Old But New(ish) Variation of Friday Freethought Perennials Using Old Stuff--Quotations (I of VI)
Friday Freethought Perennial for 11 October 2024
About the Friday Freethought Perennials in general: This subset of my blog is to answer questions, nearly always already answered by me and by many others but posed again and again—over many years and in many places—on freethought, atheism, secular humanism, secularism/church-state/”This is a Christian Nation,” and similar topics. These answers are mostly not intended to be original analyses, breaths of fresh air, so much as just putting a whole series of things on the record (I’d say “forever,” except I know better). One source for many of these answers is the 2012 Prometheus Books book by me and my son (Michael E. Buckner), In Freedom We Trust: An Atheist Guide to Religious Liberty. It’s available in many libraries and pretty readily in the used book after-market. I’ll cite writings of others that answer these things in more depth if I’m aware of them when I post these.
Today’s (and the five more that follow on five future [not necessarily consecutive] Fridays) are from an older project my son Michael and I started over 30 years ago. The resulting book, published by the Atlanta Freethought Society, is no longer available (one online bookseller claims to have a copy that he’ll sell you for over $100!), though at least some of this has been published online before.
The quotations presented here, drawn in every case directly from the most original source available to the editors, should prove useful to those arguing, in a variety of ways or contexts, in favor of separation of church and state, religious freedom, and the rights of religious or, especially, irreligious minorities.
Quotations supporting atheism, deism, or unorthodox religious views are included to the extent that they might be useful in debating against those who argue that the United States was established as a Christian nation or that the “founding fathers” would have accepted government support or enforcement of any religious orthodoxy.
Not all the quotations are from humanists or freethinkers nor even from people committed to complete separation of church and state, but the quotations are all, as far as we can determine, genuine, accurate, and not distorted by being taken out of context.
These six postings are of course primarily as reference rather than reading material and anyone who wants to save and use them can certainly do that. The quotations I’m re-publishing on six different dates here are arranged in six major parts, with some subsections within those.:
I. U.S. Constitution, U.S. Treaty, State Constitutions (today)
II. Founding Fathers—National Leaders and Thinkers from the Revolutionary Era
III. Presidents (and Other National Political Leaders) Since the Revolutionary Era
IV. U.S. Supreme Court and Other Judicial Rulings
V. Other Famous Americans
VI. Foreign Sources
Quotations are arranged in approximate order of historical significance in Parts I and II, with separate subsections in Part II for major leaders (Jefferson, Madison, Washington, John Adams, Franklin, and Paine) followed by a subsection of others from the era, then by a subsection of historians and others about the era in general. Parts III though VI are arranged in approximate chronological order (except with all material from or about a particular source kept together) within each part.
I. U.S. Constitution and U.S. Treaties and State Constitutions
The United States Constitution
(1787-1788; 1st 10 Amendments [“Bill of Rights”] ratified 1791; no reference to any god is to be found in the body or in any of the amendments to the United States Constitution)
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.
Article VI, Section 3, The Constitution of the United States.
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.
Amendment 1, The Constitution of the United States.
All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any per-son within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws
Paragraph 1, Amendment 14, The Constitution of the United States. According to the Supreme Court, the Fourteenth applies the First Amendment to State and local governments.
Treaty of Peace and Friendship Between the United States and the Bey and Subjects of Tripoli of Barbary, 1796-1797
As the government of the United States of America is not in any sense founded on the Christian Religion—as it has itself no character of enmity against the law, religion or tranquility of Musselmen [Muslims], . . .
“Article 11, Treaty of Peace and Friendship between The United States and the Bey and Subjects of Tripoli of Barbary,”1796-1797. Treaties and Other International Acts of the United States of America. Edited by Hunter Miller. Vol. 2, 1776-1818, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C., 1931, p. 365. Miller reported, p. 349, that the treaty was sent to the Senate on May 29, 1797, with a “Resolution of Advice and Consent” issued June 7, 1797, and with President Adams’ approval on June 10, 1797; the treaty was officially proclaimed the same day. The paragraph of ratification and proclamation, somewhat unusual in form and timing (see next entry) was signed by President Adams and attested by Pickering as Secretary of State. Miller notes, p. 384, regarding the Arabic version of the treaty examined in 1930, that
Most extraordinary (and wholly unexplained) is the fact that Article 11 of the Barlow translation, with its famous phrase, ‘the government of the United States of America is not in any sense founded on the Christian religion,’ does not exist at all. There is no Article 11. The Arabic text which is between Articles 10 and 12 is in form a letter, crude and flamboyant and withal quite unimportant, from the Dey of Algiers to the Pasha of Tripoli. How that script came to be written and to be regarded, as in the Barlow translation, as Article 11 of the treaty as there written, is a mystery and seemingly must remain so. Nothing in the diplomatic correspondence of the time throws any light whatever on the point.
Miller had already stressed, p. 384, that
it is to be remembered that the Barlow translation is that which was submitted to the Senate (American State Papers, Foreign Relations, II, 18-19) and which is printed in the Statutes at Large and in treaty collections generally; it is that English text which in the United States has always been deemed the text of the treaty.
[Emphasis is Miller’s.]
According to Paul F. Boller [George Washington & Religion, Dallas: Southern Methodist University Press, 1963, pp. 87-88], who deals with a widely circulated story that Washington was the author of the famous phrase, the treaty was written by Joel Barlow, negotiated during Washington’s administration, concluded on November 4, 1796, ratified by the Senate in June, 1797 [see Journal of the Senate entries, following], and signed [see entry after those] by John Adams [2nd U.S. President] on June 10, 1797. Boller concluded that “Very likely Washington shared Barlow’s view, though there is no record of his opinion about the treaty . . .” [p.88]. Jefferson was Secretary of State in Washington’s first administration but had resigned when the treaty was written. Jefferson was Vice-President when the treaty was ratified and signed. Barlow, identified in The American Heritage Dictionary as an American “poet and diplomat,” 1754-1812, knew and corresponded extensively with Jefferson. Among many letters Jefferson wrote Barlow was one written on March 14, 1801, just ten days after Jefferson’s first inauguration as President.)
MONDAY, May 29, 1797.
The following written message was received from the President of the United States, by Mr. Malcom, his Secretary:
Gentlemen of the Senate:
I lay before you, for your consid-eration and advice, a treaty of perpetual peace and friendship be-tween the United States of America and the Bey and subjects of Tripoli, of Barbary, concluded at Tripoli, on the 4th day of November, 1796.
JOHN ADAMS.
United States, May 26th, 1797.
The message and treaty were read.
Ordered, That they lie for consideration.
TUESDAY, May 30, 1797.
The Senate proceeded to consider the message of the President of the United States, of the 29th instant, and the treaty therewith communicated, between the United States of America and the Bey and subjects of Tripoli, of Barbary.
Ordered, That it be referred to Mr. Bloodworth, Mr. Goodhue, and Mr. Tazewell, to consider and report thereon to the Senate.
On motion,
Ordered, That the treaty be printed for the use of the Senate. (The Journal of the Senate, including The Journal of the Executive Proceedings of the Senate, John Adams Administration, 1797-1801, Volume 1: Fifth Congress, First Session; March-July, 1797. Edited by Martin P. Claussen. Wilmington, Delaware: Michael Glazier, Inc., 1977, pp. 156-157.)
WEDNESDAY, June 7, 1797.
Mr. Bloodworth, from the Com-mittee to whom was referred the consideration of the treaty of peace and friendship, between the United States of America and the Bey and subjects of Tripoli, of Barbary, made report, that it be adopted; and the report being amended,
On the question to agree to the report as amended,
It was determined in the affirmative, Yeas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23.
The yeas and nays being required by one-fifth of the Senators present,
Those who voted in the affirmative, are—Messrs. Bingham, Bloodworth, Blount, Bradford, Brown, Cocke, Foster, Goodhue, Hillhouse, Howard, Langdon, Latimer, Laurance, Livermore, Martin, Paine, Read, Rutherfurd, Sedgwick, Stockton, Tattnall, Tichenor, and Tracy.
So it was
Resolved, (two-thirds of the Senators present concurring therein,) That the Senate do advise and consent to the ratification of the treaty of peace and friendship, between the United States of America and the Bey and subjects of Tripoli, of Barbary.
Ordered, That the Secretary lay this resolution before the President of the United States.
The Journal of the Senate, including The Journal of the Executive Proceedings of the Senate, John Adams Administration, 1797-1801, Volume 1: Fifth Congress, First Session; March-July, 1797. Edited by Martin P. Claussen. Wilmington, Delaware: Michael Glazier, Inc., 1977, p. 160.
It is worth noting that there were, as recorded in the Journal of the Senate, thousands of votes taken in the United States Senate from the beginning in 1789 through July 1797. Of those thousands, only 339 [I (Ed B.) laboriously counted these myself and very likely slightly under-counted or over-counted them] were recorded—that is, as required by at least a fifth of the Senators present, with the names of all Senators voting “Yea” or “Nay” officially listed in the Journal. Of the 339 recorded votes only three—less than one percent—were unanimously agreed to. One of the three was the unanimous recorded vote shown here in support of a treaty officially declaring the U.S. government as non-Christian.)
Now be it known, That I John Adams, President of the United States of America, having seen and considered the said Treaty do, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, accept, ratify, and confirm the same, and every clause and article thereof. And to the End that the said Treaty may be observed and performed with good Faith on the part of the United States, I have ordered the premises to be made public; And I do hereby enjoin and require all persons bearing office civil or military within the United States, and all other citizens or inhabitants thereof, faithfully to observe and fulfill the said Treaty and every clause and article thereof.
“Treaty of Peace and Friendship between The United States and the Bey and Subjects of Tripoli of Barbary,”1796-1797. Treaties and Other International Acts of the United States of America. Edited by Hunter Miller. Vol. 2. 1776-1818. U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C., 1931, p. 383.)
[Editors’ note: We present excerpts from an early royal charter for Rhode Island and two State Constitutions from Georgia (our home state0, as examples, below. For comprehensive coverage of state and church issues in State Constitutions across the U.S., we recommend Edd Doerr and Albert J. Menendez, eds., Religious Liberty and State Constitutions, Buffalo, New York: Prometheus Books, 1993.]
The Royal Charter for Rhode Island, 1663
The charter’s [royal charter of 1663, for Rhode Island] most liberal, generous, and unusual provision, however, bestowed upon the inhabitants of the tiny colony “full liberty in religious concernments.” The document commanded that
noe person within the sayd colonye, at any time hereafter, shall bee any wise molested, punished, disquieted, or called in question for any differences in opinione in matters of religion.
This guarantee of religious liberty was a vindication of [Roger} Williams’ beliefs and royal recognition of the fundamental principles upon which the Providence Plantation was founded—absolute freedom of con-science and complete separation of church and state. As Williams observed, this liberality stemmed from the king’s willingness to “experiment” in order to ascertain “whether civil government could consist with such liberty of conscience.” This was the “lively experiment” upon which the government of Rhode Island was based. (Patrick T. Conley, “Rhode Island, Laboratory for the ‘Lively Experiment,’ ” in Patrick T. Conley and John P. Kaminski, eds., The Bill of Rights and the States: The Colonial and Revolutionary Origins of American Liberties, Madison, WI: Madison House, 1992, p. 130.)
The Constitution of the State of Georgia, 1798
No person within this state shall upon any pretence, be deprived of the inestimable privilege of worshipping God, in a manner agreeable to his conscience, nor be compelled to attend any place of worship, contrary to his own faith and judgment, nor shall ever be obligated to pay tithes, taxes, or any other rate, for the building or repairing of any place of worship, or for the maintenance of any minister or ministry, contrary to what he believes to be right, or hath voluntarily engaged to do. No one re-ligious society shall ever be established in this state in preference to another, nor shall any person be denied the enjoyment of any civil right merely on account of his religious principles.
Quoted by Albert Menendez and Edd Doerr, compilers, The Great Quotations on Religious Freedom, Long Beach, CA: Centerline Press, 1991, pp. 38-39.
The Constitution of the State of Georgia, 1983
Paragraph III. Freedom of conscience. Each person has the natural and inalienable right to worship God, each according to the dictates of that person’s conscience; and no human authority should, in any case, control or interfere with such right of conscience.
Paragraph IV. Religious opinions; freedom of religion. No inhabitant of this state shall be molested in person or property or be prohibited from holding any public office or trust on account of religious opinions; but the right of freedom of religion shall not be construed as to excuse acts of licentiousness or justify practices inconsistent with the peace and safety of the state.
Article I [“Bill of Rights”], Section I [“Rights of Persons”], The Constitution of Georgia, from James A. Crutchfield, The Georgia Almanac and Book of Facts, 1989-1990, Nashville, Tenn.: Rutledge Hill Press, 1988, p.43.)
Paragraph VI. Separation of church and state. No money shall ever be taken from the public treasury, directly or indirectly, in aid of any church, sect, cult, or religious denomination or of any sectarian in-stitution.
Article I [“Bill of Rights”], Section II [“Origin and Structure of Government”], The Constitution of Georgia, from James A. Crutchfield, The Georgia Almanac and Book of Facts, 1989-1990, Nashville, Tenn.: Rutledge Hill Press, 1988, p.45.)
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