Government of Rhode Island (March 19, 1641):
<The General Court of Election began and held at Portsmouth, from the 16th of March, to the 19th of the same month, 1641.
1. It was ordered and agreed, before the Election, that an engagement by oath should be taken of all the officers...
To the Execution of this office, I Judge myself bound before God to walk faithfully and this I profess in ye presence of God...
3. It is ordered and unanimously agreed upon, that the Government which this Body Politic doth attend unto in this Island, and the Jurisdiction thereof, in favor of our Prince is a DEMOCRACIE, or Popular Government; that is to say, It is in the Power of the Body of Freemen orderly assembled, or the major part of them, to make or constitute Just Laws, by which they will be regulated, and to depute from among themselves such Ministers as shall see them faithfully executed between Man and Man.> 1641RI001
--
American Quotations by William J. Federer, 2024, All Rights Reserved, Permission granted to use with acknowledgement.
Endnotes:
1641RI001. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Rhode Island, March 19, 1641, The General Court of Election, Portsmouth, Rhode Island, concerning Oaths of Office.