The Christianity practiced in America was described by
John Jay as “wise and virtuous,” by John Quincy Adams as “civilized,” and by
John Adams as “rational.” A clear distinction was drawn between American
Christianity and that of Europe in earlier centuries. As Noah Webster
explained:
The ecclesiastical establishments of Europe which serve
to support tyrannical governments are not the Christian religion but abuses and
corruptions of it. Daniel Webster similarly explained that American
Christianity was:
Christianity to which the sword and the fagot burning
stake or hot branding iron are unknown general tolerant Christianity is the law
of the land! Those who attribute the Treaty of Tripoli quote to George
Washington make two mistakes.
The first is that no statement in it can be attributed to
Washington the treaty did not arrive in America until months after he left
office; Washington never saw the treaty; it was not his work; no statement in
it can be ascribed to him. The second mistake is to divorce a single clause of
the treaty from the remainder which provides its context. It would also be
absurd to suggest that President Adams under whom the treaty was ratified in 1797
would have endorsed or assented to any provision which repudiated Christianity.
In fact, while discussing the Barbary conflict with Jefferson, Adams declared:
The policy of Christendom has made cowards of all their
sailors before the standard of Mahomet. It would be heretical and glorious in
us to restore courage to ours. Furthermore, it was Adams who declared:
The general principles on which the fathers achieved
independence were the general principles of Christianity. I will avow that I
then believed, and now believe, that those general principles of Christianity
are as eternal and immutable as the existence and attributes of God; and that
those principles of liberty are as unalterable as human nature.
