The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1870-04-28

are in perfect harmony with this great
pril1cip4esaa Nhiiea0t istrue that 1t requlr-
es the President to .ttswear or affirm y
that he,"awill faithfully execute. the of /
fee of President of the United States i
and also saws that the senators and repre-.
fentativesso before mentioned, and the
members Of he several state legislatures, |
and all executive and Judicial officers,
% t. aofphe Unit ed States andsof the sew !
I eab ft;ltes,Shall be bound by oath or .af |
naion 10 support this Constitution d;
i5<.atfps adds IS q g But no religious test
shall ever be required as a qualification
TO any office or public trust under the
.J0.f3d States. IN The officers of the Gov
rnYa emit, late permitted. according to1
Il btir choice, 10 declare-either Upon
oatli.-whtel Is q solemn appeal to the Su
preme Being by use of the Bible, or by
~imple Affirmation, whichisnot such AN
appeal-their purpose faithfully to pc
form Their duties Either methed Of
Itleclaration is co stitutional Moreover
30 guard he idea involved in one of thu
M thSdssdgainst ANY possible abuses, the
RECONSTRUCTION explicitly excludes all re-
afsQt{S It's ses Is. a qualification to any of
ieaso6 p]rbliea trust under, the United
ls9Fsetes.:u ~ ttiAtfines the methods of cheos-.
| IS 65fficeIs, Specifies the officers to be
lchoaens e4rpppo pointed, and I'M some cases
| eaign;ttcs certaih qua'ifica tlt,ns Of rest
ldeHeeoan4 age llbnt Enthusiastically rules
out the Whole question of religion as a
quai fication, both as to what it is and
equally as to whether the officer has any
Ifcligion s.sOnthis point the .Const tuition
Iproclaims its ownsindiference notsmere.y
as btween sects. of religionits, but DE
tween all men. 1t says that no religious
| test shall over be required The men
WIN framed this instrument knew the u,e
that had been made of such tests IN 9th
er ag IS and countries, and they meant to-
destroy is possibility in this land devot
Ell to liberty ), and they did .. very wise
thing n2df"5ing IT, w 81
these same men set forth the purpose of
civib government as they understood it;
ana the people IN adopting it did the
same thing. we haveit in these 5hemor-
able words: eve, the people Of the
United States, in order to form more
perfect union, establish iustice, insure do
nestle tranquility, proyidezfor the com
mon defense, promote the general well
tare, andasecure the blessings of liberty
| To- ourselves and our pesterity, do ord,,in
| md establish this Constitution of the
| United States of America" The first OF
these objects had reference to the pecu-
ar condition of the country under the
| Articles of Con ederstion, while the 9th
| rs st4te the general ends to be secured
| by the creation of a national government.
These ends are confined purely to Temporal
| Interests No nlention is made sof reli.
gion by way of exclusion, recognition, or
authorization. 1t is simply LETT out, be-
ieg neithe affirmed or .denie Nothing
IS sad about it. 1t is not contemplated
as one Of the things which fall within
the province al, civil government
TherArtieloss of Confederation, which
covered the period between the Decara-
ton of Independence and the adoption
Of the Constitution, bear the same charac
ter All that can be found III them hay
Ing the remoteSt reference to religion is
an itlnsion to ''tlie year of our Lord in
which they were adopted by the dele
gates in Congress, statement of the
fact that it had pleased the Great Gov
ernorgof the world to incline the hearts
OF the legslaturesP to ratify them, and a.
pledge by which the States bound " them
selves to assist each other against
ali force offered to egio on at |
tacks made upon them, or any of them,
on account \ Of religion, soyer-
eighty, trade, or any pretext what
ever" No one, as we presume, would |
ever appeal to, these articles as showing
that Christianity or any other religion |
was regarded by the fathers as any part
of the law of the, land. If this were
their theory, they were singularly reti-
cent about stating it, q g III
We have before us The Constitutions
of the Several States of the Union" pub
lished by J. r. Bigelow, in 1848. We
have examined them all, and find theirJ,
general position to be that of the Copstio
tuition of the United Stateso14 Some of.
them refer to Christianity much more
distinctly than others, and recognize its
value in relation to the state yet all of ,
them agree In asserting the rights of con- S
science, and providing safeguards against {
all state encroachments upon the liber- t
ties OF the people. We have not space to 7
develop this thought at large, and hence
content ourselves with single example {
as general exhibit of the Whole. The +
Constitution OF New Jersey SAYS: .sThere l.
shallbe no establishment of one religious I
sect in preference ofanother !; no religious !
test snail be required as a qualification !
for any office or pnblic trust: and no {
p rson shall be denied the enjoyment of :
any civil right merely on account of his
religious principles" Substantially the
same ideas existed in all the earlier con :
situations or the several states. The PEG
pie who adopted the Federal Constitu- /,
ton with the principles already shown, !