Tillman, Seth Barrett (2022) What Oath (If Any) Did Jacob Henry Take in 1809?: Deconstructing the Historical Myths. American Journal of Legal History, 61 (4). pp. 349-384. ISSN 0002-9319

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Abstract

The story of Jacob Henry is one which has been told and retold. It has been long celebrated, as a triumph of light over darkness, and of the progress of then-emerging American religious diversity over older traditions of parochialism and intolerance.1 Our story starts with Article 32 of the 1776 North Carolina Constitution. That provision imposed a religious test: That no person, who shall deny the being of God or the truth of the Protestant religion, or the divine authority either of the Old or New Testaments, or who shall hold religious principles incompatible with the freedom and safety of the State, shall be capable of holding any office or place of trust or profit in the civil department within this State.2 Article 32’s religious test extended to four categories of persons. It extended to atheists—those ‘who ... deny the being of God’. It extended to non-Protestants— those ‘who ... deny ... the truth of the Protestant religion’. It extended to non-Christians—those ‘who ... deny ... the divine authority either of the Old or New.

Item Type:	Article
Keywords:	Constitution; American religious diversity;
Academic Unit:	Faculty of Social Sciences > Law
Item ID:	18548
Identification Number:	https://doi.org/10.1093/ajlh/njab020
Depositing User:	Seth Tillman
Date Deposited:	17 May 2024 14:01
Journal or Publication Title:	American Journal of Legal History
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Refereed:	Yes
URI:	Publisher
Use Licence:	This item is available under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial Share Alike Licence (CC BY-NC-SA). Details of this licence are available here

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