Mississippi (December 10, 1817) was the 20th State admitted to the Union. The U.S. Congress, March 1, 1817, during the administration of President James Monroe, passed The Enabling Act for Mississippi, which required the government being formed in that territory to be:
<...not repugnant to the principles of the [Northwest Ordinance].> 1817MS001
The Northwest Ordinance stated:
<Article III. Religion, morality, and knowledge, being necessary to good government and the happiness of mankind, schools and the means of education shall forever be encouraged.> 1817MS002
The Constitution of the State of Mississippi, adopted 1817, stated:
<Article IX, Section 16. Religion, morality, and knowledge, being necessary to good government, the preservation of liberty and the happiness of mankind, schools and the means of education shall be forever encouraged in this state.> 1817MS003
<No person who denies the being of God or a future state of rewards and punishments shall hold any office in the civil department of the State.> 1817MS004
The Constitution of the State of Mississippi, adopted 1890, stated:
<Preamble. We, the people of Mississippi in convention assembled, grateful to Almighty God, and invoking His blessing on our work, do ordain and establish this Constitution.> 1817MS005
<Article XIV, Section 265. No person who denies the existence of a Supreme Being shall hold any office in this state.> 1817MS006
--
American Quotations by William J. Federer, 2024, All Rights Reserved, Permission granted to use with acknowledgement.
Endnotes:
1817MS001. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Mississippi, March 1, 1817, Congress passed the Enabling Act for Mississippi. C.23, 3 Stat. 348 at 349. The Debates and Proceedings in the Congress of the United States (Washington, D.C.: Gales and Seaton, 1854), Fourteenth Congress, Second Session, p. 1283. The Public Statutes at Large of the United States of America (Boston: Little, Brown and Co., 1854) Vol. III, p. 349, March 1, 1817. Acts Passed at a Congress of the United States of America Begun and Held at the City of New-York, on Wednesday the Fourth of March, in the Year 1789 (Hartford: Hudson & Goodwin, 1791), pp. 178-179, May 26, 1790. Frances Newton, ed., Federal and State Constitutions, Colonial Charters, and Other Organic Laws of the States, Territories, and Colonies now or heretofore forming the United States, 7 vols. (Washington: Government Printing Office, 1909).
1817MS002. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Mississippi, March 1, 1817, Congress passed the Enabling Act of Mississippi. Article III of "An Ordinance for the Government of the Territory of the United States Northwest of the River Ohio," signed into law by President George Washington, August 7, 1789; introduced in Congress by Rufus King, a signer of the Constitution; received House approval, July 21, 1789; received Senate approval, August 4, 1789, during the same period that Congress was formulating the First Amendment; originally passed by the Congress of the Confederation, July 13, 1787. Congressional Records, December 3, 1818, 3 Stat. 536. The Constitution of the United States with the Latest Amendments (Trenton: Moore and Lake, 1813), pp. 364-366. Acts Passed at a Congress of the United States of America (Hartford: Hudson and Goodwin, 1791), p. 104. Journal of Congress (ed. 1800) (early proposals of the bill) Vol. IX, pp. 109-110. Revised Statutes of the United States relating to the District of Columbia and Post Roads...together with the Public Treaties in force on the first day of December 1873 (ed. 1878). Life, Journal and Correspondence of Manasseh Cutler, Vol. I, chap. 8. Rufus King (a signer of the U.S. Constitution), The Life and Correspondence of Rufus King, Charles King, editor (New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1894), Vol. I, pp. 288-289. William MacDonald, Select Documents Illustrative of the History of the United States, 1776-1861 (NY: Macmillan Company, 1897, 1898), p. 26. Frances Newton Thorpe, ed., Federal and State Constitutions, Colonial Charters, and Other Organic Laws of the States, Territories, and Colonies now or heretofore forming the United States, 7 vols. (Washington: Government Printing Office, 1905; 1909; St. Clair Shores, MI: Scholarly Press, 1968), Vol. I, pp. 957- 962. Poole, North American Rev., (includes history of the act) CXXII: 229-65. Henry Steele Commager, ed., Documents of American History, 2 vols. (NY: F.S. Crofts and Company, 1934; Appleton-Century-Crofts, Inc., 1948, 6th edition, 1958; Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, Inc., 9th edition, 1973), pp. 37-38, 131. Paul M. Angle, ed., By These Words (NY: Rand McNally & Company, 1954), pp. 91-93. William Benton, The Annals of America, 20 vols. (Chicago, IL: Encyclopedia Britannica, 1968), Vol. III, pp. 194-195. Lillian W. Kay, ed., The Ground on Which We Stand-Basic Documents of American History (NY: Franklin Watts., Inc, 1969), p. 38-39. Daniel L. Driesbach, Real Threat and Mere Shadow-Religious Liberty and the First Amendment (Westchester, IL: Crossway Books, 1987), Vol. I, pp. 427-428. Edwin S. Gaustad, Neither King nor Prelate-Religion and the New Nation, 1776-1826 (Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1993), (complete text including drafts and proposals), pp. 153-158. Tim LaHaye, Faith of Our Founding Fathers (Brentwood, TN: Wolgemuth & Hyatt, Publishers, Inc., 1987), p. 91. D.P. Diffine, Ph.D., One Nation Under God-How Close a Separation? (Searcy, Arkansas: Harding University, Belden Center for Private Enterprise Education, 6th edition, 1992), p. 3. Stephen McDowell and Mark Beliles, "The Providential Perspective" (Charlottesville, VA: The Providence Foundation, P.O. Box 6759, Charlottesville, Va. 22906, January 1994), Vol. 9, No. 1, p. 5.
1817MS003. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Mississippi, 1817, Constitution, Article IX, Section 16. The Constitutions of All the United States According to the Latest Amendments (Lexington, KY: Thomas T. Skillman, 1817), p. 389. Congressional Records, March 1, 1817, c. 23,3 Stat. 348 at 349. Frances Newton Thorpe, ed., Federal and State Constitutions, Colonial Charters, and Other Organic Laws of the States, Territories, and Colonies now or heretofore forming the United States, 7 vols. (Washington: Government Printing Office, 1905; 1909; St. Clair Shores, MI: Scholarly Press, 1968).
1817MS004. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Mississippi, 1817, Constitution. Supreme Court Justice David Josiah Brewer, who served 1890- 1910, in his work, The United States-Christian Nation (Philadelphia: The John C. Winston Company, 1905, Supreme Court Collection).
1817MS005. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Mississippi, 1890, Constitution, Preamble. Charles E. Rice, The Supreme Court and Public Prayer (New York: Fordham University Press, 1964), pp. 171-172; "Hearings, Prayers in Public Schools and Other Matters," Committee on the Judiciary, U.S. Senate (87th Cong., 2nd Sess.), 1962, pp. 268 et seq.
1817MS006. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Mississippi, 1890, Constitution, Article XIV, Section 265. Charles E. Rice, The Supreme Court and Public Prayer (New York: Fordham University Press, 1964), pp. 171-172; "Hearings, Prayers in Public Schools and Other Matters," Committee on the Judiciary, U.S. Senate (87th Cong., 2nd Sess.), 1962, pp. 268 et seq.