To ratify the Constitution that delegates to the Philadelphia Convention had written in 1787, the thirteen States [FN1] each had to elect delegates who, in turn, would convene to consider & vote whether to ratify. [FN2] In the first North Carolina’s two conventions, the vote was “no.” 1/13

Delegate Henry Abbott [FN3] opposed ratification because “exclusion of religious tests [in Art. VI] is by many thought dangerous and impolitic ... pagans, deists, and Mahometans might obtain offices” & all the members of Congress might be pagans. [FN4] 2/13

James Iredell was a delegate to both North Carolina conventions. He also was nominated, and confirmed, as one of the first justices of the United States Supreme Court. [FN5] His grandfather was a clergyman and Iredell was an Episcopalian. [FN6] IN magaGOP nominee for Lt Gov, 3/13

Micah Beckwith promoted a tour, in 2023, by fellow Christian nationalist Sean Feucht: “Him [Feucht] and I are very similar and saw the assault happening in this nation on our freedoms.” Feucht has said this country is Christian created for the benefit of Christians. [FN7] 4/13

If this country was founded to be, as Feucht says, Christian for the benefit of Christians, at the North Carolina conventions, delegate Abbott’s arguments should have been met by assurances similar to what Beckwith and Feucht claim today. That was not Iredell’s response: 5/13

“Every person in the least conversant in the history of mankind, knows what dreadful mischiefs have been committed by religious persecutions. Under the color of religious tests, the utmost cruelties have been exercised.” [FN8] And, as to an entirely pagan Congress: 6/13

“But is objected that the people of America may, perhaps, choose representatives who have no religion at all, and that pagans and Mahometans may be Admitted into offices. But how is it possible to exclude any set of men, without taking away that principle of religious 7/13

freedom which we ourselves so warmly contend for?” [FN9] The first North Carolina convention voted “no” for ratification. The second convention ratified a Constitution in which a “God” had as ;little presence as when ratification was voted down. 8/13

Beckwith’s ignorance of our history would be of little interest, but for his quest for power and his false claims this is a Christian nation, saying those who disagree are just ignorant. I gotta say: No, I’m hardly ignorant of our history. Worse: Beckwith warns people not to read. 9/13

Oliver Wendell Holmes wrote that the surest test of truth is its acceptance in the marketplace of ideas. That’s why I say: read these sources. In trying to finish a blog a couple of days ago, I messed up one of my favorite quotes. Lincoln said, “Let the people know the facts 10/13

and the country will be safe.” I had substituted “free” for “safe.” Beckwith is lying in order to get power. Worst of all is her/his claim that unless someone is a Christian, s/he lacks the capacity to be moral. The morality card is tough to play when a person lies about morality’s basis. 11/13

Footnotes:
FN1. Three of the former colonies - Massachusetts, Pennsylvania and Virginia - would enter the Union as commonwealths.
FN2. U.S. Const. Art. VII.
FN3. Abbott, a Baptist minister, served as a delegate to both of North Carolina’s conventions. Dictionary of North Carolina Biography, MS 615. 12/13

Footnotes:
FN4. 30 July 1788, Elliot 4:191–192.
FN5. Ducat, Craig and Harold Chase, Constitutional Interpretation, 3d ed., 1983, Appx B, p. 1608.
FN6. James Iredell, Oyez, accessed 08/23/24.
FN7. Rolling Stone, 4/21/23.
FN8. Id., note 4, 4:193-94.
FN9. Id. 13/13