"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 tranquillity, 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."

George Washington wrote the original letter, probably in the hand of his Secretary of State, Mr. Jefferson, from which this excerpt was adapted by his negotiators as Section 11 of TREATY OF ALGIERS. By the time the negotiators secured agreement, the Senate approved the treaty and the new President Adams signed it, many of our forefathers had adopted this statement as an official an official act of the United States and part of the "supreme Law of the Land."

http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/presiden/washpap.htm http://lcweb2.loc.gov/ammem/gwhtml/gwhome.html