The government of the United States is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion
Not George Washington — it’s the Treaty of Tripoli (1796–97)Treaty of Tripoli, Article 11 (English text by Joel Barlow)Signed at Tripoli 4 Nov 1796 · ratified by the U.S. Senate 7 June 1797
This line is a near-verbatim clip of Article 11 of the 1796–97 Treaty of Tripoli, a U.S. treaty whose English text was prepared by diplomat and poet Joel Barlow. George Washington did not write or speak it; the treaty was signed and proclaimed under President John Adams. The original reads “the government of the United States of America is not in any sense founded on the Christian Religion” — the popular version simply drops “of America” and adds commas around “in any sense.”
“The government of the United States is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion” Treaty of Tripoli (1796–97), Article 11 — English text drafted by Joel Barlow; ratified under President John Adams. Not a quotation of George Washington.
⚠ The slide-ready mistake: crediting this to George Washington. Use the credit shown above instead.
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Provenance
The source: Treaty of Tripoli, Article 11
Document
Treaty of Peace and Friendship (Treaty of Tripoli), Art. 11
English text
Prepared by Joel Barlow, U.S. Agent
Signed
Tripoli, 4 Nov 1796; Algiers, 3 Jan 1797
Ratified
U.S. Senate, unanimously, 7 June 1797 (proclaimed by John Adams, 10 June 1797)
As the government of the United States of America is not in any sense founded on the Christian Religion,—as it has in itself no character of enmity against the laws, religion or tranquility of Musselmen,—and as the said States never have entered into any war or act of hostility against any Mehomitan nation, it is declared by the parties that no pretext arising from religious opinions shall ever produce an interruption of the harmony existing between the two countries.
The full Article 11 as it appears in the ratified English text. The circulating one-liner clips the opening clause, drops “of America,” and inserts commas around “in any sense.”
The primary text is preserved by Yale Law School’s Avalon Project ↗, where Article 11 reads “not in any sense founded on the Christian Religion.”
Per Wikipedia’s account ↗, the English version was drafted by Joel Barlow; the Senate ratified it unanimously in 1797 and John Adams proclaimed it — Washington was no longer president when it took effect.
The same source notes David Hunter Miller’s 1931 finding that Article 11 “does not exist at all” in the surviving Arabic version, which contains an unrelated letter — so the famous line is specifically Barlow’s English wording.
✓Public domain
The Treaty of Tripoli is a U.S. federal government document first published in 1797 (later in the U.S. Statutes at Large). It is in the public domain both as a pre-1931 work and as a work of the U.S. government.
Fact-check
Who it’s wrongly pinned on
The line is authentic American history, but it is routinely mis-credited to individual Founders. It is a clause in a ratified treaty, not a personal quotation.
✕
Most commonGeorge Washington misattributed
Washington was president while the treaty was negotiated in 1796, so it is sometimes pinned on him — but he never wrote or spoke this line, and the treaty was signed, ratified, and proclaimed after he left office. The English text was drafted by Joel Barlow ↗.
✕
Also commonJohn Adams signed, not authored
Adams was president when the Senate ratified the treaty and he proclaimed it in June 1797, so his name is attached to it — but proclaiming a treaty is not authoring its wording. The clause is Barlow’s English translation, approved as part of the treaty.
✓The words come from Article 11 of the Treaty of Tripoli ↗, whose English text was prepared by Joel Barlow and ratified by the U.S. Senate in 1797 — not from a speech or letter of George Washington.
Context
Why it mattered
Article 11 was written to reassure the Muslim rulers of the Barbary Coast that the United States was not a Christian power hostile to Islam in the way the crusading European states had been. Its purpose was diplomatic peace, not domestic religious policy.
Because the U.S. Senate ratified the treaty unanimously and without recorded objection in 1797, the clause is frequently cited in modern church-and-state debates as an early, official statement that the federal government was not established on religion.
“…not in any sense founded on the Christian Religion…”
A wrinkle: the Arabic text
In 1931 the diplomatic historian David Hunter Miller found that the surviving Arabic version of the treaty does not contain Article 11 at all — in its place is an unrelated letter. The celebrated wording is therefore specifically Joel Barlow’s English text, and it is that English text the Senate ratified.
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Filed under
More provenance-checked quotes on the same theme, each with its reuse status.
1754–1812 · American poet & diplomat; drafted the English Treaty of Tripoli
Joel Barlow was an American poet, diplomat, and one of the “Hartford Wits,” who served as U.S. consul at Algiers in the 1790s. As agent to the Barbary states he prepared the English text of the Treaty of Tripoli, including the famous Article 11. The clause reflects the treaty’s diplomatic aim — reassuring a Muslim power that the young republic bore it no religious enmity — rather than a personal declaration by any Founding Father.
For writers & researchers
Cite this
Primary source
“Treaty of Peace and Friendship, Signed at Tripoli November 4, 1796,” Art. 11, English text prepared by Joel Barlow, ratified 1797. In The Barbary Treaties 1786–1816, Avalon Project, Yale Law School.
This verification page
Quotle.info. “Who really said ‘The government of the United States is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion’?” Last verified 8 Jul 2026. https://quotle.info/who-said/the-government-of-the-united-states-is-not-in-any-sense