‘The American’s Creed’

    

In the July 1929 New York Masonic Outlook.

I won’t comment on yesterday’s elections here in the United States, except to observe how the clientele of the Mos Eisley Cantina increasingly find their way into public office. Today, one may seek comfort in the past, at least as regards an appreciation of citizenship and self governance.

Front cover.

The July 1929 issue of The New York Masonic Outlook offers soothing words to help forget—even for one precious minute—what happened Tuesday. The magazine was edited by the great H.L. Haywood, the Masonic author who affiliated with my lodge, Publicity 1000, upon arriving in New York City from Iowa.

He tells of another Publicity brother, Henry Sterling Chapin, who penned the article in that issue headlined “The American’s Creed: A Thought for the Observance of Independence Day.” More than a decade prior, Chapin conceived a nationwide contest to solicit from the public “the best summary of the political faith of America.” It’s almost too wholesome to mention during these decadent days, but the contest winner turned out to be William Tyler Page, a future Clerk of the U.S. House of Representatives who descended from both President John Tyler and Declaration signatory Carter Braxton.

American’s Creed

 

I believe in the United States

of America as

A government of the people,

By the people, for the people; 

Whose just powers are derived

From the consent of the governed;

A democracy in a republic;

A sovereign Nation of many States;

A perfect Union, one and inseparable;

Established upon these principles

Of Freedom, Equality,

Justice, and Humanity,

For which American patriots sacrificed

their lives and fortunes.

I therefore believe it is my duty

 To my Country to love it;

 To support its Constitution;

 To obey its laws;

 To respect its Flag;

 And to defend it against all enemies.

Click to enlarge.

I can’t say if Page was a Freemason. He was from Friendship Heights, Maryland, if anyone knows. There was prize money, $1,000, which the champion immediately invested in Liberty Bonds, Bro. Chapin says.

Chapin was New York State’s Commissioner of Education. In launching this contest, he enlisted helpers including U.S. Commissioner of Education Philander Clayton, various governors and senators, Baltimore Mayor James Preston, historian Matthew Page Andrews, and Educational Foundations Editor Dr. William Charles O’Donnell, among others.

More than 3,000 responded. Their submissions were culled to a pile of about fifty finalists. Nine judges studied those, and were unanimous on the winner. “Something of awe in that moment will stay with me all my life,” Chapin says in his Outlook article. “Perhaps that is why I am convinced that the American’s Creed will live and do good of vital value to the world.”

The federal government never adopted the creed to make it official. If you read it in the well of the House today, they’d laugh in your face.