Why the Treaty of Tripoli is Important

NOWACKI’s letter is misleading. Nowhere in the Treaty of Paris does is state that the United States is a Christian Nation. In fact all the references to God that he blathers on about were part of King George’s title and were not used in reference to the United States.

One can only wonder why Fundamentalist Christians are so desperate to rewrite history. The most convincing evidence that our government did not ground itself upon Christianity comes from the United States Constitution. Nowhere in the Constitution do we have a single mention of Christianity, God, Jesus, or any Supreme Being. There are two references to religion in the Constitution and both are exclusionary; The 1st Amendment's says, "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion. . ." and in Article VI, Section 3, ". . . no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the United States." 

The Treaty of Tripoli is important because it provides a clear admission by the United States that our government did not found itself upon Christianity. Unlike the Declaration of Independence, this treaty represented U.S. law as all treaties do according to the Constitution (see Article VI, Sect. 2).  Although the Christian exclusionary wording in the Treaty of Tripoli only lasted for eight years and no longer has legal status, it clearly represented the feelings of our Founding Fathers.

As for the argument that the Constitution is based on Judeo-Christian laws according to Jefferson the Constitution was based on Saxon Common Law which predates Christianity by 200 years. 

The Founders of our nation were products of “The Age of Reason” they created a secular nation based on logic and rational thought not a country oppressed by religious superstition as Nowacki would have us believe.

History is Elementary has an excellent post on the subject A Christian Nation? Be Careful What You Preach