“So Help Me God”: Oath Rituals and Christian Citizenship in the New Nation

From 1776 to 1790 both the American nation as well as its individual states had to reformulate their governing documents, creating over twenty new constitutions in as many years.  While scholars have paid careful attention to the clauses concerning religious freedom in hopes of understanding how the founding generation conceived of the relationship between church and state, they have not focused on the oaths of office which these constitutions dictated.  In the 1770s and 1780s, politicians and citizens were involved in establishing oath rituals which were acceptable to the majority of Americans.  These rituals, such as kneeling and kissing the gospels or swearing on the “Holy Evangelist,” had important implications regarding which religious groups could participate in the new governments. 

This paper traces the development of and debate over oath of office rituals from 1776 to 1790, culminating with President Washington’s inauguration ceremony in 1789 which represented for many Americans the perfect combination of religious freedom and patriotic piety.  While Washington’s oath became the epitome of the oath ritual for Americans, it was the result of over ten years of challenges and changes to state oaths of office.  This paper considers these oaths as early modern rituals administered not merely as a traditional formality, but as a necessity which protected the government from unscrupulous and immoral men.  As religious sects protested a variety of oath rituals and wordings, state governments sought solutions which preserved the religious significance of an oath without prohibiting Christian citizens from political engagement.    In its quest for an oath ritual restrictive enough to bar atheists and Muslims from office, but capacious enough to embrace diverse Christian denominations, America moved towards an idea of religious freedom.