American Quotations by William J. Federer 2024

Nez Perces and Flathead Indians (1831) visited St. Louis, Missouri. Wyandot Indian chief, William Walker (1800-1874) wrote a letter, January 19, 1833, documenting the visit of the four Indians, identifying them as being one of the Flathead tribe and three of the Nez Perces tribe. They had traveled 3,000 miles to St. Louis, Missouri, and met with Territorial Governor William Clark (1770-1838) of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, 1805-1806, and Catholic Bishop Joseph Rosati (1789-1843), because they heard: <The white people away toward the rising sun had been put in possession of the true mode of worshiping the Great Spirit; they...

George Eugene Belknap (January 22, 1832-April 7, 1903) was a U.S. Navy Commodore, 1885; and Rear Admiral, 1889. He declared: <No nation can materially enlarge her borders and rise to great ascendancy except on the basis of Christianity and its revealed Word. In such ferment of unrest, such tumult of change, the old religions will surely give way to the power of the Cross. The Light of the World will irradiate those fair lands. The utterly indifferent temperature of the Chinese conduces to this ambition of Japan, and so surely as she accomplishes her lofty ambition, so surely will the Cross of...

Delaware Constitution (1831): <BILL OF RIGHTS, ARTICLE I, SECTION 1. Although it is the duty of all men frequently to assemble together for the public worship of Almighty God; and piety and morality, on which the prosperity of communities depends, are hereby promoted; yet no man shall or ought to be compelled to attend any religious worship, to contribute to the erection or support of any place of worship, or to the maintenance of any Ministry, against his own free will and consent; and no power shall or ought to be vested in or assumed by any magistrate that shall...

Chester County, New York (August 23, 1831) as related in The New York Spectator, reported that a judge refused to admit the evidence of a man who declared he did not believe in God, on the grounds that the witness had destroyed beforehand all confidence of the court in his testimony. The newspaper explained: <The court of commons pleas of Chester county (New York), a few days since rejected a witness who declared his disbelief in the existence of God. The presiding judge remarked, that he had not before been aware that there was a man living who did not believe...

Virginia Constitution (1830) included: <BILL OF RIGHTS, ARTICLE 16. That religion, or the duty which we owe to our Creator, and the manner of discharging it, can be directed only by reason and conviction, not by force or violence; and therefore all men are equally entitled to the free exercise of religion, according to the dictates of conscience;   and that it is the mutual duty of all to practice Christian forbearance, love, and charity towards each other... ARTICLE 3, SECTION 11. No man shall be compelled to frequent or support any religious worship, place or Ministry whatsoever, nor shall be...