Last Birthday

“I, A.B., do solemnly swear or affirm (as the case may be) that I will support the constitution of the United States.”

The second part read:

“I, A.B., do solemnly swear or affirm (as the case may be) to bear true allegiance to the United States of America, and to serve them honestly and faithfully, against all their enemies or opposers whatsoever, and to observe and obey the orders of the President of the United States of America, and the orders of the officers appointed over me.” 

I, (NAME), do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; and that I will obey the orders of the President of the United States and the orders of the officers appointed over me, according to regulations and the Uniform Code of Military Justice. So help me God.

“The United States of America have exhibited, perhaps, the first example of governments erected on the simple principles of nature;  and if men are now sufficiently enlightened to disabuse themselves of artifice, imposture, hypocrisy, and superstition, they will consider this event as an era in their history. Although the detail of the formation of the American governments is at present little known or regarded either in Europe or in America, it may hereafter become an object of curiosity.

It will never be pretended that any persons employed in that service had interviews with the gods, or were in any degree under the influence of Heaven, more than those at work upon ships or houses, or laboring in merchandise or agriculture; it will forever be acknowledged that these governments were contrived merely by the use of reason and the senses.”

(Emphasis added.)

(Well, Adams, Jefferson, Madison, et al, obviously HOPED it would never be pretended — but ignorant scuts like this are obviously unaware of that!)

Adams also wrote;

“. . . Thirteen governments thus founded on the natural authority of the people alone, without a pretence of miracle or mystery, and which are destined to spread over the northern part of that whole quarter of the globe, are a great point gained in favor of the rights of mankind.”

“. . . no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the United States.”   (Article VI, Section III)

“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion”  (1st Amendment)

(Emphasis added.)

Barlow forwarded the treaty to the Senate, where it was endorsed by Secretary of State Timothy Pickering, approved by the Senate, and signed by the new President, John Adams on June 10th, 1797, and published in the Philadelphia Gazette on June 17th of that year.

This treaty explicitly states (in Article 11);

“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 tranquillity, 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.”

(Emphasis added.)
Thus, in one of our earliest treaties with a foreign power (ironically, from an Islamic culture), our first two Presidents and Congress agreed that the US was “not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion” – in other words, we were a secular nation. Q.E.D.

“Christianity neither is, nor ever was a part of the common law.” – Thomas Jefferson in a letter to Dr. Thomas Cooper, February 10, 1814

These laws began to be codified and formalized in England after the accession of Alfred the Great (871).

The Norman Conquest (1066) also produced changes, such as feudal vassalage. Serious wrongs were now regarded as public crimes rather than as personal matters, and perpetrators were punished, usually by death and (of course) forfeiture of property.

Government was centralized, a bureaucracy built up, and written records maintained in Latin and Norman French. Elements of the old Anglo-Saxon system survived, such as a jury, “trial by ordeal” (i.e., physical test or combat), the practice of outlawry (putting a person beyond the protection of the law), and writs (orders requiring a person to appear before a court).

Important consolidation occurred during the reign of Henry II (1154–89). Royal officials went around the country overseeing the administration of justice. However, church and state were separate and had their own law and court systems. (This led to centuries of rivalry over jurisdiction, especially since appeals from church courts could be taken to Rome before the Reformation.)

The Franco-Normans had likewise developed a customary law in Normandy based originally on their own Pagan Germanic (Viking) roots. They had no professional lawyers or judges per se, but  instead, (after Christianization) literate clergymen acted as administrators. Some of the clergy were familiar with the older Roman law and the canon law of the Christian church, developed in the universities of the 12th century. Canon law was applied in the English church courts, but the revived Roman law was less influential in England than elsewhere, despite Norman dominance in government. This was due largely to the early sophistication of the Anglo-Norman system. Norman custom was not simply transplanted to England; upon its arrival, a new body of rules, based on local conditions, emerged.

Wherever any form of Christianity became an established state religion, persecution and abuse arose, and the more influence a church had, the worse for society. History abounds with examples.

So in short, the law in this country developed from English common law, which, as you can see, had a number of influences — including Pagan traditions and customs. Jefferson knew what he was talking about — unlike this ignorant schmuck.