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Introduction
Ten Commandments are principles from the Bible that are believed to be given to the people by God. They lie in the basis of Christianity and also play a very important role in Judaism. Ten Commandments have influenced human culture greatly, and the United States of America are not an exclusion. The Ten Commandments influenced American law to a great extent. A huge statue of the document is installed in the Supreme Court, which demonstrates their importance. Thus, Ten Commandments lie in the foundation of American law and have played an important role during the building of the United States.
Ten Commandments in the Law of the First Colonies
British Origins
In the period of Reformation, there was a renaissance of people’s interest in the Old Testament and the Scriptures. This was one of the factors which lie in the basis of the association of the law and the Decalogue (Green, 2000). This process was accompanied by the civil equity and by integration of civil laws and divine law. In Britain, judges sometimes sought authority directly in the Bible. However, despite the attempts of the Puritans to draw the civil laws closer to the scriptures, there was also an opposite trend. Secular considerations were strengthening their positions. Some principles of the British law became the basis for the American laws.
Colonial Period
The first American colonies were founded by Puritan protestants who were seeking a place where they could hide from English laws. Thus, for a large number of settlers, religion was a very important issue, as they have moved to another continent following their beliefs. Green explains that early U.S. laws were a mix of Brutish common law, cases reflecting practical responses to the problems faced by the settlers, and impulses to reform the legislation system (Green, 2000). The Bible was the fourth component which influenced American law. It was explained by the fact that early colonies were founded by Puritans who supported an idea of legal biblicism. However, Green argues that the belief that the U.S. laws were based on the scriptures, was far from universal in the colonial period.
Puritans influenced American history greatly, having laid the foundations of its culture as well as religious and political norms. According to Valeri (2010), they altered the views on the financial side of life, bringing value to honest labor that leads to wealth. Thus, despite the deep respect to the Commandments and the Scriptures, many views at some issues changed dramatically. America has to be the country of strong-willed people who cherished freedom and strived to happiness and decent life. At the same time, an American person respected Christian religion and tried to live according to its principles.
The Founding Fathers mention God’s name in the Declaration of Independence no less than four times. According to the Declaration, the laws of the United States are based on existence of God who constituted a certain self-evident moral code. Thus, the natural rights of individuals do not come from some government, parliament, or ruling elite. People’s rights come from God and cannot be alienated by anyone. A British philosopher, G.K. Chesterton, has noted that the United States of America are the only nation found on a creed (Valeri, 2010). All these facts demonstrate that in the times of the first colonies’ settlement people took the Ten Commandments very seriously and were ready to create the laws in accordance with their faith.
The attitude of the first American politicians to the Chrisitan faith is reflected in the speeches and documents written by the U.S. presidents. George Washington, the first President of the United States of America, said in his Farewell Address that religion and morality are an essential support for the prosperity of any country (Valeri, 2010). The second president, John Adams, also said that the freedom of Americans is provided by religion: “It is religion and morality alone” which establish the principles “upon which freedom can securely stand” (Valeri, 2010). He says that the U.S. Constitution was created only for religious and moral people and it is inadequate to any other government.
The third President of the U.S., Thomas Jefferson, also considered that people’s freedom and their faith are closely connected. Being a governor of Virginia, he issued a proclamation, saying that God would establish the independence of the United States based and religion and virtue (14). He also claimed that God would support the people of America “in the enjoyment of peace, liberty, and safety”. Thus, people’s virtue and faith were regarded as the conditions of their independence. Jefferson considered that liberties given by the government can be firm only in case if they are based on the conviction that they are gifted by God and cannot be violated. Thus, according to this point of view, people should be afraid of God’s wrath, and this will guarantee that they will be safe.
The fourth president of the United States, James Madison, who also created the Constitution, believed that God is “the Supreme Lawgiver of the Universe”. Jefferson considered that if an individual wants to be a member of a civil society, they should first consider themselves to be God’s subject. The idea of a Supreme Lawgiver was taken by the President from the Old Testament. Thus, the jurisprudence of the United States was based on the principles revealed in the Bible.
Political researchers Donald S. Lutz and Charles S. Hyneman have examined 15000 documents written in the period of the foundation of the U.S., which is from 1760 to 1805. These sources included newspapers, political pamphlets, monographs, and political volumes. The researches found 3,154 citations from the Bible in these documents, and 34% of them were made by the Founders. This data proves that Bible was a truly influential source that had an authority in political issues.
Ten Commandments are one of the most influential law codes in history. As Green puts it, some people insist that Ten Commandments are the source and a historical basis of law of the United States (Green, 2000). Before the World War I and up to 1920s, the U.S. positioned itself as a Christian country. A federal judge John T. Noonah reported that not so long Americans said that the source of their law comes from either God or Ten Commandments (Green, 2000). Thus, the Commandments functioned as a pattern which could be followed during making judiciary decisions.
Alternative Point of View
Despite the importance of Ten Commandments for the first settlers, some modern researchers doubt that they are actually lie in the basis of American legislation. First of all, it is explained by the fact that some Commandments regulate the relationships of people and God, which is the personal sphere of any individual. In first Commandments is advised to avoid idolatry, not to use God’s name in vain, et cetera, which is not regulated by the law. However, many Americans even nowadays accept the importance of Ten Commandments for American law despite most of them cannot name all of the commandments. It can be also argued that such principles as prohibition on adultery and murder, as well as respect to one’s parents, lie in the foundation of Western law.
Conclusion
Thus, the Ten Commandments have formed the American law and influenced the building of the first states greatly, despite the fact that nowadays the law does not appeal to the Bible. Puritans formed a new nation with its own ideals and values. American nation was the only one that was built on religious principles, and the first Presidents often mentioned religious principles in their speeches. Previously, Ten Commandments were considered to be the source of the U.S. law, and judges referenced to the Bible in order to attain a verdict. Nowadays Ten Commandments are still an important document for many American people, and statues depicting it still stand in many places of the country.
References
Green, S. (2000). The fount of everything just and right? The Ten Commandments as a source of American law. Journal of Law and Religion, 14(2), 525-558. doi:10.2307/3556579
Valeri, M. (2010). Heavenly Merchandize: How Religion Shaped Commerce in Puritan America. Princeton University Press.
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