First and Tenth: Ten Commandments Monument (AL)

The monument depicts the moral foundation of law in America, and bears excerpts from the text of the “Ten Commandments” of God. The monument also bears quotes from: the Declaration of Independence (“Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God”); our National Motto (“In God We Trust”); the Pledge of Allegiance (“One Nation Under God, Indivisible, With Liberty and Justice for All”); and the Judiciary Act of 1789 (“So Help Me God”).

TOP PANEL

“Ten Commandments” excerpts

FRONT PANEL

The inclusion of God in our pledge therefore would further acknowledge the dependence of our people and our government upon the moral directions of the Creator. –Legislative History

One nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. –Pledge of Allegiance, 1954

Human law must rest its authority ultimately upon the authority of that law which is divine. –James Wilson

And can the liberties of a nation be thought secure when we have removed their only firm basis, a conviction in the minds of the people that these liberties are the gift of God? That they are not to be violated but with His wrath? –Thomas Jefferson

LEFT SIDE PANEL

Let it simply be asked, where is the security for property, for reputation, for life, if the sense of religious obligation desert the oaths which are the instruments of investigation in courts of justice? –George Washington

So help me God. –Judiciary Act of 1789

The greater part of evidence will always consist of the testimony of witnesses. This testimony is given under those solemn obligations which an appeal to the God of Truth impose; and if oaths should cease to be held sacred, our dearest and most valuable rights would become insecure. –John Jay

BACK PANEL

We, the people of the State of Alabama, in order to establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, invoking the favor and guidance of Almighty God, do ordain and establish the following constitution and form of government for the State of Alabama. –Constitution of Alabama

In God we trust. –National Motto 1956

O thus be it ever when freemen shall stand
between their lov’d home and the war’s desolation!
Blest with vict'ry and peace may the heav'n rescued land
praise the power that hath made and preserv’d us a nation!
Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,
And this be our motto – “In God Is Our Trust,”
And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave. –National Anthem

RIGHT SIDE PANEL

The laws of nature are the laws of God; whose authority can be superseded by no power on earth. –George Mason 1772

Laws of nature and of nature’s God óDeclaration of Independence 1776

The transcendent law of nature and of nature’s God, which declares that the safety and happiness of society are the objects at which all political institutions aim, and to which all such institutions must be sacrificed. –James Madison

This law of nature, being co-eval with mankind and dictated by God Himself, is of course superior in obligation to any other. It is binding over all the globe, in all countries, and at all times: no human laws are of any validity, if contrary to this; Öupon these two foundations, the law of nature and the law of revelation, depend all human laws; that is to say, no human laws should be suffered to contradict these. –William Blackstone