The
“...government of the United States of America is not in any sense founded on the
Christian Religion...”, according to Article 11 of the Treaty
of Peace and Friendship, signed at Tripoli on November 4, 1796, and
passed by the United States Congress.
Article VI, Clause 2 of the U.S.A. Constitution states: “This Constitution, and
the Laws of the United States which shall be made in Pursuance thereof; and all
Treaties made, or which shall be made, under the Authority of the United
States, shall be the supreme Law of the Land...”.
With “religion”
defined as “belief in God or gods” (first definition, 1977 World Book
Dictionary), the existence of an official U.S.A. state religion is evident from
the word “God” found
(1) in the U.S.A.
Declaration of Independence,
(2) in the U.S.A. Pledge of
Allegiance,
(3) on the U.S.A. coins,
(4) in the U.S.A. national
motto,
(5) in the U.S.A. national
anthem, and
(6)
in the opening of each session of the U.S.A. Supreme Court.
The Declaration of Independence, which has not been rescinded by Congress and
is still in effect today, endorses Thomas Jefferson’s god for entitlement of Congress to their rights.
Thomas Jefferson was the author of the Declaration of Independence.
Adopted by Congress on July 4, 1776, the Declaration of Independence provides
the following doctrine of the U.S.A. state religion:
(1) the Laws of “Nature’s God” entitled Congress to certain rights;
(2) all men are endowed by their “Creator”
with certain unalienable rights;
(3) the Representatives of the U.S.A., in General Congress, Assembled, appealed
to the “Supreme Judge of the world” for
the rectitude of their intentions;
(4) the signers of the Declaration of Independence pledged with a firm reliance
on the protection of “divine Providence”;
and,
(5) the signers of the Declaration of Independence pledged to each other their “sacred Honor”.
The state religion of the United States of America is a religion with belief in
Thomas Jefferson’s god. Thomas Jefferson
was a deist. See The Deist
Roots of the United States of America by Robert L. Johnson.
Thomas Jefferson denied the divinity of Jesus Christ and the miracles that
Jesus Christ performed as recorded in the King James Bible.
Thomas Jefferson wrote in a letter
that the following are “artificial
systems” “invented by ultra-Christian
sects, unauthorized by a single word ever uttered by him” (Jesus of Nazareth): “The immaculate conception of Jesus, his deification,
the creation of the world by him, his miraculous powers, his resurrection and
visible ascension, his corporeal presence in the Eucharist, the Trinity;
original sin, atonement, regeneration, election, orders of Hierarchy”.
Thomas Jefferson’s definition of a “real Christian” is different than many other people’s definition of a “real
Christian”. Thomas Jefferson was a disciple of the doctrines of the Jesus of
the Jefferson
Bible but not a disciple of the doctrines of the Jesus of the King
James Bible.
The First Amendment states that “Congress
shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the
free exercise thereof;...”. The First Amendment, signed in 1789, in effect
stated that the existing U.S.A. state religion could not be changed. In 1789
and after 1789, Congress could make no law respecting an establishment of a
U.S.A. state religion, or prohibiting the free exercise of a U.S.A. state
religion, according to the First Amendment. The U.S.A. state religion was
already established as of July 4, 1776, when Congress adopted the Declaration
of Independence.
A “Federal Reserve
Note” is not a U.S.A. dollar. “Most
people associate the noun ‘dollar’ with the Federal Reserve Note (‘FRN’) ‘dollar bill’,
engraved with the portrait of President George Washington. This association is
mistaken. No statute defines - or ever has defined - the ‘one dollar’ FRN
as the ‘dollar’, or even as a species of ‘dollar’”, wrote
Edwin Vieira, Jr. in What Is A
“Dollar”?.
A “Federal Reserve Note” makes the claim
that “This note is legal tender for all
debts, public and private”. “No State
shall ... make any Thing but gold and silver Coin a Tender in Payment of Debts;
...”, according to Article I, Section 10, Clause 1 of the U.S.A. Constitution.
The Coinage Act of 1792 defined the U.S.A. dollar as containing 371.25 grains
(24.06 grams) of pure silver. After 1792, U.S.A. laws, that redefined the
U.S.A. dollar as no longer consisting of fixed mass of silver but rather
consisting of a fixed mass of gold, include the Gold Standard Act in 1900. In
the past, Congress has considered defining and redefining the U.S.A. dollar to
be “Acts and Things which Independent
States may of right do”.
I am unaware of any U.S.A. law, since 1900, redefining the U.S.A. dollar as no
longer having the value of a fixed mass of gold. The last time, that I know of,
that the official U.S.A. price for gold was fixed was in 1973 at 42.2222
dollars per ounce. Public Law 93-110 defined the U.S.A. dollar as having the
value of 1/42.2222 fine troy ounces of gold.
The U.S.A. Department of the
Treasury values gold at 42.2222 U.S.A. dollars per fine troy ounce. “Gold and silver reserves are reported at the
statutory rates of $42.2222 per fine troy ounce (FTO) for gold and $1.292929292
per FTO for silver for the entire custodial reserves, which are in the custody
of the U.S. Mint and the Federal Reserve Bank of New York”, as
stated in the Department of the Treasury’s Annual
Financial Report (pdf document).
The action, of no longer redeeming “Federal”
Reserve Notes for gold for various people, is not the same thing as the action
of defining or redefining what the U.S.A. dollar actually is.
Email concerning this web page may be sent to David Wozney at dpwozney@ocii.com.