One of the hard facts of life is that the United States of America is not a Christian Nation. The following Treaty was made by the United States of America with the Barbary Pirates. It passed the 5th Congress without a hitch. Article 11 was made part of the record to convince the Muslims that the United States of America is not a Christian Nation, and therefore peace could be established between the two nations.
Compiled under the direction of
CHARLES I. BEVANS, LL.B.
Assistant Legal Adviser, Department of State
Volume II
PHILIPPINES-
UNITED ARAB REPUBLIC
DEPARTMENT OF STATE PUBLICATION 8728
Released February 1974
_________________________________________
For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing
Office, Washington D.C. 20402 - Price $14.35
pages 1070 - 1074
PEACE AND FRIENDSHIP
Treaty signed at Tripoli November 4, 1796, and at Algiers January 3, 1797
Senate advice and consent to ratification June 7, 1797
Ratified by the President of the United States June 10, 1797
Entered into force June 10, 1797
Proclaimed by the President of the United States June 10, 1797
Superseded April 17, 1806, by treaty of June, 4, 18051
8 Stat. 154; Treaty Series 3582
[TRANSLATION of 1796]3
TREATY OF PEACE AND FRIENDSHIP BETWEEN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA AND THE BEY AND SUBJECTS OF TRIPOLI OF BARBARY
There is a firm and perpetual Peace and friendship between the United States of America and the Bey and subjects of Tripoli of Barbary, made by the free consent of both parties, and guaranteed by the most potent Dey & regency of Algiers.
If any goods belonging to any nation with which either of the parties is at war shall be loaded on board of vessels belonging to the other party they shall pass free, and no attempt shall be made to take or detain them.
If any citizens, subjects or effects belonging to either party shall be found on board a prize vessel taken from an enemy by the other party, such citizens or subjects shall be set at liberty, and the effects restored to the owners.
Proper passports are to be given to all vessels of both parties, by which they are to be known. And, considering the distance between the two countries, eighteen months from the date of this treaty shall be allowed for procuring such passports. During this interval the other papers belonging to such vessels shall be sufficient for their protection.
A citizen or subject of either party having bought a prize vessel condemned by the other party or by any other nation, the certificate of condemnation and bill of sale shall be a sufficient passport for such vessel for one year; this being a reasonable time for her to procure a proper passport.
Vessels of either party putting into the ports of the other and having need of provisions or other supplies, they shall be furnished at the market price. And if any such vessel shall so put in from a disaster at sea and have occasion to repair, she shall be at liberty to land and reembark her cargo without paying any duties. But in no case shall she be compelled to land her cargo.
Should a vessel of either party be cast on the shore of the other, all proper assistance shall be given to her and her people; no pillage shall be allowed; the property shall remain at the disposition of the owners, and the crew protected and succoured till they can be sent to their country.
If a vessel of either party should be attacked by an enemy within gun-shot of the forts of the other she shall be defended as much as possible. If she be in port she shall not be seized or attacked when it is in the power of the other party to protect her. And when she proceeds to sea no enemy shall be allowed to pursue her from the same port within twenty four hours after her departure.
The commerce between the United States and Tripoli, - the protection to be given to merchants, masters of vessels and seamen, - the reciprocal right of establishing consuls in each country, and the privileges, immunities and jurisdictions to be enjoyed by such consuls, are declared to be on the same footing with those of the most favoured nations respectively.
The money and presents demanded by the Bey of Tripoli as a full and satisfactory consideration on his part and on the part of his subjects for this treaty of perpetual peace and friendship are acknowledged to have been received by him previous to his signing the same, according to a receipt which is hereto annexed, except such part as is promised on the part of the United States to be delivered and paid by them on the arrival of their Consul in Tripoli, of which part a note is likewise hereto annexed. And no pretence of any periodical tribute or farther payment is ever to be made by either party.
As the government of the United States of America is not in any sense founded on the Christian Religion,4 - 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.
In case of any dispute arising from a violation of any of the articles of this treaty no appeal shall be made to arms, nor shall war be declared on any pretext whatever. But if the Consul residing at the place where the dispute shall happen shall not be able to settle the same, an amicable reference shall be made to the mutual friend of the parties, the Dey of Algiers, the parties hereby engaging to abide by his decision. And he by virtue of his signature to this treaty engages for himself and successors to declare the justice of the case according to the true interpretation of the treaty, and to use all the means in his power to enforce the observance of the same.
Signed and sealed at Tripoli of Barbary the 3d day of Jumad in the year of the Higera 1211 - corresponding with the 4th day of Novr 1796 by
| JUSSUF BASHAW MAHOMET Bey | SOLIMAN Kaya |
| MAMET - Treasurer | GALIL - Genl of the Troops |
| AMET - Minister of Marine | MAHOMET - Comt of the city |
| AMET - Chamberlain | MAMET - Secretary |
| ALLY - Chief of the Divan |
Signed and sealed at Algiers the 4th day of Argib 1211 - corresponding with the 3d day of January 1797 by
HASSAN BASHAW Dey
and by the Agent plenipotentiary of the United States of America
JOEL BARLOW [SEAL]
[THE "RECEIPT"]
Praise be to God &c-
The present writing done by our hand and delivered to the American
Captain OBrien makes known that he has delivered to us forty thousand
Spanish dollars, - thirteen watches of gold, silver & pins-back, - five
rings, of which three of diamonds, one of saphire and one with a watch
in it, - one hundred & forty piques of cloth, and four caftans of
brocade, - and these on account of the peace concluded with the
Americans.
Given at Tripoli in Barbary the 20th day of Jumad 1211, corresponding with the 21st day of Novr 1796 -
JUSSUF BASHAW - Bey
whom God Exalt
The foregoing is a true copy of the receipt given by Jussuf Bashaw - Bey of Tripoli -
HASSAN BASHAW - Dey of Algiers
The foregoing is a literal translation of the writing in Arabic on the opposite page
JOEL BARLOW
[THE "NOTE"]
On the arrival of a consul of the United States in Tripoli he is to deliver to Jussuf Bashaw Bey -
twelve thousand Spanish dollars
five hawsers - 8 Inch
three cables - 10 Inch
twenty five barrels tar
twenty five do pitch
ten do rosin
five hundred pine boards
five hundred oak do
ten masts (without any measure mentioned, suppose
for vessels from 2 to 300 ton)
twelve yards
fifty bolts canvas
four anchors
And these when delivered are to be in full of all demands on his part or on that of his successors from the United States according as it is expressed in the tenth article of the following treaty. And no farther demand of tributes, presents or payments shall ever be made.
Translated from the Arabic on the opposite page, which is signed & sealed by Hassan Bashaw Dey of Algiers - the 4th day of Argib 1211 - or the 3d day of Jany 1797 - by -
JOEL BARLOW
[APPROVAL OF U.S. MINISTER AT LISBON]
To all to whom these Presents shall come or be made known.
Whereas the Underwritten David Humphreys hath been duly appointed
Commissioner Plenipotentiary by Letters Patent, under the Signature of
the President and Seal of the United States of America, dated the 30th
of March 1795, for negociating and concluding a Treaty of Peace with the
Most Illustrious the Bashaw, Lords and Governors of the City & Kingdom
of Tripoli; whereas by a Writing under his Hand and Seal dated the 10th
of February 1796, he did (in conformity to the authority committed to me
therefor) constitute and appoint Joel Barlow and Joseph Donaldson Junior
Agents jointly and seperately in the business aforesaid; whereas the
annexed Treaty of Peace and Friendship was agreed upon, signed and
sealed at Tripoli of Barbary on the 4th of November 1796, in
virtue of the Powers aforesaid and guaranteed by the Most potent Dey and
Regency of Algiers; and whereas the same was certified at Algiers on the
3d of January 1797, with the Signature and Seal of Hassan
Bashaw Dey, and of Joel Barlow one of the Agents aforesaid, in the
absence of the other.
Now Know ye, that I David Humphreys Commissioner Plenipotentiary aforesaid, do approve and conclude the said Treaty, and every article and clause therein contained, reserving the same nevertheless for the final Ratification of the President of the United States of America, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate of the said United States.
In testimony whereof I have signed the same with my Name and Seal, at the City of Lisbon this 10th of February 1797.
DAVID HUMPHREYS [SEAL]
[United States Minister at Lisbon]
1 TS
359, post, p. 1081.
2 For a detailed
study of this treaty, see 2 Miller 349.
3 This
translation from the Arabic by Joel Barlow, Consul General at Algiers,
has been printed in all official and unofficial treaty collections since
it first appeared in 1797 in the Session Laws of the Fifth Congress,
first session. In a "Note Regarding the Barlow Translation" Hunter
Miller stated: ". . . Most extraordinary (and wholly unexplained) is the
fact that Article 11 of the Barlow translation, with its famous phrase,
'the government of the United States of America is not in any sense
founded on the Christian Religion.' does not exist at all. There is no
Article 11. The Arabic text which is between Articles 10 and 12 is in
form a letter, crude and flamboyant and withal quite unimportant, from
the Dey of Algiers to the Pasha of Tripoli. How that script came to be
written and to be regarded, as in the Barlow translation, as Article 11
of the treaty as there written, is a mystery and seemingly must remain
so. Nothing in the diplomatic correspondence of the time throws any
light whatever on the point." (2 Miller 384.)
The Miller edition also contains an annotated
translation from the original Arabic made in 1930 by Dr. C. Snouck
Hurgronje of Leiden; for text, see p. 1075.
4 See footnote
3, p. 1070.
Billy Graham also stated that the United States of America is not a Christian Nation. The following is a televised interview by David Frost with Billy Graham on May 30, 1997.
|
David Frost: You said, we are a society poised on the brink of self destruction. Billy Graham: That's right. I believe that. When one knows the little bit of the inside as you would of the chemical weapons and other weapons. But it is the moral thing I was thinking about. The fact that we are going down morally so fast until there's no longer among our young people an understanding of right and wrong. You can see it in their faces, their searching for something. And I think that many of our political leaders are the same way. They want something but they haven't found it yet. David Frost: Say is this still a Christian Country? Billy Graham: No! We're not a Christian Country. We've never been a Christian Country. We're a secular Country, by our constitution. In which Christians live and which many Christians have a voice. But we're not a Christian Country. |
David Frost interviews |
Apotheosis means elevation to divine status, or deification. George Washington has been elevated to a god. The United States capitol dome interior has an overhead painting in the "heavens." Figures in the overhead painting - an allegorical glorification of the first President - were drawn as much a 15 feet high to seem life-size from the Rotunda floor 180 feet below. The "Apotheosis of Washington" covers 4,664 square feet of concave surface. Constantino Brumidi worked the fresco in 1865. Gods and mortals mingle in the Dome's fresco heavens. These ancient gods are not part of Christianity. Jesus Christ is the Son of God and we are commanded by Him to worship only one god, Almighty God, our Father in Heaven.
