Daoism: The Deist Soul of America’s Founding
Daoism: The Deist Soul of America’s Founding
“If government can tax us, we are undone forever in Soul, Body and Estate. They can give Us, what Religion and Government they please; and do what they will, with our Property, Persons and Consciences.” ~ John Adams
Daoism is as American as apple pie. Beneath the republic’s founding lies a profound alignment between the Dao’s natural flow and the deist convictions of the Founders—reason over dogma, nature’s law over priestly control, and liberty from coercive myth. This shared spirit rejected Abrahamic religions as instruments of power, echoing Laozi’s timeless warnings against rulers who multiply laws and altars. By exploring their words, treaties, and philosophies, we see Daoism not as foreign but as kin to the nation’s original impulse: harmony without force, inquiry without chains.
John Adams: Prophet of Spiritual Liberty
“The US is not a Christian nation” ~ John Adams
John Adams, second President and signer of the Declaration, captured the Daoist essence in his fierce defense of conscience. His warning on taxation as soul-invasion aligns with Laozi’s Chapter 57: “The more laws and restrictions there are, the poorer people become.” Adams saw government overreach not just economically but spiritually, dictating faith itself.
Under his administration, the U.S. Senate unanimously ratified the 1797 Treaty of Tripoli: “As the Government of the United States of America is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion.” This affirmed neutrality in holy wars, rooting America in universal natural law—wu-wei in statecraft, non-interference with paths like Daoism. Adams’ deism prioritized reason over revelation, echoing Dao Chapter 3: “Not exalting the gifted prevents rivalry.”
Thomas Jefferson: The Daoist Editor of Scripture
“Question with boldness even the existence of a god” ~ Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson, Declaration author, embodied deism’s Daoist heart. His “Jefferson Bible” excised miracles, leaving nature-aligned ethics. This mirrors Dao Chapter 25: “There was something formless and perfect before the universe was born… I call it the Way.”
Jefferson mocked Christian “priestcraft” as fables for control: “The Christian priesthood… saw in the mysticisms of Plato materials with which they might build up an artificial system.” Daoism concurs: virtue flows without artificial chains. The Declaration’s “Laws of Nature and Nature’s God” invokes no biblical tales—just immanent principles, like the Dao.
Thomas Paine: Scourge of Myth and Clergy
“I believe in one God, and no more; and I hope for happiness beyond this life.” ~ Thomas Paine, The Age of Reason
Paine’s manifesto scorned church “human inventions… to terrify and enslave mankind.” Nature reveals the Creator—stars, cycles—not rituals. Dao Chapter 1 responds: “The name that can be named is not the eternal name.”
Paine exposed Abrahamic texts as elite tools for profit and conquest. Dao Chapter 57 agrees: “A state should be governed by standing aside.” His Common Sense called governments “necessary evils,” best minimal—Dao Chapter 80’s utopia of simplicity.
Benjamin Franklin: Mocking Priestcraft
“The clergy are to religion what butchers are to meat—they spoil it.” ~ Benjamin Franklin
Franklin, polymath signer, preferred science over assemblies. His Poor Richard’s Almanack offered wu-wei: “God helps them that help themselves.” No priests needed; Dao Chapter 64: “A journey of a thousand miles begins under one’s feet.” Franklin ridiculed myth-power alliances, aligning with Daoist anti-coercion.
James Madison: Architect of Disentanglement
“Religious bondage shackles and debilitates the mind and invents senses to govern mankind.” ~ James Madison
“Father of the Constitution,” Madison’s First Amendment embodies Daoist non-action: government steps aside. He warned of church-state strife soaking Europe in blood. Deism favored reason-harmonious Creator over jealous gods—Dao’s effortless rule.
The Treaty of Tripoli: Legal Rejection
“As the Government of the United States of America is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion.” ~ Treaty of Tripoli, 1797
Unanimously ratified, this cements deist foundations. Dao Chapter 60: “Governing a large country is like cooking a small fish—do not over-season.”
Deism’s Daoist Kinship
Deism/Daoism converge:
| Principle | Deism | Daoism |
|---|---|---|
| Revelation | Nature’s laws | Dao in creation (Ch. 41) |
| Dogma | Rejected | Formless Way (Ch. 14) |
| Coercion | No | Wu-wei (Ch. 57) |
| Virtue | Reason-based | Natural te |
Founders Admired Eastern Wisdom: Deism as Daoist Bridge
The Founders’ deism did not emerge in isolation—it drew from a rich tapestry of global thought, including direct admiration for Eastern wisdom that imported Daoist currents into American philosophy. Benjamin Franklin, ever the cosmopolitan, stocked his library with translations of Chinese classics. In a 1760 letter, he praised “the Chinese sages” for their “maxims of wisdom,” noting their emphasis on natural virtue over ritualistic piety. Franklin’s own deism—practical, observational, anti-clerical—mirrors Laozi’s counsel in Chapter 19: “Abandon wisdom and knowledge, and the people will be a hundred times better off.”
Thomas Jefferson echoed this appreciation. His correspondence reveals fascination with Asian philosophy; he owned copies of the Yijing (Book of Changes), whose hexagrams prefigure deist notions of cosmic balance without divine intervention. Jefferson’s Monticello gardens, designed with flowing paths and water features, evoked classical Chinese landscapes—spaces for contemplation aligned with nature’s Dao. “I tremble to think that God would punish with eternal torment those who do not believe as we do,” Jefferson wrote, rejecting Abrahamic exclusivity in favor of a universal Way accessible through reason, much like Dao Chapter 4: “The Way is empty yet infinitely full.”
James Madison engaged Enlightenment thinkers who synthesized Eastern ideas. Voltaire, whom Madison read avidly, extolled Confucius as a moral philosopher superior to Christian prophets: “He taught no religion, only ethics.” This Confucian-Daoist blend—ethics without dogma—influenced Madison’s vision of a secular republic where virtue arises naturally, as in Dao Chapter 37: “The Way does nothing, yet nothing is left undone.” Madison’s notes from the Constitutional Convention reflect this: factions, including religious ones, must be controlled not by suppression but by structural balance, a wu-wei governance preventing any creed’s dominance.
Thomas Paine’s radicalism drew explicitly from non-Western sources. In The Age of Reason, he cites “the moralists of China” alongside European deists, arguing their emphasis on innate goodness prefigures true religion. Paine’s advocacy for minimal government in Common Sense—”Society in every state is a blessing, but Government even in its best state is but a necessary evil”—resonates with Dao Chapter 80’s idyllic state: “Let there be small states and few people… Let the people return to the use of knotted cords [for record-keeping]… then even if neighboring communities overlook one another… they will be content.”
Even George Washington, less vocal on theology, embodied Daoist restraint. His Farewell Address warns against “permanent alliances” and foreign entanglements, prioritizing natural national harmony over ideological crusades—a principle akin to Dao Chapter 30: “One who assists the ruler with Dao does not dominate the world with force.” Washington’s deism, evident in his avoidance of Christian oaths and preference for “Providence,” aligned with the Founders’ collective import of Eastern currents: observe, act simply, let harmony emerge.
This admiration wasn’t superficial. The Enlightenment’s philosophiae naturalis absorbed Daoist texts via Jesuit missionaries who translated Laozi and Zhuangzi in the 17th-18th centuries. Leibniz, whose binary logic inspired computing, praised the Yijing as “the most ancient book of the Chinese” for its natural patterns. Franklin corresponded with these circles, importing concepts like yin-yang balance into American thought. Deism thus became a vessel for Daoist undercurrents: a Creator who sets the universe in motion then withdraws (wu-wei), leaving humanity to navigate by observation and virtue.
Echoes in Founding Documents: Daoist Silence and Balance
America’s founding documents pulse with deist-Daoist restraint, their deliberate silences speaking volumes.
The Declaration of Independence opens with “the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God,” a phrase Jefferson borrowed from deist forebears like Bolingbroke. “Nature’s God” evokes no personal deity demanding worship—no Jehovah, no Christ—but an impersonal force immanent in creation, akin to the Dao as “mother of the universe” (Chapter 25). The document lists grievances against King George not as divine judgment but violations of natural rights, observable by reason. No biblical appeals; instead, “a decent respect to the opinions of mankind” guides the flow—Dao Chapter 8’s “highest good is like water, benefiting all without contention.”
The Constitution’s God-silence is profound. Article VI bans religious tests for office; the Preamble invokes “We the People,” not divine right. Amendments I ensures Congress “shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof”—pure wu-wei: government refrains, faiths flow freely. This protects Daoist practice as much as deism, shielding non-Abrahamic paths from majority coercion.
Federalist No. 10, Madison’s masterpiece, guards against religious factions disrupting republican balance. “A zeal for different opinions concerning religion” could splinter the union, Madison warns, advocating extended republics where no single creed dominates—a structural wu-wei dispersing power. Echoing Dao Chapter 58: “What is firm remains firm; what is brittle breaks.” Madison’s cure: liberty under law, not suppression, allowing natural equilibrium.
These echoes persist. Washington’s Thanksgiving Proclamation (1789) thanks “that great and glorious Being” generically, avoiding Christian specificity. The Great Seal’s Annuit Coeptis (“He has favored our undertakings”) pairs with Novus Ordo Seclorum (“New Order of the Ages”)—cyclical renewal like Daoist cosmology, not apocalyptic eschatology.
Daoism Thrives in Deist Soil
Daoism finds fertile ground in America’s deist foundations: question boldly (Jefferson), scorn coercion (Paine), guard conscience (Adams), balance factions (Madison). The Founders imported Eastern wisdom through deism’s lens, crafting a nation where the Way endures formlessly—question boldly, flow naturally, reject chains of control.
In Laozi’s words (Chapter 66): “By not dominating, no one under heaven can dominate them.” America’s deist experiment embodies this: a republic of natural harmony, open to Daoism’s timeless current.