Clayton Craymer writing on a post by Glenn Reynolds writes:
Instapundit has a whole bunch of quotes about religion and the founding of the United States.So, Washington didn't write it. It's not in the Journals of the Continental Congress. It's not in the House or Senate journals (through 1873). It's not in gobs of other documents. Is it in the Library of Congress or is it just a made up quote by someone with a strong antireligious bias?
As George Washington noted, "the government of the United States of America is not in any sense founded on the Christian religion."The nice thing about the Library of Congress is that they have the complete set of Washington's papers online, and searchable by word and phrase. You can also search the complete text of the Journals of the Continental Congress, House and Senate journals through 1873, a gobs of other documents here. Guess what? That phrase "the government of the United States of America is not in any sense founded on the Christian religion" doesn't show up in either collection. Sorry, but with the choice of believing the Library of Congress, or someone with a strong antireligious bias (Instapundit's correspondent), I think I'll trust the Library of Congress more.
Whereas it's true President Washington did not, himself, write it the line, it's certainly authentic and authentically important. With a more rigorous search of the Library of Congress, I'm sure Craymer would have found it.
The line "the government of the United States of America is not in any sense founded on the Christian religion" can be found in Article 11 of the Treaty of Tripolli. This treaty was signed by Commissioner Plenipotentiary David Humphreys on November 4, 1796. So, it wasn't Washington, himself, but an official representative of President Washington. (Aside: trivia question. When did the Department of State stop using the term "Commissioner Plenipotentiary" and replace it with "Ambassador"?) It was ratified by the United States Senate on June 7, 1797 and signed by President John Adams.
So, in summary: this line was negotiated by an official representative of George Washington, ratified by the 1797 United States Senate (whose presiding officer was Thomas Jefferson), and was signed by John Adams. I'm guessing that in the textbook definition of "original intent," this line is used as the example. (And if you want to see an original copy of the line "the government of the United States of America is not in any sense founded on the Christian religion", click here).
Comments (3)
Partha, why do always misrepresent the facts?
With a more rigorous search of the Library of Congress, I'm sure Craymer would have found it.
The line "the government of the United States of America is not in any sense founded on the Christian religion" can be found in Article 11 of the Treaty of Tripolli.
The trouble is, I read his post yesterday and it contained the following update:
UPDATE: The supposed Washington quote "the government of the United States of America is not in any sense founded on the Christian religion" turns out to be from the Treaty of Tripoli, negotiated by Joel Barlow in an attempt to head off a religious war between the U.S. and the Barbary States, and didn't appear in the U.S. until after John Adams was President. The quote is therefore not from Washington. When you read the rest of the sentence from which this is taken, you can also see how misleading it is to use this quote to advance this claim:
Thus, contrary to your claim, he had already posted the source for the statement.
(more)
Posted by Richard | August 28, 2003 6:02 PM
Posted on August 28, 2003 18:02
However, more damning is the fact that you deliberately left off the rest of the sentence.
As the government of the United States of America is not in any sense founded on the Christian Religion,-as it has in itself no character of enmity against the laws, religion or tranquility of Musselmen,-and as the said States never have entered into any war or act of hostility against any Mehomitan nation, it is declared by the parties that no pretext arising from religious opinions shall ever produce an interruption of the harmony existing between the two countries.
Are you looking to replace Dowd as a columnist for the NY Times or are your trying to get a job writing movie review blurbs? What is your purpose in Dowdifying the quote? Did you really think anyone believes that this country was founded on the Christian religion, so you had to prove otherwise? Nobody has claimed that the US is a theocracy. Why would you use such a straw man? Are you own arguments so weak that you can not defend your point of view without misrepresenting the facts?
Posted by Richard | August 28, 2003 6:04 PM
Posted on August 28, 2003 18:04
Didn't know about the update.
Mea culpa
Posted by Partha | August 28, 2003 7:28 PM
Posted on August 28, 2003 19:28