Post Election Thoughts
There has been much ado regarding the "religious right" and their feeling that "W's" return to power was a sign of Divine Right, that the principles of government were founded on the weight of the Word of God and of America's role as a Christian nation. Hel, they've paraded Christianity and Crusade in the press ever since the nightmare of 9-11. Are we a nation founded on the priciples of Judaic and Christian Law? Not according to Thomas Jefferson:
The following excerpt from page 109 of "The World of Washington Irving", by Van Wyck Brooks (E.P. Dutton and Company, 1944) is relevant to the often-heard assertion that the spirit of American government derives from the Bible:
"In his youth, [Thomas Jefferson] had studied Anglo-Saxon, and while he also followed the suggestions of Montesquieu, Locke and various others, he based his affirmation of human rights on the laws of the Saxon forefathers. For he found that the Anglo-Saxons, when they settled in England, were fully aware of the natural rights of man and that their common law proclaimed the principles of liberty which he proposed to vindicate as a racial birthright. They had established these principles indeed before Christianity appeared in England, and Jefferson conceived American freedom as a restoration on a new soil of the 'happy system of our ancestors,' as he called it. This was the reason why, as John Adams remembered later, Jefferson suggested that the great seal of the country should bear on one side the images of Hengist and Horsa [The Saxon leaders who settled their people inEngland]."
Thomas Jefferson acknowledged Common Law's pre-Christian origins in this letter to Thomas Cooper on February 10, 1814:
"For we know that the common law is that system of law which was introduced by the Saxons on their settlement of England, and altered from time to time by proper legislative authority from that time to the date of the Magna Charta, which terminates the period of the common law...This settlement took place about the middle of the fifth century. But Christianity was not introduced till the seventh century; the conversion of the first Christian king of the Heptarchy having taken place about the year 598, and that of the last about 686. Here then, was a space of two hundred years, during which the common law was in existence, and Christianity no part of it...that system of religion could not be a part of the common law, because they were not yet Christians..."
Food for thought during this holiday season.
The following excerpt from page 109 of "The World of Washington Irving", by Van Wyck Brooks (E.P. Dutton and Company, 1944) is relevant to the often-heard assertion that the spirit of American government derives from the Bible:
"In his youth, [Thomas Jefferson] had studied Anglo-Saxon, and while he also followed the suggestions of Montesquieu, Locke and various others, he based his affirmation of human rights on the laws of the Saxon forefathers. For he found that the Anglo-Saxons, when they settled in England, were fully aware of the natural rights of man and that their common law proclaimed the principles of liberty which he proposed to vindicate as a racial birthright. They had established these principles indeed before Christianity appeared in England, and Jefferson conceived American freedom as a restoration on a new soil of the 'happy system of our ancestors,' as he called it. This was the reason why, as John Adams remembered later, Jefferson suggested that the great seal of the country should bear on one side the images of Hengist and Horsa [The Saxon leaders who settled their people inEngland]."
Thomas Jefferson acknowledged Common Law's pre-Christian origins in this letter to Thomas Cooper on February 10, 1814:
"For we know that the common law is that system of law which was introduced by the Saxons on their settlement of England, and altered from time to time by proper legislative authority from that time to the date of the Magna Charta, which terminates the period of the common law...This settlement took place about the middle of the fifth century. But Christianity was not introduced till the seventh century; the conversion of the first Christian king of the Heptarchy having taken place about the year 598, and that of the last about 686. Here then, was a space of two hundred years, during which the common law was in existence, and Christianity no part of it...that system of religion could not be a part of the common law, because they were not yet Christians..."
Food for thought during this holiday season.
posted by Bob Freeman at 10:19 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home