Founding Fathers' View of religious symbolism and national identity

[johnny861]

Not jusityfing it, but an interesting read on the Founding Fathers' views of Religious symbolism and references...

Too long to post.. but here's the link to the essay:

http://mysite.verizon.net/richard.ga...uitcoeptis.htm

The essay is also cited:



Annuit Coeptis

The Founding Fathers' View of Using Religious

Language to Identify their Nation


Many are debating the propriety of the word "God" in the Pledge to the U.S. Flag, in the national motto, and in the oaths of office of Congressmen and U.S. military personnel. One of the most salient factors in this debate is the view of the founding fathers in this regard.



For example, some opponents of the national motto, "In God We Trust" have alleged that the founding fathers not only did not, but would not, approve of any such motto. They point to the fact that this particular motto, which is now the official motto of the U.S.A., wasn't devised until 1863, and they claim that if the issue had been debated in the founding period, such a motto would never have been adopted.



The documentary evidence shows that the founders not only would, but did approve of motto(s) that referenced God.



Thomas Jefferson is often considered the principal founder who articulated the doctrine of "the wall of separation." That phrase was used by Jefferson in a private letter to a group of Baptist elders in Connecticut. Among the founders who were advocates of separation of church and state, Jefferson represents the strongest.



With that in mind, should we expect the man who articulated the "wall of separation" to think that a national motto containing the word "God" to be a fundamental violation of the principle of separation?



We don't have to guess about this. Jefferson himself brought forth a proposal for a U.S. motto to the Congress in 1776. Jefferson, Adams, and Franklin were appointed a committee to devise a national seal. Jefferson proposed that the image on the reverse side of the national seal be the Old Testament story of the Hebrew slaves fleeing from Pharaoh.[1] Jefferson proposed that the national motto that accompanies this image be the following:


REBELLION TO TYRANTS IS OBEDIENCE TO GOD.[2]

Ben Franklin, who shared Jefferson's strong feelings against religious establishments, proposed the same national motto.[3]

The proposal for this motto was not voted up or down by the Congress, but it was tabled in light of other pressing issues. The fact that it ultimately was not included on the official national seal was not a result of the fact that the founders thought it to be too religious. If there were any in the assembly who might have taken that view, it would have been Jefferson and Franklin, and they were the ones who were actually promoting it!

Even though the motto was not ultimately included on the national seal, Jefferson also proposed it for the Virginia state seal, and finally adopted it for his own personal seal which he used on letters throughout his life.[4]

Though Jefferson certainly believed that one's religious convictions should never be considered a crime since they "neither break my leg nor pick my pocket," Jefferson was absolutely convinced that belief in God was essential to preserve national liberties:

Can the liberties of a nation be thought secure when we have removed their only firm basis, a conviction in the minds of the people that these liberties are of the gift of God? That they are not to be violated but with his wrath?[5]

Jefferson said that our rights are the gift of the Creator, and that if we deny that fundamental truth, then our civil rights are in dire jeopardy. Though Jefferson didn't want the government to become entangled in ecclesiastical affairs, he definitely felt that civil government must recognize the divine source of its existence.

The fact that Jefferson's proposed motto did not end up on the seal is not as important as the fact that it gives us a clear indication of Jefferson's own personal view about a national motto containing the word God. If Jefferson is regarded as the chief proponent of the "wall of separation," then his view about a proper national motto is extremely relevant. The bottom line is that Jefferson wanted a religious national motto.


The 1776 design for the front of the seal included an eye in a triangle hovering over the 13 colonies.[6]

So what did that eye signify?

We know for certain that the "eye in the triangle" did not originate with the founders. As a matter of fact, this symbol of an eye in a triangle had been a common part of Western culture for centuries before the founders proposed to make it an image on the national seal.

What did folks in 18th century American culture understand an eye in a triangle to symbolize?

The answer is easily established: it signified "an omniscient and ubiquitous Deity."[7]

The "overseeing eye" was widely used as a symbol of God throughout the 15th -18th centuries, and perhaps even earlier. In 1525, the Renaissance painter, Pontormo, painted the following image:[8]

This picture leaves little question as to the religious symbolism of the eye in a triangle. In 1554 St. Mary's Church Tower was constructed in Lancashire, England, with an engraving of the eye which represented God, the all-seeing protector.[9] In 1614, Sir Walter Raleigh published his "History of the World." In the frontispiece of this work, in order to symbolize God's dominion over both history and the world, the book included the following illustration:[10]

Silver coins minted in 1633 in London bore the likeness of King Charles I riding on a horse. He was a king who defended the doctrine of the "Divine Right" of kings, and as such the depiction of him is found below the "eye of providence."[11] Back in 1485, the Dutch Renaissance painter, Bosch, painted a famous depiction of God's all-seeing eye.[12] The "eye of God" became a common feature of gravestones; several funerary sources explain:

"Eye of God/All-Seeing Eye - The Eye of God or the All-Seeing Eye symbolizes the all-knowing and ever-present God. During the Renaissance period in Europe, it was common to illustrate the Eye of God surrounded by a triangle (the Holy Trinity). The eye within the triangle, surrounded by a circle and radiating rays of light is used to symbolize the holiness of the true God."[13]


The evidence is indisputable that the eye in the triangle was a common symbol for the Trinitarian Deity during the centuries prior to the founding of the U.S.



Would the founders have known this? The evidence is indisputable.



The 1776 committee that was appointed to design the national seal dissolved. At the close of the Revolutionary War, the endeavor was again taken up by the Continental Congress. Congress appointed a design artist, William Barton of Philadelphia, to bring a proposal for the national seal. The previous committees' suggestions were turned over to Barton, and in the design Barton proposed, he incorporated the 1776 "eye in a triangle." Here is Barton's proposal for the reverse side of national seal:[14]

http://mysite.verizon.net/richard.ga...s/image005.jpg

It is an all-seeing eye atop a pyramid, headed by the following motto: "Deo Favente." The proper Latin translation of Deo (ablative of Deus, the Dei-ty) is "with God." "Deo Favente" is Latin for "with God favoring."

The eye symbolized God.

Barton connected this motto to the image of the eye, explaining, "'Deo Favente' which alludes to the Eye in the Arms, meant for the Eye of Providence."[15] There is simply no question that the eye and the Deity were linked by the founding fathers.

So far, then, we know that Jefferson, Franklin, and Barton wanted religious mottos to identify the U.S. as a nation. They also wanted religious images to be engraved on the national seal.



But neither Jefferson & Franklin's "Rebellion to Tyrants is Obedience to God" nor Barton's "Deo Favente" became part of the National Seal. However, a closely related motto did.



The founding fathers approved of the motto "annuit coeptis" for the national seal. It was adopted in 1782 and can be found on the one dollar currency printed at the mint this very day. This motto was proposed by Charles Thomson, the secretary of the Continental Congress, and was adopted by Congress on June 20, 1776.

The Federal Government's authorities consistently translate the phrase: "He (God) has favored our undertakings." This includes the U.S. Treasury, The U.S. Mint, and the U.S. State Department.



Some have attempted to claim that since the Latin "annuit" is subject-less, it can take on any subject that anybody wants to impose upon it (God, providence, the kitchen sink, a dog). That kind of claim is patently erroneous. Charles Thomson did not leave the motto open for interpretation: he provided "remarks and explanations" to Congress that clarified his intent. The Historian of the U.S. State Department points us to Thomson's remarks and explanation to discover what Thomson and the Congress intended with this motto:


"The 'Remarks and Explanation' have an official character and status, in that they came directly from the principal creators of the seal design and are thus primary evidence of what Barton and Thomson intended the device to signify, and what Congress knew to be the intent of the designers when the seal was adopted."[16]


So what did Thomson say about the motto, "annuit coeptis"? Here are Thomson's important words: "The pyramid signifies Strength and Duration: the Eye over it & the Motto allude to the many signal interpositions of providence in favour of the American cause."[17] Note that Thomson said that the EYE and the MOTTO allude to the same thing. We have already seen that the eye is an indisputable symbol for God.