I, before the great immaculate God of heaven and earth, do take and subscribe to the following sacred binding oath and obligation: I promise and swear that I will uphold and defend the Constitution of the United States as it was handed down by our forefathers in its original purity. I promise and swear that I will reject and oppose the principles of the radical party in all its forms, and forever maintain and contend that intelligent white men shall govern this country. I promise and pledge myself to assist, according to my pecuniary circumstances, all brothers in distress. Females, widows, and their households shall ever be specially in my care and protection. I promise and swear that I will obey all instructions given me by my chief, and should I ever divulge or cause to be divulged any secrets, signs or pass-words of the Invisible Empire, I must meet with the fearful and just penalty of the traitor, which is death, death, death, at the hands of my brethren.[64] * * * * * I, T. A. Hope, before the Great Immaculate Judges of Heaven and Earth, and upon the Holy Evangelist of Almighty God, do, of my own free will and accord, subscribe to the following sacred, binding obligation: I. I am on the side of justice and humanity, and constitutional liberty as bequeathed to us by our forefathers in its original purity. II. I reject and oppose the principles of the radical party. III. I pledge aid to a brother of the Ku Klux Klan in sickness, distress, or pecuniary embarrassments; females, friends, and widows, and their households shall be the special object of my care and devoted protection. IV. Should I ever divulge, or cause to be divulged, any of the secrets of this order, or any of the foregoing obligations, I must meet with the fearful punishment of death and traitor's doom, which is death, death, death, at the hands of the brethren.[65] * * * * * I do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the Invisible Circle; that I will defend our families, our wives, our children, and brethren; that I will assist a brother in distress to the best of my ability; that I will never reveal the secrets of this order or anything in regard to it that may come to my knowledge, and if I do may I meet a traitor's doom, which is death, death, death: so help me God, and so punish me my brethren.[66] FOOTNOTES: [57] Montgomery Mail, March 23, 1868. [58] This and the two preceding orders were written by Ryland Randolph and printed in his paper _The Independent Monitor_, of Tuscaloosa, Alabama.