From the Presidential Oath of Office to the Oath of Allegiance to sworn testimony, Americans take an awful lot of oaths. Today we explore the history of oaths in the US, the linguistic tinkering that's happened to oaths of office over the last few centuries and the repercussions of breaking an oath.
Transcript
Archival: All members will please rise. The chair will now administer the oath of office. All members will raise their right hand.
Nick Capodice: All right, Hannah.
Hannah McCarthy: All right, Nick.
Nick Capodice: Raise your right hand. Do it. All right, you bumped the mic. Repeat after me.
Hannah McCarthy: Repeat after me.
Nick Capodice: No, not that part.
Hannah McCarthy: No, not that part
Nick Capodice: I, Hannah McCarthy.
Hannah McCarthy: I. Hannah McCarthy.
Nick Capodice: Do solemnly swear.
Hannah McCarthy: Do solemnly swear.
Nick Capodice: To record this episode about oaths. [00:00:30]
Hannah McCarthy: To record this episode about oaths
Nick Capodice: I do this without reservation.
Hannah McCarthy: I do this without reservation.
Nick Capodice: And of my own free will.
Hannah McCarthy: And of my own free will.
Nick Capodice: I'm going to try and have a good time.
Hannah McCarthy: And I'm going to try and have a good time.
Nick Capodice: I was going to have you say, so help me God, but I'm going to be talking about that quite a lot today. So who else can help you for this episode?
Hannah McCarthy: I pretty much do everything Jessi Klein tells me to do.
Nick Capodice: So help me, Jessi Klein.
Hannah McCarthy: So help me, Jessi Klein.
Archival: Unmistakable snapshot of American [00:01:00] democracy. One American, a 35 word oath…
Archival: On oath, do solemnly swear or affirm. And I will discharge. So help you God. So help me God.
Nick Capodice: You're listening to Civics. One, two, one. I'm Nick Capodice.
Hannah McCarthy: I'm Hannah McCarthy.
Nick Capodice: And today we're going to do a quick episode about Oaths
Hannah McCarthy: Oaths
Nick Capodice: Oaths.
Hannah McCarthy: Oaths. This is kind of a broad category, don't you think?
Nick Capodice: You're not wrong there. And I'm going to talk about the more general history of oath, taking an oath, keeping with no references [00:01:30] to Breanne of Tarth's sword.
Hannah McCarthy: You could put it in the credits, though.
Nick Capodice: Definitely Game of Thrones jokes in the credits. But today we are talking about swearing in front of people that you're going to do something, oaths of office, and it's not just the president who takes one. We're also going to talk about the oath of allegiance, affirmation, which is very different and very important, and possibly the most uttered oath in America.
Archival: Do you solemnly swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth? Certainly. What am I going to lose?
Hannah McCarthy: I know you're going to ask me to step into the DeLorean, so [00:02:00] let's have it. How far back did we start taking oaths?
Nick Capodice: You know, there's that bit. They should have called it back to the past because that's what they actually did. But anyways, Mecum Veni Hannah, we're going to ancient Rome. Oaths to various deities were present in many religions, from Judaism to ancient Greeks. But one of the very first oaths to a governmental institution was the sacramentum in ancient Rome
Hannah McCarthy: Sacramentum, is this where we get the word sacrament?
Nick Capodice: It [00:02:30] is. These oaths were made to institutions, but also made before a god. Soldiers had a military sacramentum where they'd swear to, "faithfully execute all that the emperor commands that they shall never desert the service and that they shall not seek to avoid death for the Roman Republic." Gladiators had a much more brutal oath, which I'm not going to get into here, and everyday workaday Romans would use it during legal proceedings. Anyways. As centuries went on, kings [00:03:00] took oaths when they were coronated oaths to rule justly and fairly, and other people took oaths of fealty to those kings.
Hannah McCarthy: And you said these oaths were made before a god. Were they always religious, like God or whatever deity you worshiped was invoked and watching?
Nick Capodice: Yeah, they were watching you. And you might be able to tell where I'm going here. People who took public office in England and interestingly, anybody who went to go study at a university had to take an oath that upheld [00:03:30] the Church of England and that the reigning monarch was the supreme governor of the church. And this posed a little bit of a problem for a group of people who had no king or Supreme Church.
Hannah McCarthy: I know who those people are. It's us.
Nick Capodice: When we were gasping our first breaths as a new nation independent of the British Crown, we were casting aside the trappings of monarchy, and in addition to no more kings, the framers [00:04:00] enshrined no more national church. But we kept and still keep to this day the tradition of swearing an oath of office.
Hannah McCarthy: So we stopped swearing to a God or the head of a church. Who did we swear to?
Nick Capodice: Instead, we swear to uphold a document.
Archival: The people of the United States are governed by the rule of law, a body of law that rests on a single document, the federal constitution.
Nick Capodice: And that brings us to our first oath, the oath of office of the president. [00:04:30] There are three oaths mentioned in the Constitution, but this is the only one the framers bothered to spell out. The exact words are an Article two Section one "before he entered on the execution of his office. He shall take the following oath or affirmation. I do solemnly swear or affirm that I will faithfully execute the office of President of the United States and will, to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States."
Hannah McCarthy: So help me God.
Nick Capodice: No.
Hannah McCarthy: That's not in there.
Nick Capodice: It is not. [00:05:00] And this was a rabbit hole for me, Hannah, albeit a fascinating one. I have never seen so many websites with the phrase now it has been contested and historians disagree whether, for example, historians do not agree on whether or not George Washington finished his oath with So Help Me God. The first published account to say he did was 65 years after the inauguration. There are, however, three separate accounts William Duer, Morton Quincy and [00:05:30] some anonymous writer of a newspaper op ed that say he kissed the Bible after he took the oath. Moving along. There's also an argument about whether or not Abraham Lincoln said so help me God. Some have evidence he did say it in 1865. While there's contrary evidence of a minister who wrote to Lincoln to request, he say, So help me God. And the pastor said Lincoln's reply was, "But God's name was not in the Constitution and he could not depart from the letter of that instrument."
Hannah McCarthy: All that aside, [00:06:00] presidents have said, So help me God for as far back as I can remember.
Nick Capodice: Me too. The first Ironclad published in several accounts usage of So Help Me God was Chester Arthur in 1881. And we know for certain, as in we have the audio that every president since Franklin Delano Roosevelt has so far ended with that line.
Archival: So help me God. So help me God. Help me God. So help me God. So help me God. Congratulations, Mr. President.
Hannah McCarthy: Okay. Now, I have to ask you a question about [00:06:30] this distinction that is made that has always kind of confused me, that constitutional clause. Swear or affirm. What is the difference between the two?
Nick Capodice: I am so glad you asked. There are some religions, such as Quakerism, that do not endorse swearing on anything religious that you're going to tell the truth and every president may choose to affirm instead of swear. Same oath, no bible. That said, we have one and only one [00:07:00] president so far who has opted to affirm instead of swearing on a Bible.
Hannah McCarthy: Who was it?
Nick Capodice: Franklin Pierce from our very own New Hampshire opted to affirm his oath on a book of law.
Hannah McCarthy: Was he a Quaker or was he just not very religious or something?
Nick Capodice: We may never know the reason why. He wasn't a Quaker. He was Episcopalian, but he wasn't baptized until a few years before he died. He, frankly, was in a tough spot when he was inaugurated. If you recall, his son had just been killed in a horrible, tragic railroad [00:07:30] accident. But whatever his reasoning was, he didn't swear. He affirmed. Now, there have been Quaker presidents, but they have all sworn on a Bible, including Herbert Hoover and Richard Nixon.
Hannah McCarthy: Nixon was a Quaker?
Nick Capodice: Yeah, I know. Right? Did you know that?
Hannah McCarthy: Did he know that? Okay. So that's one big oath out of the way. What other oaths do we have in our system?
Nick Capodice: We've got a few and we're going to get into those [00:08:00] as well as what happens when those oaths are broken right after this quick break.
Hannah McCarthy: But first, we've got a new quiz. It's great. Every Thursday, Civics 101 has an eight question quiz on our newest episodes to test your trivia skills. You can play it at Civics101quiz.com
Nick Capodice: We also have a wordle. That's right, a wordle. We have a new one every single day. Based on that week's episode, you can play it at Civics101wordle.com
Hannah McCarthy: Okay. [00:08:30] We're back. We're talking about swearing.
Nick Capodice: The only swearing you're going to hear on our podcast, dadburnit. And next, it's not just the president who has to take an oath of office. It's members of the House and the Senate. Now, unlike the president, the words are not written in the Constitution, but they were written in the very first act of Congress in 1789.
Hannah McCarthy: The very first is and the very first thing to come across George [00:09:00] Washington's desk to be signed.
Nick Capodice: Yes. Chapter one, section one. Chapter two, by the way, started with duties and taxes on imports, Jamaican rum at $0.10 a gallon by the by. But the oath they came up with was this "I a B, that's first name last name, do solemnly swear or affirm that I will support the Constitution of the United States.
Hannah McCarthy: So help me God.
Nick Capodice: No, no. So help me God. That came later in 1862
Hannah McCarthy: 1862 So we're talking like civil [00:09:30] war years. Does this have to do with the Civil War?
Nick Capodice: It does indeed. President Lincoln and all of his supporters rewrote the oath of office for all members of Congress to include, and I'm taking chunks of it here because it's very long, "solemnly swear or affirm that I have never voluntarily borne arms against the United States, that I have voluntarily given no aid, countenance, counsel or encouragement to persons engaged in armed hostility thereto, that, I [00:10:00] have not yielded a voluntary support to any pretended government authority, power or constitution within the United States, hostile or inimical thereto."
Hannah McCarthy: So a very thinly veiled anybody who has supported in the past or is supporting now the Confederacy cannot take this oath.
Nick Capodice: Yeah, they can't take the oath, which means they cannot hold office. This was called the ironclad oath, and initially it was proposed that all voters had to take it too. But Lincoln himself vetoed that in 1864, [00:10:30] realizing that would ensure a nation where very few southerners could engage in the democratic process and that's going to stall reconstruction. But this oath resulted in a Republican anti-slavery, biracial legislature in the South. For the first time. Now, Congress began to remove a lot of that 1862 language in the Andrew Johnson administration after Lincoln was assassinated. And it was all pretty much gone by 1870. However, some vestiges remain from that rewrite, [00:11:00] specifically this part swearing to defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic. That I will bear true faith in allegiance to the same that I take this obligation freely without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion, and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I'm about to enter.
Hannah McCarthy: So help me God? Is this the time?
Nick Capodice: This is it, Hannah. So help me God.
Archival: So help you God. Congratulations. You're now members of the 114th [00:11:30] Congress.
Nick Capodice: This oath I just rattled off is called the Constitutional Oath. All new incoming members of the House of Representatives and the new third of the Senate coming in must take it at the beginning of each congressional session.
Hannah McCarthy: All right. We've got executive. We've got legislative. Is there any difference for the judicial branch?
Nick Capodice: Yeah. And I'm going to make it quick because I've gone on a bit here. Supreme Court justices have to take a double oath. First, [00:12:00] they've got to take the constitutional oath that Congress takes. And then they take a second one, which is interesting. It says, I will, "administer justice without respect to persons and do equal right to the poor and the rich. And that I will faithfully and impartially discharge and perform all the duties incumbent upon me. Associate Justice, Chief Justice, whatever...
Archival: Under the Constitution.
Archival: Under the Constitution.
Archival: And laws of the United States and.
Archival: Laws of the United States.
Archival: So help me God.
Archival: So help me God.
Hannah McCarthy: All right. What [00:12:30] about people other than elected and appointed government officials? Do everyday people, American citizens, swear any oaths on a regular basis?
Nick Capodice: Well, there is something that about 50 million people say on a daily basis that sounds a heck of a lot like one.
Hannah McCarthy: is the Pledge of Allegiance an oath?
Nick Capodice: Not technically. And maybe I was cheating a bit there. I mean, the Wikipedia page calls it one. You can call it an oath to the flag and the republic, but [00:13:00] you're not swearing or affirming on anything when you take the Pledge of Allegiance.
Hannah McCarthy: By the way. Nick and I love talking about the pledge. We did a whole episode on the history of it and the flag and the Supreme Court decision surrounding them both. We will put a link to it in the show notes. Check it out.
Nick Capodice: One of my favorite facts about the pledge are that the indivisible part was added after the Civil War. And this is not unlike the ironclad oath. It's like indivisible, looking at you, Confederacy. And since we talked about religion a few times already. [00:13:30] Hannah, do you remember when under God was added to the Pledge?
Hannah McCarthy: It was fairly recent, wasn't it? I can't remember what year, but like not that long ago.
Nick Capodice: 1954. However, there is an oath of allegiance. It is required by law that anyone wishing to become a citizen of the United States take it. And it is usually performed at naturalization ceremonies, [00:14:00] sometimes not always, but sometimes followed by a screening of a patriotic music video of Lee Greenwood's God Bless the U.S.A..
Archival: How about that? Are you proud to be an American? Yes. All right.
Hannah McCarthy: What's the wording of the Oath of Allegiance? Is it pretty similar to the constitutional oath?
Nick Capodice: Yeah, a little bit. You declare an oath or solemnly affirm to defend the Constitution and the laws of the United [00:14:30] States. But then you must renounce and abjure all allegiance and fidelity to any foreign prince, potentate, state, or sovereignty of whom or which I have heretofore been a subject or citizen.
Hannah McCarthy: Potentate.
Nick Capodice: Potentate. Also, there is a provision at the end that when required you will bear arms on behalf of the United States, perform noncombatant services in the armed forces, and perform work of national importance under civilian direction. There is a So [00:15:00] help me God, but you are allowed to stay silent at that part, if you wish.
Hannah McCarthy: And you have got to take this oath.
Nick Capodice: You've got to take it if you want to be a U.S. citizen, unless you're under 14 years old.
Hannah McCarthy: Just out of curiosity, what if you're opposed to war? Do you have to say the part about bearing arms on behalf of the United States?
Nick Capodice: You have to say it unless you qualify for a religious modification. And it's this part not as much the denouncing of allegiance to a foreign country that has caused some legal scuffles in the past. You know, Aldous Huxley.
Hannah McCarthy: As [00:15:30] in Brave New World, Aldous Huxley.
Nick Capodice: Yeah, he had "soma" problems with the military service part. He refused to say it, and he was denied U.S. citizenship even though he lived here for 13 years.
Hannah McCarthy: Now, there's an oath, Nick, that you teased at the very beginning of this episode. Give me the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.
Archival: Hold up your right hand. Do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you God? Yeah.
Hannah McCarthy: Is that my Cousin Vinny?
Nick Capodice: Very good Hannah nice catch. You know, I've talked [00:16:00] to a few law professors who say that movie, My Cousin Vinny, is the most accurate portrayal of courtroom procedures in pop culture, specifically when it comes to cross-examination of a witness. Anyways, that is called sworn testimony, and you can opt to say, instead of so help me God, under pains and penalties of perjury.
Hannah McCarthy: It's interesting. It's the first time so far that an oath includes what happens if you break it because it is against the law [00:16:30] to lie under oath in a courtroom. There will be penalties.
Nick Capodice: The oath you take in a courtroom is an acknowledgment that you understand it is a criminal act to intentionally lie on the witness stand. And if you're found guilty of doing this, this is called perjury. You can be punished with fines and prison time.
Hannah McCarthy: But how common is it that someone's actually caught and punished with fines and prison time?
Nick Capodice: Good point. It is relatively rare because it can be hard to prove. More often perjury is used as a tool. [00:17:00] It's like this implicit threat, this sword of Damocles that will ensure people tell the truth in a courtroom.
Hannah McCarthy: I think my last question about oaths is tied to this. The breaking of an oath. Like, sure, you can be sent to jail for lying in a courtroom. But what about all the other oaths that we've talked about? What happens if a president or a senator violates their oath of office?
Nick Capodice: Well, nothing really.
Hannah McCarthy: Nothing at all.
Nick Capodice: Like, I'm not going to speak [00:17:30] to the spiritual effects. That's your business, Senator. But as far as I can tell, no elected or appointed official has ever been punished in a legal sense for violating their oath of office. Because and here's the thing. Oaths are not legally binding. Pledges either. They're not a contract. You can be punished for doing things that run contrary to the oath, like committing conspiracy or [00:18:00] treason or giving false testimony. You're guilty of lying, not breaking your oath.
Hannah McCarthy: But you do on occasion hear, you know, President X has broken their oath of office by doing this, that or the other thing.
Nick Capodice: Yeah. You can be impeached or expelled for this, that or the other thing, but not for the oath violation. Do you know how many reps and senators have been expelled from Congress in the United States so far?
Hannah McCarthy: I don't.
Nick Capodice: 20 out of the 12,000 odd people who have served in Congress. And 17 [00:18:30] of those 20 expulsions were due to their support of Confederate states during the Civil War.
Hannah McCarthy: So if oaths don't really mean anything, if they don't really have any teeth.
Nick Capodice: Legally.
Hannah McCarthy: Legally, why do we take them?
Nick Capodice: I can't really say. Hannah, you might as well ask why the ancient Greeks or the Romans took them, or why officials from New Zealand to Pakistan to Brazil take oaths. Even before our founding [00:19:00] people asked that question. Noah Webster of Dictionary fame, He said that oaths were a badge of folly, borrowed from the dark ages of bigotry, and that was in 1787. Now, others say that it is a crucial part of our system. It makes our officials proclaim that they serve the Constitution, not some sort of supreme leader. And again, outlining the oath was the very first thing our Congress did.
Hannah McCarthy: I will admit, any time I [00:19:30] had, like, a kid club, I would always devise some oath. You know, I was like, this. This will give this weight. This will take it from just things that kids are doing to something real.
Nick Capodice: Were you ever in the Girl Scouts?
Hannah McCarthy: Duh.
Nick Capodice: How did it go?
Hannah McCarthy: Hold on. On my honor, I will try to serve God in my country to help people at all times and to live by the Girl Scout law.
Nick Capodice: I got kicked out of the Cub Scouts after one day when I was six years old. I don't know what I did.
Hannah McCarthy: So how are you going to end [00:20:00] this?
Nick Capodice: Well, thankfully, Hannah, unlike oaths, our episode conclusions are not predetermined.
Hannah McCarthy: So a Game of Thrones joke, then?
Nick Capodice: Why can't George R.R. Martin use Twitter?
Hannah McCarthy: All right. Why can't he?
Nick Capodice: To tell a story he requires more than 140 characters.
Hannah McCarthy: Oh, okay. Yeah. Although I do think it's. It's 280 characters.
Nick Capodice: Now. Well, the joke still works with that number. What's Breanne made of?
Hannah McCarthy: Metal.
Nick Capodice: Tarth. You [00:20:30] get it?
Hannah McCarthy: It? Yeah. Maid Of Tarth.
Nick Capodice: Yeah.
Hannah McCarthy: Yeah.
Nick Capodice: Why is Caitlin Stark like a breakfast cereal?
Hannah McCarthy: I don't know why.
Nick Capodice: She's Raisin' Bran!
Nick Capodice: That's it for oaths. Thanks for letting us swear to you. Jessi Klein. This episode was made by me. Nick Capodice. With you. Hannah McCarthy. Thank you. Our staff includes Jacqui Fulton. Christina Phillips is our senior producer and Rebecca Lavoie, our executive producer.
Hannah McCarthy: Music in this episode by Anitek, Bisou, Derek Stephens, Rambutan, the Grand Affair, Max Anson, Ooyy, Howard Harper Barnes, Phillip Ayers, Jesse Gallagher, and Chris Zabriskie. [00:21:00]
Nick Capodice: Civics 101 is a production of NHPR, New Hampshire Public Radio.
