The George Washington quote (actually John Adams) is from the Treaty of Tripoli and has been perceived in different ways. This is a just a small part of the entire phrase.
"John Adams Did Not Say This
This came across Facebook today. The following quote was supposedly attributed to John Adams, one of our founding fathers: �As the Government of the United States of America is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion.� The quotation was offered to somehow invalidate the fact that our country was founded on Judeo-Christian values. The problem with the quotation is that John Adams never said or wrote it.
The quotation is, in fact, part of Article 11 of The 1797 Treaty of Tripoli. The full text is: �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 Mussulmen; and, as the said States never entered into any war, or act of hostility against any Mahometan 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.� The treaty was written by an American diplomat, John Barlow. It was approved by John Adams and ratified by The Senate.
Here�s where things get muddy. The English version of the treaty did contain Article 11, but the Arabic version did not. Furthermore, a treaty with The Barbary States was critically needed to protect U.S shipping interests in the area, and the U.S. government did not want to delay by arguing the finer points of an agreement. The Barbary States were at war with any nation that did not have such an agreement, and the U.S. was in no position, militarily, to deal with the threat until eighteen years later when it had the upper hand. Tribute was paid to the pirates until 1815, after the 2nd Barbary War which followed the conclusion of The War of 1812, when the treaty was renegotiated and Article 11 was dropped. It may be further noted that no such verbiage as Article 11 is found in any of the treaties with the other Muslim pirate states. This invalidates the argument that Article 11 belonged in the text and would have been welcomed by Muslims.
If you want to look at other treaties as evidence, you need not look further than The Treaty of Paris of 1783, which is a formal recognition of our independence from Great Britain, which was negotiated by Ben Franklin and John Adams. Its first words are, �In the Name of the most holy and undivided Trinity.� The words or validity of this treaty are in no way in dispute.
One final point, John Adams did write in 1798, after the first ratification of The Treaty of Tripoli, in a letter to the officers of The First Brigade of The Third Division of The Massachusetts Militia, �Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.�
