American Quotations by William J. Federer 2024

Pennsylvania (December 12, 1787) was the 2nd State admitted to the Union. The Constitution of the State of Pennsylvania, adopted 1776, stated: <Preamble. We, the people of Pennsylvania, grateful to Almighty God for the blessings of civil and religious liberty, and humbly invoking His guidance, do ordain and establish this Constitution.> 1787PA001 <Frame of Government, Chapter 2, Section 10. And each member [of the legislature], before he takes his seat, shall make and subscribe the following declaration, viz: "I do believe in one God, the Creator and Governour of the Universe, the Rewarder of the good and Punisher of the wicked, and...

Delaware (December 7, 1787) was the 1st State admitted to the Union. The Constitution of the State of Delaware, adopted 1776, stated: <Article XXII. Every person who shall be chosen a member of either house, or appointed to any office or place of trust...shall...make and subscribe the following declaration, to wit: "I,      , do profess faith in God the Father, and in Jesus Christ His only Son, and in the Holy Ghost, one God, blessed for evermore; I do acknowledge the holy scriptures of the Old and New Testaments to be given by divine inspiration."(until 1792)> 1787DE001 The...

United States Constitution (1787) contained religious references: <Article I, Section 7, Paragraph 2. If any bill shall not be returned by the President within ten Days (Sundays excepted)...> 1787US002 <Done in Convention, by the unanimous consent of the States present, the seventeenth day of September, in the year of our LORD one thousand seven hundred and eighty seven.> 1787US003 The Oath of Office for both the U.S. Senators, usually administered by the Vice-President, and the U.S. Representatives, administered by the Speaker of the House, states: <I,    , do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution...

United States Constitution (September 17, 1787): <We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America. ARTICLE I SECTION 1 All legislative Powers herein granted shall be vested in a Congress of the United States, which shall consist of a Senate and House of Representatives. SECTION 2 The House of Representatives shall be composed of Members chosen every...

Constitutional Convention (September 17, 1787) called for a vote on the new Constitution. Thirty-nine of the fifty-five delegates at the Constitutional Convention signed the Constitution.  By June 21, 1788, nine of the states had ratified it, establishing the Constitution. All of the states had completed ratification by January 10, 1791. Virtually all of the 55 writers and signers of the United States Constitution of 1787, were members of Christian denominations: 29 Episcopalians, 9 Presbyterians, 7 Congregationalists, 2 Lutherans, 2 Dutch Reformed, 2 Methodists, 2 Roman Catholics, 1 lapsed Quaker and sometimes Anglican, and 1 open Deist-Dr. Franklin who attended every...