I love history. So much there, hard to re-write and all you have to do is want to dig for the truth.
The significance of this article that is often overlooked or ignored is that it stated categorically that the United States of America is not founded upon the Christian religion, and that this treaty, with that statement intact, was read before and passed unanimously by the United States Senate, and was signed by the President of the United States without a hint of controversey or discord, and remains a definitive statement from the "Founding Fathers" on the secular nature of American government
Preliminary treaty began with a signing on 4 November, 1796 and ratified by the Senate with John Adams signature on 10 June, 1797
Treaty of Tripoli. In Article 11, it states:
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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 tranquillity, of Mussulmen; and, as the said States never entered into any war, or act of hostility against any Mahometan 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.
4 good sites on it.
The first one is the actual minutes taken from The Journal of the Senate including the Journal of the Executive Proceedings of the Senate, John Adams Administration 1791-1801
http://members.tripod.com/~candst/tripoli1.htmhttp://earlyamerica.com/review/summer97/secular.htmlhttp://www.nobeliefs.com/Tripoli.htmhttp://www.sunnetworks.net/~ggarman/tripoli.htmlHeres the links to the library of congress
http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/ampage?collId=llsp&fileName=002/llsp002.db&recNum=23http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/ampage?collId=llsp&fileName=002/llsp002.db&recNum=24Also found this in the Library of Congress while looking for the treaty.
http://www.loc.gov/loc/lcib/0205/tolerance.htmlCampaigning for religious freedom in Virginia, Jefferson followed Locke, his idol, in demanding recognition of the religious rights of the “Mahamdan,” the Jew and the “pagan.” Supporting Jefferson was his old ally, Richard Henry Lee, who had made a motion in Congress on June 7, 1776, that the American colonies declare independence. “True freedom,” Lee asserted, “embraces the Mahomitan and the Gentoo (Hindu) as well as the Christian religion.”
In his autobiography, Jefferson recounted with satisfaction that in the struggle to pass his landmark Bill for Establishing Religious Freedom (1786), the Virginia legislature “rejected by a great majority” an effort to limit the bill’s scope “in proof that they meant to comprehend, within the mantle of its protection, the Jew and the Gentile, the Christian and Mahometan.”