During the colonial era, Pennsylvania Revolutionaries required everyone to take a loyalty oath. Whiskey patriots would ride throughout the Lehigh Valley, looking to line their pockets with the assets of Mennonites, Moravians and Quakers. In 1778, for example, eleven wealthy Mennonite farmers were herded onto Northampton County Court and ordered to swear their allegiance. Because their religious scruples made that impossible, they refused. Their assets were declared forfeit and they were ordered to leave Pennsylvania. Of course, most of the money ended up in the pockets of a few officers.Now, a Mississippi judge (his name is Littlejohn, by the way) is doing the same thing. Unlike the whiskey patriots, this jurist appears to have no financial motives. But he still cited a lawyer with contempt and briefly jailed him, for refusing to sing along during the Pledge of Allegiance.
Ain't Amerika grand?
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