Not quite as exciting as November 7, 2006 perhaps but in the light of Investor Racist Daily‘s little editorial about John Conyers, I thought it was time for a history lesson.
It doesn’t get any more “patriotic” than 1796. I mean all the “Founding Fathers” were still quite alive and well. George Washington, on September 17, gave probably the best Presidential farewell addresses ever.
Profoundly penetrated with this idea, I shall carry it with me to my grave, as a strong incitement to unceasing vows that Heaven may continue to you the choicest tokens of its beneficence; that your union and brotherly affection may be perpetual; that the free constitution, which is the work of your hands, may be sacredly maintained; that its administration in every department may be stamped with wisdom and virtue; than, in fine, the happiness of the people of these States, under the auspices of liberty, may be made complete, by so careful a preservation and so prudent a use of this blessing, as will acquire to them the glory of recommending it to the applause, the affection, and adoption of every nation, which is yet a stranger to it.
Ahh, those were the “good old days” weren’t they? Assuming you were a white man of course, especially one with some money.
Of course even as we correctly project backwards in History our hatred of the enslavement of fellow human beings, and the absence of suffrage for others, at least all of those things were Constitutional. The power and respect the Constitution garners is not for its immutability but precisely for the opposite: its flexibility.
But as Washington exited stage right to be lawfully superceded by James Madison (in lieu of de facto kingship, which was his to command), he had a man by the name of Joel Barlow sent to North Africa on a diplomatic mission.
Shocking as it may seem to the sage writers of IBD, Mr. Barlow spoke and understood not just French but also Arabic. Shock! Gasp! Not only that, but he was made an honorary citizen of France. Life Alert!
But yes it is true. And due to his knowledge and connections (including to the indispensable Thomas Paine), Barlow was in the city of Tripoli (now Libya) to negotiate with the Bey (leader) of the Barbary States.
On November 4, 1796, as an emissary of the United States government, Barlow signed a treaty with the Barbary States, the full text of which is here. Those wearing pacemakers beware: the original text of the treaty was in the Arabic language. The horror!
The treaty (in English) was ratified by the U.S. Senate on June 10, 1797, in full concordance with the rules of that antiquated document “The Constitution”.
Of interest to us today is Article 11 of that treaty:
As the government of the United States of America is not in any sense founded on the Christian Religion,-as it has in itself no character of enmity against the laws, religion or tranquility of Musselmen [Muslims],-and as the said States never have entered into any war or act of hostility against any [Muslim] nation, it is declared by the parties that no pretext arising from religious opinions shall ever produce an interruption of the harmony existing between the two countries.
I know, I know. It’s almost too much to bear. A French citizen doing the American government’s business, writing treaties in Arabic, no wars with Muslim nations AND mentioning the categorical truth, which is the American government is not founded on Christianity?
It almost seems like a bad dream, doesn’t it IBD readers? And yet the “horror” is that it is all true.
Thank goodness Washington is dead, along with his warning against foreign military entanglements and his ridiculous “appeal” to avoid partisan politics!
With history like this, who needs history? Right IBD?
About the only good thing that happened that year was the British buying land for a permanent prisoner of war camp! And this was some 150 years before any “fools” would even conceive of the Geneva Conventions.
IBD, won’t you join me in a hearty toast to celebrate indefinite detention of POW’s?
Pax