Our Oath of Office Makes the U.S. Unique
Way back when, English citizens, particularly the nobility, had to take an oath of office and swear allegiance to the king. It stated that when King John agreed to sign the Magna Carta and in return, the nobles had to swear allegiance to him, the king. Over the centuries, the British Parliament, often directed by the king or queen, changed the oath, sometimes for political reasons and other times for religious reasons. With every change, the core of the oath required members of Parliament and English citizens to swear allegiance to the king.
In 1868, Parliament passed the Promissory Oaths Act in which each citizen was required to state:
I – state your name – do swear that I will be faithful and bear true allegiance to Her Majesty Queen Victoria, her heirs, and successors, according to law, so help me God.
This law and who in the U.K. needs to take the oath has been amended several times since then, but the words have remained pretty much unchanged. The same is true with the majority of constitutional monarchies around the globe, in which the oath of office refers to the person taking the oath and promising allegiance to the king or queen.
Understand that when our Founding Fathers wrote our Constitution, they were aware of the history of oaths in England, France, and the rest of Europe. All were adamantly opposed to having some sort of aristocracy or king.
What makes our oath so different and unique is that the oath members of the U.S. military, judiciary, legislatures, etc. take is that part of the oath requires them to say, I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies foreign and domestic, and that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same….
Those are pretty powerful words, but no mention of a sovereign, i.e., a human being. What we, citizens of the United States, agree to do by this oath is defend the freedoms, privileges, and rights given to us under the Constitution and its 27 amendments.
Yes, I know, other countries now, repeat now, have something similar in their constitutions. However, by many, many decades, we were the first and every immigrant who becomes a citizen takes this oath.
We the People are supposed to all be equal under the law and as citizens, We the People choose our leaders. In modern history, we were the first to do this.
This is one of the reasons that the United States became a beacon of hope and why millions left and still leave the countries of their birth to come to America. They often arrive with nothing more than the shirts on their backs and a dream of a better life for themselves and their children.
We the People are a nation of immigrants. It is in our DNA, and it all starts with an oath of office that is in Article II, Clause 8 of our Constitution, which was the first of its kind.
1876 Painting of Washington taking the oath as President for the first time published by Currier & Ives.
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