ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, January 19, 1997 TAG: 9701200146
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-10 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: WASHINGTON
Father of the country or not, George Washington didn't get his way about what the presidential oath should say.
Like every other delegate to the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia in 1787, Washington was given a draft of the Constitution. And like the others, he scribbled in the margins and between the lines as changes were debated.
The draft of the presidential oath originally required that the president-elect swear to ``faithfully execute the office of president of the United States.'' But George Mason, a Virginia delegate, felt that the president should also swear to uphold the Constitution. The words ``preserve, protect and defend'' were proposed.
Washington's copy shows he penciled in ``will to the best of my judgment and power'' preserve and protect the Constitution.
The phrase did not survive the final cut.
So Washington and every other president-elect since then has recited these 35 words:
``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.''
In the end, Washington did make a mark on the oath. Off-the-cuff, he ended with the phrase, ``So help me God.'' It set a tradition that every president has followed.
- Associated Press
LENGTH: Short : 37 linesby CNB