Monday, April 09, 2007

No Character of Enmity

From John Brown's Public Diplomacy Review [sorry about the shout-y caps]:

"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 TRANQUILITY OF MUSSELMEN [MUSLIMS], -- AND AS THE SAID STATES NEVER HAVE ENTERED INTO ANY WAR OR ACT OF HOSTILITY AGAINST ANY MEHOMITAN [MUSLIM] NATION, IT IS DECLARED BY THE PARTIES THAT NO PRETEXT ARISING FROM RELIGIOUS OPINIONS SHALL EVER PRODUCE AN INTERRUPTION OF HARMONY EXISTING BETWEEN THE TWO COUNTRIES."

--Article 11 of the Treaty of Peace and Friendship between the United States and the Bey and Subjects of Tripoli of Barbary, finished after George Washington left office; cited in John Meacham, American Gospel: God, the Founding Fathers, and the Making of a Nation (New York: Random House, 2007) p. 103, p. 262

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