Charles Evans
Oaths of Allegiance in Colonial New England
Published by Good Press, 2019
EAN 4064066136185
Table of Contents
Tenor of The Oath of Allegiance, &c. to be Taken and Subscribed by Recusants
Combination for Foundation of Government known as The Mayflower Compact
Oath of Allegiance and Fidelity
The Oath of a Freeman, or of a Man to be made ffree.
In Connecticut and New Haven Colonies.
An Oath for Paqua’ and the Plantations there
In Rhode Island and Providence Plantations.
The Engagement of the Officers
The Reciprocal Engagement of the State to y e Officers
The Preamble to the Law Against Perjury
The Combination for Government at Exeter, with the Forms of Oaths for Rulers and People
The Combination of the People of Dover to Establish a Form of Government
In Province or County of Maine.
Oath of Councilors of Province of Mayne
OATHS OF ALLEGIANCE IN COLONIAL NEW ENGLAND
The antiquity of the custom of giving and taking Oaths, or the debatable questions of their observance being a religious or legal ceremony, and whether the moral or political aspect has the greater effect upon the minds of men, are subjects with which this paper has nothing to do.
And as the substance of Oaths for particular officers is to engage them to a faithful discharge of their places and trusts to the best of their ability, it has been considered, in general, unnecessary to give them, especially as these offices carry with them the assumption that the general Oaths required of all citizens have first been complied with. No Oaths of office were administered or required in the New Plymouth Colony, the power of the Church being, in effect, superior to the civil power.
For the main purpose of this paper it will not be necessary to go further back in history than to the reign of James the First, of England, 1603–1625, during which time the providences of God directed the course of the voyage of the Pilgrims away from the Colony of Virginia to their settlement at Plymouth