Did Moses really influence the Constitution?
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  Did Moses really influence the Constitution?
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Author Topic: Did Moses really influence the Constitution?  (Read 454 times)
Oswald Acted Alone, You Kook
The Obamanation
Junior Chimp
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« on: September 17, 2018, 09:34:22 PM »

Or is that just revisionist history?

Since Moses is being taught as such in some schools, but the devoutness of the founders is questionable.
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True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)
Ernest
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« Reply #1 on: September 17, 2018, 10:57:01 PM »

Even those Founders who weren't particularly devout would have upheld Moses as an exemplar of the law. Hammurabi was forgotten in the sands of history at the time.  That said, except in the most broad of principles such as justice for everyone, and that it's not wise to to have one man do it all, there;s not anything specific one can point to.
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The Mikado
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« Reply #2 on: September 18, 2018, 01:13:59 PM »

In the 18th century, Moses would've been more held up as an archetypal "ancient lawgiver" than anything else: that is to say, he'd be grouped with Solon, Lycurgus, King Numa, etc. in the category of "figures from the dawn of civilization who gave law codes to their peoples." He's more of an inspirational "great lawmaker/legislator" archetype than a source of direct legal inspiration, at least for the Constitution, which doesn't mandate, say, blue laws (prohibiting business on the Sabbath) or create ecclesiastical courts to try religious offenses the way the Bible would prescribe.

EDIT: It is in the same sort of spirit that the picture of Moses is in the modern House of Representative chambers...accompanied by 22 other great "lawgiver" figures of the past, like Solon, Justinian, Napoleon, and Thomas Jefferson.
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