on Christianity