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The Formation of a National Government
"Every man, and every body of men on earth, possess the right of self-government." -Thomas Jefferson, 1790
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Founding Documents
The Thomas Jefferson Papers at the Library of Congress
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Religion and the Founding of the American Republic
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Sections: America as a Religious Refuge: The Seventeenth Century | Religion in Eighteenth-Century America | Religion and the American Revolution | Religion and the Congress of the Confederation, 1774-89 | Religion and the State Governments | Religion and the Federal Government | Religion and the New RepublicPart 2
In response to widespread sentiment that to survive the United States needed a stronger federal government, a convention met in Philadelphia in the summer of 1787 and on September 17 adopted the Constitution of the United States. Aside from Article VI, which stated that "no religious Test shall ever be required as Qualification" for federal office holders, the Constitution said little about religion. Its reserve troubled two groups of Americans--those who wanted the new instrument of government to give faith a larger role and those who feared that it would do so. This latter group, worried that the Constitution did not prohibit the kind of state-supported religion that had flourished in some colonies, exerted pressure on the members of the First Federal Congress. In September 1789 the Congress adopted the First Amendment to the Constitution, which, when ratified by the required number of states in December 1791, forbade Congress to make any law "respecting an establishment of religion."
The first two Presidents of the United States were patrons of religion--George Washington was an Episcopal vestryman, and John Adams described himself as "a church going animal." Both offered strong rhetorical support for religion. In his Farewell Address of September 1796, Washington called religion, as the source of morality, "a necessary spring of popular government," while Adams claimed that statesmen "may plan and speculate for Liberty, but it is Religion and Morality alone, which can establish the Principles upon which Freedom can securely stand." Thomas Jefferson and James Madison, the third and fourth Presidents, are generally considered less hospitable to religion than their predecessors, but evidence presented in this section shows that, while in office, both offered religion powerful symbolic support.
Religion and the ConstitutionWhen the Constitution was submitted to the American public, "many pious people" complained that the document had slighted God, for it contained "no recognition of his mercies to us . . . or even of his existence." The Constitution was reticent about religion for two reasons: first, many delegates were committed federalists, who believed that the power to legislate on religion, if it existed at all, lay within the domain of the state, not the national, governments; second, the delegates believed that it would be a tactical mistake to introduce such a politically controversial issue as religion into the Constitution. The only "religious clause" in the document--the proscription of religious tests as qualifications for federal office in Article Six--was intended to defuse controversy by disarming potential critics who might claim religious discrimination in eligibility for public office.
That religion was not otherwise addressed in the Constitution did not make it an "irreligious" document any more than the Articles of Confederation was an "irreligious" document. The Constitution dealt with the church precisely as the Articles had, thereby maintaining, at the national level, the religious status quo. In neither document did the people yield any explicit power to act in the field of religion. But the absence of expressed powers did not prevent either the Continental-Confederation Congress or the Congress under the Constitution from sponsoring a program to support general, nonsectarian religion.
Franklin Requests Prayers in the Constitutional ConventionBenjamin Franklin delivered this famous speech, asking that the Convention begin each day's session with prayers, at a particularly contentious period, when it appeared that the Convention might break up over its failure to resolve the dispute between the large and small states over representation in the new government. The eighty one year old Franklin asserted that "the longer I live, the more convincing proofs I see of this Truth--that God governs in the Affairs of Men." "I also believe," Franklin continued, that "without his concurring Aid, we shall succeed in this political Building no better than the Builders of Babel." Franklin's motion failed, ostensibly because the Convention had no funds to pay local clergymen to act as chaplains.
Speech to the Constitutional Convention, June 28, 1787. Benjamin Franklin, Holograph manuscript. Manuscript Division, Library of Congress (145)
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Prohibition of Religious TestsThe language prohibiting religious tests as a qualification for federal office holders, ultimately incorporated into Article Six of the Constitution, was proposed by Charles Pinckney of South Carolina on August 20, 1787, and adopted by the full Convention on August 30. Here we see the language as it was added to the first working draft of the Constitution, the so-called Committee of Detail report of August 6, 1787, by the Convention secretary, William Jackson.
Constitution of the United States (William Jackson Copy), Committee of Detail report. Broadside, August 6, 1787. Manuscript Division, Library of Congress (146)
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Religion and the Bill of RightsMany Americans were disappointed that the Constitution did not contain a bill of rights that would explicitly enumerate the rights of American citizens and enable courts and public opinion to protect these rights from an oppressive government. Supporters of a bill of rights permitted the Constitution to be adopted with the understanding that the first Congress under the new government would attempt to add a bill of rights.
James Madison took the lead in steering such a bill through the First Federal Congress, which convened in the spring of 1789. The Virginia Ratifying Convention and Madison's constituents, among whom were large numbers of Baptists who wanted freedom of religion secured, expected him to push for a bill of rights. On September 28, 1789, both houses of Congress voted to send twelve amendments to the states. In December 1791, those ratified by the requisite three fourths of the states became the first ten amendments to the Constitution. Religion was addressed in the First Amendment in the following familiar words: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof." In notes for his June 8, 1789, speech introducing the Bill of Rights, Madison indicated his opposition to a "national" religion. Most Americans agreed that the federal government must not pick out one religion and give it exclusive financial and legal support.
Proposed Constitutional AmendmentsThe Virginia Ratifying Convention approved the Constitution with the understanding that the state's representatives in the First Federal Congress would try to procure amendments that the Convention recommended. The twentieth proposed amendment deals with religion; it is an adaptation of the final article in the Virginia Declaration of Rights of 1776 with this additional phrase: "that no particular religious sect or society ought to be favored or established by Law in preference to others."
Proposed amendments to the Constitution of the United States. [page one] - [page two] - [page three] - [page four] Virginia Ratifying Convention, Broadside, June 25, 1788. Rare Book and Special Collections Division, Library of Congress (147)
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Baptist Preacher's Objections to the ConstitutionThe influential Baptist preacher, John Leland, wrote a letter, containing ten objections to the Federal Constitution, and sent it to Colonel Thomas Barbour, an opponent of the Constitution in James Madison's Orange County district. Leland's objections were copied by Captain Joseph Spencer, one of Madison's Baptist friends, and sent to Madison so that he could refute the arguments. Leland's final objection was that the new constitution did not sufficiently secure "What is dearest of all---Religious Liberty." His chief worry was "if a Majority of Congress with the President favour one System more than another, they may oblige all others to pay to the support of their System as much as they please."
Objections to the Federal Constitution, [February 1788]. [page one] - [page two] John Leland. Manuscript Division, Library of Congress (148)
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Madison's Notes for the Bill of RightsMadison used this outline to guide him in delivering his speech introducing the Bill of Rights into the First Congress on June 8, 1789. Madison proposed an amendment to assuage the anxieties of those who feared that religious freedom would be endangered by the unamended Constitution. According to The Congressional Register Madison, on June 8, moved that "the civil rights of none shall be abridged on account of religious belief or worship, nor shall any national religion be established, nor shall the full and equal rights of conscience be in any manner, or on any pretext infringed."
Notes for a speech introducing the Bill of Rights, [June 8, 1789]. [page one] - [page two] James Madison, Holograph notes. Manuscript Division, Library of Congress (149)
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The Bill of RightsThe necessary two thirds majority in each house of Congress ratified the Bill of Rights on September 28, 1789. As sent to the states for approval, the Bill of Rights contained twelve proposed amendments to the Constitution. Amendments One and Two did not receive the required approval of three fourths of the states. As a result, Article Three in the original Bill of Rights became the First Amendment to the Constitution. This copy on vellum was signed by Speaker of the House Frederick Muhlenberg, Vice President John Adams, and Secretary of State Samuel Otis.
The Bill of Rights (the John Beckley copy) September 28, 1789. Holograph manuscript on vellum. Manuscript Division, Library of Congress (150)
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The Rhetorical Support of Religion: Washington and AdamsThe country's first two presidents, George Washington and John Adams, were firm believers in the importance of religion for republican government. As citizens of Virginia and Massachusetts, both were sympathetic to general religious taxes being paid by the citizens of their respective states to the churches of their choice. However both statesmen would have discouraged such a measure at the national level because of its divisiveness. They confined themselves to promoting religion rhetorically, offering frequent testimonials to its importance in building the moral character of American citizens, that, they believed, undergirded public order and successful popular government.
George Washington, Episcopal VestrymanWashington was for many years a vestryman at Truro Parish, his local Episcopal Church. The entry of June 5, 1772, shows Washington and his neighbor, George Mason, the author of the Virginia Declaration of Rights, engaged in parish business, including making arrangements for replacing the front steps of the church, painting its roof and selling church pews to the members as a means of obtaining revenue. The minutes of the meeting also reveal that Washington and George William Fairfax presented the parish with gold leaf to be used to gild letters on "Carved Ornaments" on the altar.
The Vestry Book of Truro Parish, Virginia, 1732-1802. Manuscript volume. Manuscript Division, Library of Congress (152)
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George Washington. Chalk drawing on paper, ca. 1800, by St. Memin. Prints and Photograph Division, Library of Congress (151)
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Washington's PrayerThe draft of the circular letter is in the hand of a secretary, although the signature is Washington's. Some have called this concluding paragraph "Washington's Prayer." In it, he asked God to: "dispose us all, to do Justice, to love mercy, and to demean ourselves with that Charity, humility and pacific temper of mind, which were the Characteristicks of the Divine Author of our blessed Religion, and without an humble imitation of whose example in these things, we can never hope to be a happy Nation."
Circular to the chief executives of the states, June 11, 1783. George Washington, Manuscript. Manuscript Division, Library of Congress (153)
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"To Bigotry no Sanction"President George Washington and a group of public officials, including Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson, left New York City, the temporary capital of the United States, on August 15, 1790, for a brief tour of Rhode Island. At Newport, Washington received an address of congratulations from the congregation of the Touro Synagogue. His famous answer, assuring his fellow citizens "of the Stock of Abraham" that the new American republic would give "to bigotry no sanction, to persecution not assistance," is seen here in the copy from Washington's letterbook.
George Washington to the Hebrew Congregation in New Port, Rhode Island. [page one] - [page two] Manuscript copy, Letterbook 1790-1794. Manuscript Division. Library of Congress (154)
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Washington's Farewell AddressGeorge Washington's Farewell Address is one of the most important documents in American history. Recommendations made in it by the first president, particularly in the field of foreign affairs, have exerted a strong and continuing influence on American statesmen and politicians. The address, in which Washington informed the American people that he would not seek a third term and offered advice on the country's future policies, was published on September 19, 1796, in David Claypoole's American Daily Advertiser. It was immediately reprinted in newspapers and as a pamphlet throughout the United States. The address was drafted in July 1796 by Alexander Hamilton and revised for publication by the president himself. Washington also had at his disposal an earlier draft by James Madison.
The "religion section" of the address was for many years as familiar to Americans as was Washington's warning that the United States should avoid entangling alliances with foreign nations. Washington's observations on the relation of religion to government were commonplace, and similar statements abound in documents from the founding period. Washington's prestige, however, gave his views a special authority with his fellow citizens and caused them to be repeated in political discourse well into the nineteenth century.
Hamilton's Draft of Washington's Farewell AddressGeorge Washington's Farewell Address was drafted by Alexander Hamilton who made a stronger case for the necessity of religious faith as a prop for popular government than Washington was willing to accept. Washington incorporated Hamilton's assertion that it was unreasonable to suppose that "national morality can be maintained in exclusion of religious principle," but declined to add Hamilton's next sentence, written in the left margin of this page: "does it [national morality] not require the aid of a generally received and divinely authoritative Religion?"
Draft of Washington's Farewell Address, [July] 1796. Alexander Hamilton. Manuscript Division, Library of Congress (155)
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The Farewell AddressIn his Farewell Address, the first president advised his fellow citizens that "Religion and morality" were the "great Pillars of human happiness, these firmest props of the duties of Men and citizens." "National morality," he added, could not exist "in exclusion of religious principle." "Virtue or morality," he concluded, as the products of religion, were "a necessary spring of popular government." The "religion section" is located in the lower right portion of page one and continues to the upper right portion of page two.
The Farewell Address. [page one] - [page two] - [page three] George Washington, Broadside. Rare Book and Special Collections Division, Library of Congress (156)
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Adams on ReligionJohn Adams, a self-confessed "church going animal," grew up in the Congregational Church in Braintree, Massachusetts. By the time he wrote this letter his theological position can best be described as Unitarian. In this letter Adams tells Jefferson that "Without Religion this World would be Something not fit to be mentioned in polite Company, I mean Hell."
John Adams to Thomas Jefferson, April 19, 1817. [page one] - [page two] - [page three] - [page four] Holograph letter. Manuscript Division, Library of Congress (157)
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Adams's Fast Day ProclamationJohn Adams continued the practice, begun in 1775 and adopted under the new federal government by Washington, of issuing fast and thanksgiving day proclamations. In this proclamation, issued at a time when the nation appeared to be on the brink of a war with France, Adams urged the citizens to "acknowledge before God the manifold sins and transgressions with which we are justly chargeable as individuals and as a nation; beseeching him at the same time, of His infinite grace, through the Redeemer of the World, freely to remit all our offences, and to incline us, by His Holy Spirit, to that sincere repentance and reformation which may afford us reason to hope for his inestimable favor and heavenly benediction."
Fast Day Proclamation, March 23, 1798. John Adams. Broadside. Rare Book and Special Collections Division, Library of Congress (158)
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Part 2
Home | Overview | Exhibition Items | Public Programs | Acknowledgments
Sections: America as a Religious Refuge: The Seventeenth Century | Religion in Eighteenth-Century America | Religion and the American Revolution | Religion and the Congress of the Confederation, 1774-89 | Religion and the State Governments | Religion and the Federal Government | Religion and the New RepublicConnect with the LibraryAll ways to connect
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Religion and the Founding of the American Republic
Religion and the Federal Government, Part 2
Home | Overview | Exhibition Items | Public Programs | Acknowledgments
Sections: America as a Religious Refuge: The Seventeenth Century | Religion in Eighteenth-Century America | Religion and the American Revolution | Religion and the Congress of the Confederation, 1774-89 | Religion and the State Governments | Religion and the Federal Government | Religion and the New RepublicPart 1
The State Becomes the Church: Jefferson and MadisonIt is no exaggeration to say that on Sundays in Washington during the administrations of Thomas Jefferson (1801-1809) and of James Madison (1809-1817) the state became the church. Within a year of his inauguration, Jefferson began attending church services in the House of Representatives. Madison followed Jefferson's example, although unlike Jefferson, who rode on horseback to church in the Capitol, Madison came in a coach and four. Worship services in the House--a practice that continued until after the Civil War--were acceptable to Jefferson because they were nondiscriminatory and voluntary. Preachers of every Protestant denomination appeared. (Catholic priests began officiating in 1826.) As early as January 1806 a female evangelist, Dorothy Ripley, delivered a camp meeting-style exhortation in the House to Jefferson, Vice President Aaron Burr, and a "crowded audience." Throughout his administration Jefferson permitted church services in executive branch buildings. The Gospel was also preached in the Supreme Court chambers.
Jefferson's actions may seem surprising because his attitude toward the relation between religion and government is usually thought to have been embodied in his recommendation that there exist "a wall of separation between church and state." In that statement, Jefferson was apparently declaring his opposition, as Madison had done in introducing the Bill of Rights, to a "national" religion. In attending church services on public property, Jefferson and Madison consciously and deliberately were offering symbolic support to religion as a prop for republican government.
"A Wall of Separation"Thomas Jefferson's reply of January 1, 1802, to an address of congratulations from the Danbury (Connecticut) Baptist Association contains a phrase familiar in today's political and judicial circles: "a wall of separation between church and state." Many in the United States, including the courts, have used this phrase to interpret the Founders' intentions regarding the relationship between government and religion, as set down by the First Amendment to the Constitution: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion . . . ." However, the meaning of this clause has been the subject of passionate dispute for the past fifty years.
Presented here are both the handwritten, edited draft of the letter and an adjusted facsimile showing the original unedited draft. The draft of the letter reveals that, far from dashing it off as a "short note of courtesy," as some have called it, Jefferson labored over its composition. Jefferson consulted Postmaster General Gideon Granger of Connecticut and Attorney General Levi Lincoln of Massachusetts while drafting the letter. That Jefferson consulted two New England politicians about his messages indicated that he regarded his reply to the Danbury Baptists as a political letter, not as a dispassionate theoretical pronouncement on the relations between government and religion.
Jefferson Attacked as an InfidelDuring the presidential campaign of 1800, the Federalists attacked Thomas Jefferson as an infidel, claiming that Jefferson's intoxication with the religious and political extremism of the French Revolution disqualified him from public office. In this cartoon, the eye of God has instigated the American eagle to snatch from Jefferson's hand the "Constitution & Independence" of the United States before he can cast it on an "Altar to Gallic Despotism," whose flames are being fed by the writings of Thomas Paine, Helvetius, Rousseau, and other freethinkers. The paper, "To Mazzei," dropping from Jefferson's right hand, was a 1796 letter that was interpreted by Jefferson's enemies as an indictment of the character of George Washington.
The Providential Detection. Etching by an unknown artist, c. 1800. The Library Company of Philadelphia (159)
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Jefferson's Opinion of JesusIn the 1790s, Thomas Jefferson, influenced by the writings of Joseph Priestly, seems to have adopted a more positive opinion of Christianity. In this letter to his friend Benjamin Rush, Jefferson asserted that he was a "Christian, in the only sense in which [Jesus] wished any one to be." In an attached syllabus, Jefferson compared the "merit of the doctrines of Jesus" with those of the classical philosophers and the Jews. Jefferson pronounced Jesus' doctrines, though "disfigured by the corruptions of schismatising followers" far superior to any competing system. Jefferson declined to consider the "question of [Jesus] being a member of the god-head, or in direct communication with it, claimed for him by some of his followers, and denied by others."
Thomas Jefferson to Benjamin Rush, April 21, 1803. [page one] - [page two] - [page three] Holograph letter and syllabus. (Copyprint of verso.) Manuscript Division, Library of Congress (160)
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The Lord's Prayer in Jefferson's HandJefferson liked to experiment with and use cryptology. There are several different codes in his papers at the Library of Congress, including this one based on the Lord's Prayer, which Jefferson carefully wrote out as a block of consecutive letters.
The Lord's Prayer. Thomas Jefferson, Holograph manuscript. Manuscript Division, Library of Congress (161)
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The Jefferson BibleIt is thought that Jefferson prepared what is referred to as the "Jefferson Bible" in 1820. In this volume, Jefferson used excerpts from New Testaments in four languages to create parallel columns of text recounting the life of Jesus, preserving what he considered to be Christ's authentic actions and statements, eliminating the mysterious and miraculous. He began his account with Luke's second chapter, deleting the first in which the angel Gabriel announced to the Virgin Mary that she would give birth to the Messiah by the Holy Spirit. On the pages seen here, Jefferson deleted the part of the birth story in which the angel of the Lord appeared to the shepherds. The text ends with the crucifixion and burial and omits any resurrection appearance.
The Life and Morals of Jesus of Nazareth extracted textually from the Gospels in Greek, Latin, French & English. [index page one] -- [index page two] -- [index page three] Thomas Jefferson, c. 1820. National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution (162a)
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The Life and Morals of Jesus of Nazareth extracted textually from the Gospels in Greek, Latin, French & English. [title page] - [page one] - [page two] Thomas Jefferson. Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1904. General Collections, Library of Congress (162c)
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A Wall of SeparationThe celebrated phrase, "a wall of separation between church and state," was contained in Thomas Jefferson's letter to the Danbury Baptists. American courts have used the phrase to interpret the Founders' intentions regarding the relationship between government and religion. The words, "wall of separation," appear just above the section of the letter that Jefferson circled for deletion. In the deleted section Jefferson explained why he refused to proclaim national days of fasting and thanksgiving, as his predecessors, George Washington and John Adams, had done. In the left margin, next to the deleted section, Jefferson noted that he excised the section to avoid offending "our republican friends in the eastern states" who cherished days of fasting and thanksgiving.
Thomas Jefferson to Nehemiah Dodge, Ephraim Robbins and Stephen S. Nelson, a committee of the Danbury Baptist Association in the state of Connecticut, January 1, 1802. Holograph draft letter, 1802. Jefferson Papers, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress (163a)
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The Danbury Baptist Letter, as Originally DraftedThe Library of Congress is grateful to the Federal Bureau of Investigation Laboratory for recovering the lines obliterated from the Danbury Baptist letter by Thomas Jefferson. He originally wrote "a wall of eternal separation between church and state," later deleting the word "eternal." He also deleted the phrase "the duties of my station, which are merely temporal." Jefferson must have been unhappy with the uncompromising tone of both of these phrases, especially in view of the implications of his decision, two days later, to begin attending church services in the House of Representatives.
Thomas Jefferson to Nehemiah Dodge, Ephraim Robbins and Stephen S. Nelson, a committee of the Danbury Baptist Association in the state of Connecticut, January 1, 1802. Letter, digitally revised to expose obliterated sections. Copyprint. Manuscript Division, Library of Congress (163b)
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Jefferson at Church in the CapitolThe Library of Congress is grateful to the Federal Bureau of Investigation Laboratory for recovering the lines obliterated from the Danbury Baptist letter by Thomas Jefferson. He originally wrote "a wall of eternal separation between church and state," later deleting the word "eternal." He also deleted the phrase "the duties of my station, which are merely temporal." Jefferson must have been unhappy with the uncompromising tone of both of these phrases, especially in view of the implications of his decision, two days later, to begin attending church services in the House of Representatives.
Journal entry, January 3, 1802. Manasseh Cutler. Charles Deering McCormick Library of Special Collections, Northwestern University Library (164)
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Jefferson and Family at ChurchIn this letter Manasseh Cutler informs Joseph Torrey that Thomas Jefferson "and his family have constantly attended public worship in the Hall" of the House of Representatives.
Manasseh Cutler to Joseph Torrey, January 3, 1803. [page one] -- [page two] -- [page three] -- [page four] Manuscript letter. Charles Deering McCormick Library of Special Collections, Northwestern University Library (165)
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Reserved Seats at Capitol ServicesHere is a description, by an early Washington "insider," Margaret Bayard Smith (1778-1844), a writer and social critic and wife of Samuel Harrison Smith, publisher of the National Intelligencer, of Jefferson's attendance at church services in the House of Representatives: "Jefferson during his whole administration was a most regular attendant. The seat he chose the first day sabbath, and the adjoining one, which his private secretary occupied, were ever afterwards by the courtesy of the congregation, left for him."
Reminiscences. [left page] - [right page] Margaret Bayard Smith, 1837. Manuscript volume. (Copyprint of verso). Manuscript Division, Library of Congress (166-166a)
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Incident at Congressional Church ServicesIn this letter Catherine Mitchill, wife of New York senator Samuel Latham Mitchill, describes stepping on Jefferson's toes at the conclusion of a church service in the House of Representatives. She was "so prodigiously frighten'd," she told her sister, "that I could not stop to make an apology, but got out of the way as quick as I could."
Catherine Akerly Mitchill to her sister, Margaret Miller, April 8, 1806. Manuscript letter. Manuscript Division, Library of Congress (167)
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Madison Seen at House Church ServiceAbijah Bigelow, a Federalist congressman from Massachusetts, describes President James Madison at a church service in the House on December 27, 1812, as well as an incident that had occurred when Jefferson was in attendance some years earlier.
Abijah Bigelow to Hannah Bigelow, December 28, 1812. [left page] - [right page] Manuscript letter. The American Antiquarian Society, Worcester, Massachusetts (168)
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Hymns Played at Congressional Church ServiceAccording to Margaret Bayard Smith, a regular at church services in the Capitol, the Marine Band "made quite a dazzling appearance in the gallery . . . but in their attempts to accompany the psalm-singing of the congregation, they completely failed and after a while, the practice was discontinued."
"The President's Own" United States Marine Corp Band, ca. 1798. Watercolor, Lt. Col. Donna Neary, USMCR, late twentieth century. Copyprint. United States Marine Corp Band, Washington, D.C. (169)
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The Old House of RepresentativesChurch services were held in what is now called Statuary Hall from 1807 to 1857. The first services in the Capitol, held when the government moved to Washington in the fall of 1800, were conducted in the "hall" of the House in the north wing of the building. In 1801 the House moved to temporary quarters in the south wing, called the "Oven," which it vacated in 1804, returning to the north wing for three years. Services were conducted in the House until after the Civil War. The Speaker's podium was used as the preacher's pulpit.
The Old House of Representatives. Oil on canvas by Samuel F.B. Morse, 1822. Copyprint. In the collection of the Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. Museum Purchase, Gallery Fund (170)
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A Millennialist Sermon Preached in CongressThis sermon on the millennium was preached by the Baltimore Swedenborgian minister, John Hargrove (1750-1839) in the House of Representatives. One of the earliest millennialist sermons preached before Congress was offered on July 4, 1801, by the Reverend David Austin (1759-1831), who at the time considered himself "struck in prophesy under the style of the Joshua of the American Temple." Having proclaimed to his Congressional audience the imminence of the Second Coming of Christ, Austin took up a collection on the floor of the House to support services at "Lady Washington's Chapel" in a nearby hotel where he was teaching that "the seed of the Millennial estate is found in the backbone of the American Revolution."
A Sermon on the Second Coming of Christ, and on the Last Judgment. Delivered the 25th December, 1804 before both houses of Congress, at the Capitol in the city of Washington. John Hargrove. Baltimore: Warner & Hanna, 1805. Rare Book and Special Collections Division, Library of Congress (171)
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First Catholic Sermon in the HouseOn January 8, 1826, Bishop John England (1786-1842) of Charleston, South Carolina, became the first Catholic clergyman to preach in the House of Representatives. The overflow audience included President John Quincy Adams, whose July 4, 1821, speech England rebutted in his sermon. Adams had claimed that the Roman Catholic Church was intolerant of other religions and therefore incompatible with republican institutions. England asserted that "we do not believe that God gave to the church any power to interfere with our civil rights, or our civil concerns." "I would not allow to the Pope, or to any bishop of our church," added England, "the smallest interference with the humblest vote at our most insignificant balloting box."
John England, Bishop of Charleston, South Carolina. Oil on canvas. Diocese of Charleston, Charleston, South Carolina (173)
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The substance of a discourse preached in the hall of the House of Representatives of the United States, January 8, 1826. John England. Baltimore: F. Lucas, 1826. Rare Book and Special Collections Division, Library of Congress (172)
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Woman Preacher in the HouseIn 1827, Harriet Livermore (1788-1868), the daughter and granddaughter of Congressmen, became the second woman to preach in the House of Representatives. The first woman to preach before the House (and probably the first woman to speak officially in Congress under any circumstances) was the English evangelist, Dorothy Ripley (1767-1832), who conducted a service on January 12, 1806. Jefferson and Vice President Aaron Burr were among those in a "crowded audience." Sizing up the congregation, Ripley concluded that "very few" had been born again and broke into an urgent, camp meeting style exhortation, insisting that "Christ's Body was the Bread of Life and His Blood the drink of the righteous."
Harriet Livermore. Engraving by J.B. Longacre, from a painting by Waldo and Jewett, 1827. National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution (174)
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Communion Service in the Treasury BuildingManasseh Cutler here describes a four-hour communion service in the Treasury Building, conducted by a Presbyterian minister, the Reverend James Laurie: "Attended worship at the Treasury. Mr. Laurie alone. Sacrament. Full assembly. Three tables; service very solemn; nearly four hours."
Journal entry, December 23, 1804. Manasseh Cutler. Manuscript. Charles Deering McCormick Library of Special Collections, Northwestern University Library (175)
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The Treasury BuildingThe first Treasury Building, where several denominations conducted church services, was burned by the British in 1814. The new building, seen here on the lower right, was built on approximately the same location as the earlier one, within view of the White House.
Washington City, 1820. Watercolor sketch by Baroness Hyde de Neuville, 1820. I. N. Phelps Stokes Collection, The Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Division of Art, Prints and Photographs, The New York Public Library, Astor, Lenox and Tilden Foundations (176)
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Adams's Description of a Church Service in the Supreme CourtJohn Quincy Adams here describes the Reverend James Laurie, pastor of a Presbyterian Church that had settled into the Treasury Building, preaching to an overflow audience in the Supreme Court Chamber, which in 1806 was located on the ground floor of the Capitol.
Diary entry, February 2, 1806. John Quincy Adams. Copyprint. Adams Family Papers, Massachusetts Historical Society, Boston (177)
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The Old Supreme Court ChamberDescription of church services in the Supreme Court chamber by Manasseh Cutler (1804) and John Quincy Adams (1806) indicate that services were held in the Court soon after the government moved to Washington in 1800.
The Old Supreme Court Chamber, ca. 1810, U. S. Capitol Building. Photograph by Franz Jantzen. Copyprint. Collection of the Supreme Court of the United States (178)
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Church Services in Congress after the Civil WarCharles Boynton (1806-1883) was in 1867 chaplain of the House of Representatives and organizing pastor of the First Congregational Church in Washington, which was trying at that time to build its own sanctuary. In the meantime the church, as Boynton informed potential donors, was holding services "at the Hall of Representatives" where "the audience is the largest in town. . . .nearly 2000 assembled every Sabbath" for services, making the congregation in the House the "largest Protestant Sabbath audience then in the United States." The First Congregational Church met in the House from 1865 to 1868.
Fundraising brochure. Charles B. Boynton. Washington, D.C.: November 1, 1867. Rare Book and Special Collections Division, Library of Congress (180)
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House of Representatives, After the Civil WarThe House moved to its current location on the south side of the Capitol in 1857. It contained the "largest Protestant Sabbath audience" in the United States when the First Congregational Church of Washington held services there from 1865 to 1868.
The House of Representatives, 1866. Chromo-lithograph by E. Sachse & Co, 1866. Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress (179)
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Part 1
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Ed. Notes;
The first two Presidents of the United States were patrons of religion--George Washington was an Episcopal vestryman, and John Adams described himself as "a church going animal." Both offered strong rhetorical support for religion. In his Farewell Address of September 1796, Washington called religion, as the source of morality, "a necessary spring of popular government," while Adams claimed that statesmen "may plan and speculate for Liberty, but it is Religion and Morality alone, which can establish the Principles upon which Freedom can securely stand." Thomas Jefferson and James Madison, the third and fourth Presidents, are generally considered less hospitable to religion than their predecessors, but evidence presented in this section shows that, while in office, both offered religion powerful symbolic support.
Actually America was founded as a Christian Nation but our Founders and Framers realized that it should not be led into the trap of a Theocracy like England had been.They also realized it should not be ruled by a Papacy controlled government. Bear in mind that Catholic Spain had already claimed most of the American continent and had established colonies up and down our eastern coast starting in 1494 and That was before the English had colonized Jamestown.
Basically the original colonists from Europe were all Christians be they Protestant, Anabaptist,Catholic, Episcopalian etc. ALL Christians. Eight of the original colonies that became America had set up their own Christian religions as religions of State. The Second Amendment was created Not to be free from religion, but instead, to have freedom of choice concerning religion. The Constitution never denied religion. That and the fact that America was considered a Christian Nation founded on Christian principles going back to the beginning of the european colonizations.
Speech to the Constitutional Convention, June 28, 1787. Benjamin Franklin, Holograph manuscript. Manuscript Division, Library of Congress (145)
Image Address
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Constitution of the United States (William Jackson Copy), Committee of Detail report. Broadside, August 6, 1787. Manuscript Division, Library of Congress (146)
Image Address
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Proposed amendments to the Constitution of the United States. [page one] - [page two] - [page three] - [page four] Virginia Ratifying Convention, Broadside, June 25, 1788. Rare Book and Special Collections Division, Library of Congress (147)
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Objections to the Federal Constitution, [February 1788]. [page one] - [page two] John Leland. Manuscript Division, Library of Congress (148)
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Notes for a speech introducing the Bill of Rights, [June 8, 1789]. [page one] - [page two] James Madison, Holograph notes. Manuscript Division, Library of Congress (149)
Image Addresses
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The Bill of Rights (the John Beckley copy) September 28, 1789. Holograph manuscript on vellum. Manuscript Division, Library of Congress (150)
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The Vestry Book of Truro Parish, Virginia, 1732-1802. Manuscript volume. Manuscript Division, Library of Congress (152)
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Circular to the chief executives of the states, June 11, 1783. George Washington, Manuscript. Manuscript Division, Library of Congress (153)
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George Washington to the Hebrew Congregation in New Port, Rhode Island. [page one] - [page two] Manuscript copy, Letterbook 1790-1794. Manuscript Division. Library of Congress (154)
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Draft of Washington's Farewell Address, [July] 1796. Alexander Hamilton. Manuscript Division, Library of Congress (155)
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The Farewell Address. [page one] - [page two] - [page three] George Washington, Broadside. Rare Book and Special Collections Division, Library of Congress (156)
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John Adams to Thomas Jefferson, April 19, 1817. [page one] - [page two] - [page three] - [page four] Holograph letter. Manuscript Division, Library of Congress (157)
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Fast Day Proclamation, March 23, 1798. John Adams. Broadside. Rare Book and Special Collections Division, Library of Congress (158)
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The Providential Detection. Etching by an unknown artist, c. 1800. The Library Company of Philadelphia (159)
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Thomas Jefferson to Benjamin Rush, April 21, 1803. [page one] - [page two] - [page three] Holograph letter and syllabus. (Copyprint of verso.) Manuscript Division, Library of Congress (160)
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The Lord's Prayer. Thomas Jefferson, Holograph manuscript. Manuscript Division, Library of Congress (161)
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The Life and Morals of Jesus of Nazareth extracted textually from the Gospels in Greek, Latin, French & English. [index page one] -- [index page two] -- [index page three] Thomas Jefferson, c. 1820. National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution (162a)
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Thomas Jefferson to Nehemiah Dodge, Ephraim Robbins and Stephen S. Nelson, a committee of the Danbury Baptist Association in the state of Connecticut, January 1, 1802. Holograph draft letter, 1802. Jefferson Papers, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress (163a)
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As originally drafted;Thomas Jefferson to Nehemiah Dodge, Ephraim Robbins and Stephen S. Nelson, a committee of the Danbury Baptist Association in the state of Connecticut, January 1, 1802. Letter, digitally revised to expose obliterated sections. Copyprint. Manuscript Division, Library of Congress (163b)
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Journal entry, January 3, 1802. Manasseh Cutler. Charles Deering McCormick Library of Special Collections, Northwestern University Library (164)
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Manasseh Cutler to Joseph Torrey, January 3, 1803. [page one] -- [page two] -- [page three] -- [page four] Manuscript letter. Charles Deering McCormick Library of Special Collections, Northwestern University Library (165)
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Reminiscences. [left page] - [right page] Margaret Bayard Smith, 1837. Manuscript volume. (Copyprint of verso). Manuscript Division, Library of Congress (166-166a)
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Catherine Akerly Mitchill to her sister, Margaret Miller, April 8, 1806. Manuscript letter. Manuscript Division, Library of Congress (167)
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Abijah Bigelow to Hannah Bigelow, December 28, 1812. [left page] - [right page] Manuscript letter. The American Antiquarian Society, Worcester, Massachusetts (168)
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"The President's Own" United States Marine Corp Band, ca. 1798. Watercolor, Lt. Col. Donna Neary, USMCR, late twentieth century. Copyprint. United States Marine Corp Band, Washington, D.C. (169)
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The Old House of Representatives. Oil on canvas by Samuel F.B. Morse, 1822. Copyprint. In the collection of the Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. Museum Purchase, Gallery Fund (170)
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A Sermon on the Second Coming of Christ, and on the Last Judgment. Delivered the 25th December, 1804 before both houses of Congress, at the Capitol in the city of Washington. John Hargrove. Baltimore: Warner & Hanna, 1805. Rare Book and Special Collections Division, Library of Congress (171)
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John England, Bishop of Charleston, South Carolina. Oil on canvas. Diocese of Charleston, Charleston, South Carolina (173)
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The substance of a discourse preached in the hall of the House of Representatives of the United States, January 8, 1826. John England. Baltimore: F. Lucas, 1826. Rare Book and Special Collections Division, Library of Congress (172)
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Harriet Livermore. Engraving by J.B. Longacre, from a painting by Waldo and Jewett, 1827. National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution (174)
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Journal entry, December 23, 1804. Manasseh Cutler. Manuscript. Charles Deering McCormick Library of Special Collections, Northwestern University Library (175)
Image Address
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Washington City, 1820. Watercolor sketch by Baroness Hyde de Neuville, 1820. I. N. Phelps Stokes Collection, The Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Division of Art, Prints and Photographs, The New York Public Library, Astor, Lenox and Tilden Foundations (176)
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Diary entry, February 2, 1806. John Quincy Adams. Copyprint. Adams Family Papers, Massachusetts Historical Society, Boston (177)
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The Old Supreme Court Chamber, ca. 1810, U. S. Capitol Building. Photograph by Franz Jantzen. Copyprint. Collection of the Supreme Court of the United States (178)
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Fundraising brochure. Charles B. Boynton. Washington, D.C.: November 1, 1867. Rare Book and Special Collections Division, Library of Congress (180)
Image Address
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The House of Representatives, 1866. Chromo-lithograph by E. Sachse & Co, 1866. Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress (179)
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Home | Overview | Exhibition Items | Public Programs | Acknowledgments
Sections: America as a Religious Refuge: The Seventeenth Century | Religion in Eighteenth-Century America | Religion and the American Revolution | Religion and the Congress of the Confederation, 1774-89 | Religion and the State Governments | Religion and the Federal Government | Religion and the New RepublicPart 2
In response to widespread sentiment that to survive the United States needed a stronger federal government, a convention met in Philadelphia in the summer of 1787 and on September 17 adopted the Constitution of the United States. Aside from Article VI, which stated that "no religious Test shall ever be required as Qualification" for federal office holders, the Constitution said little about religion. Its reserve troubled two groups of Americans--those who wanted the new instrument of government to give faith a larger role and those who feared that it would do so. This latter group, worried that the Constitution did not prohibit the kind of state-supported religion that had flourished in some colonies, exerted pressure on the members of the First Federal Congress. In September 1789 the Congress adopted the First Amendment to the Constitution, which, when ratified by the required number of states in December 1791, forbade Congress to make any law "respecting an establishment of religion."
The first two Presidents of the United States were patrons of religion--George Washington was an Episcopal vestryman, and John Adams described himself as "a church going animal." Both offered strong rhetorical support for religion. In his Farewell Address of September 1796, Washington called religion, as the source of morality, "a necessary spring of popular government," while Adams claimed that statesmen "may plan and speculate for Liberty, but it is Religion and Morality alone, which can establish the Principles upon which Freedom can securely stand." Thomas Jefferson and James Madison, the third and fourth Presidents, are generally considered less hospitable to religion than their predecessors, but evidence presented in this section shows that, while in office, both offered religion powerful symbolic support.
Religion and the ConstitutionWhen the Constitution was submitted to the American public, "many pious people" complained that the document had slighted God, for it contained "no recognition of his mercies to us . . . or even of his existence." The Constitution was reticent about religion for two reasons: first, many delegates were committed federalists, who believed that the power to legislate on religion, if it existed at all, lay within the domain of the state, not the national, governments; second, the delegates believed that it would be a tactical mistake to introduce such a politically controversial issue as religion into the Constitution. The only "religious clause" in the document--the proscription of religious tests as qualifications for federal office in Article Six--was intended to defuse controversy by disarming potential critics who might claim religious discrimination in eligibility for public office.
That religion was not otherwise addressed in the Constitution did not make it an "irreligious" document any more than the Articles of Confederation was an "irreligious" document. The Constitution dealt with the church precisely as the Articles had, thereby maintaining, at the national level, the religious status quo. In neither document did the people yield any explicit power to act in the field of religion. But the absence of expressed powers did not prevent either the Continental-Confederation Congress or the Congress under the Constitution from sponsoring a program to support general, nonsectarian religion.
Franklin Requests Prayers in the Constitutional ConventionBenjamin Franklin delivered this famous speech, asking that the Convention begin each day's session with prayers, at a particularly contentious period, when it appeared that the Convention might break up over its failure to resolve the dispute between the large and small states over representation in the new government. The eighty one year old Franklin asserted that "the longer I live, the more convincing proofs I see of this Truth--that God governs in the Affairs of Men." "I also believe," Franklin continued, that "without his concurring Aid, we shall succeed in this political Building no better than the Builders of Babel." Franklin's motion failed, ostensibly because the Convention had no funds to pay local clergymen to act as chaplains.
Speech to the Constitutional Convention, June 28, 1787. Benjamin Franklin, Holograph manuscript. Manuscript Division, Library of Congress (145)
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Prohibition of Religious TestsThe language prohibiting religious tests as a qualification for federal office holders, ultimately incorporated into Article Six of the Constitution, was proposed by Charles Pinckney of South Carolina on August 20, 1787, and adopted by the full Convention on August 30. Here we see the language as it was added to the first working draft of the Constitution, the so-called Committee of Detail report of August 6, 1787, by the Convention secretary, William Jackson.
Constitution of the United States (William Jackson Copy), Committee of Detail report. Broadside, August 6, 1787. Manuscript Division, Library of Congress (146)
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Religion and the Bill of RightsMany Americans were disappointed that the Constitution did not contain a bill of rights that would explicitly enumerate the rights of American citizens and enable courts and public opinion to protect these rights from an oppressive government. Supporters of a bill of rights permitted the Constitution to be adopted with the understanding that the first Congress under the new government would attempt to add a bill of rights.
James Madison took the lead in steering such a bill through the First Federal Congress, which convened in the spring of 1789. The Virginia Ratifying Convention and Madison's constituents, among whom were large numbers of Baptists who wanted freedom of religion secured, expected him to push for a bill of rights. On September 28, 1789, both houses of Congress voted to send twelve amendments to the states. In December 1791, those ratified by the requisite three fourths of the states became the first ten amendments to the Constitution. Religion was addressed in the First Amendment in the following familiar words: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof." In notes for his June 8, 1789, speech introducing the Bill of Rights, Madison indicated his opposition to a "national" religion. Most Americans agreed that the federal government must not pick out one religion and give it exclusive financial and legal support.
Proposed Constitutional AmendmentsThe Virginia Ratifying Convention approved the Constitution with the understanding that the state's representatives in the First Federal Congress would try to procure amendments that the Convention recommended. The twentieth proposed amendment deals with religion; it is an adaptation of the final article in the Virginia Declaration of Rights of 1776 with this additional phrase: "that no particular religious sect or society ought to be favored or established by Law in preference to others."
Proposed amendments to the Constitution of the United States. [page one] - [page two] - [page three] - [page four] Virginia Ratifying Convention, Broadside, June 25, 1788. Rare Book and Special Collections Division, Library of Congress (147)
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Baptist Preacher's Objections to the ConstitutionThe influential Baptist preacher, John Leland, wrote a letter, containing ten objections to the Federal Constitution, and sent it to Colonel Thomas Barbour, an opponent of the Constitution in James Madison's Orange County district. Leland's objections were copied by Captain Joseph Spencer, one of Madison's Baptist friends, and sent to Madison so that he could refute the arguments. Leland's final objection was that the new constitution did not sufficiently secure "What is dearest of all---Religious Liberty." His chief worry was "if a Majority of Congress with the President favour one System more than another, they may oblige all others to pay to the support of their System as much as they please."
Objections to the Federal Constitution, [February 1788]. [page one] - [page two] John Leland. Manuscript Division, Library of Congress (148)
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Madison's Notes for the Bill of RightsMadison used this outline to guide him in delivering his speech introducing the Bill of Rights into the First Congress on June 8, 1789. Madison proposed an amendment to assuage the anxieties of those who feared that religious freedom would be endangered by the unamended Constitution. According to The Congressional Register Madison, on June 8, moved that "the civil rights of none shall be abridged on account of religious belief or worship, nor shall any national religion be established, nor shall the full and equal rights of conscience be in any manner, or on any pretext infringed."
Notes for a speech introducing the Bill of Rights, [June 8, 1789]. [page one] - [page two] James Madison, Holograph notes. Manuscript Division, Library of Congress (149)
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The Bill of RightsThe necessary two thirds majority in each house of Congress ratified the Bill of Rights on September 28, 1789. As sent to the states for approval, the Bill of Rights contained twelve proposed amendments to the Constitution. Amendments One and Two did not receive the required approval of three fourths of the states. As a result, Article Three in the original Bill of Rights became the First Amendment to the Constitution. This copy on vellum was signed by Speaker of the House Frederick Muhlenberg, Vice President John Adams, and Secretary of State Samuel Otis.
The Bill of Rights (the John Beckley copy) September 28, 1789. Holograph manuscript on vellum. Manuscript Division, Library of Congress (150)
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The Rhetorical Support of Religion: Washington and AdamsThe country's first two presidents, George Washington and John Adams, were firm believers in the importance of religion for republican government. As citizens of Virginia and Massachusetts, both were sympathetic to general religious taxes being paid by the citizens of their respective states to the churches of their choice. However both statesmen would have discouraged such a measure at the national level because of its divisiveness. They confined themselves to promoting religion rhetorically, offering frequent testimonials to its importance in building the moral character of American citizens, that, they believed, undergirded public order and successful popular government.
George Washington, Episcopal VestrymanWashington was for many years a vestryman at Truro Parish, his local Episcopal Church. The entry of June 5, 1772, shows Washington and his neighbor, George Mason, the author of the Virginia Declaration of Rights, engaged in parish business, including making arrangements for replacing the front steps of the church, painting its roof and selling church pews to the members as a means of obtaining revenue. The minutes of the meeting also reveal that Washington and George William Fairfax presented the parish with gold leaf to be used to gild letters on "Carved Ornaments" on the altar.
The Vestry Book of Truro Parish, Virginia, 1732-1802. Manuscript volume. Manuscript Division, Library of Congress (152)
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George Washington. Chalk drawing on paper, ca. 1800, by St. Memin. Prints and Photograph Division, Library of Congress (151)
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Washington's PrayerThe draft of the circular letter is in the hand of a secretary, although the signature is Washington's. Some have called this concluding paragraph "Washington's Prayer." In it, he asked God to: "dispose us all, to do Justice, to love mercy, and to demean ourselves with that Charity, humility and pacific temper of mind, which were the Characteristicks of the Divine Author of our blessed Religion, and without an humble imitation of whose example in these things, we can never hope to be a happy Nation."
Circular to the chief executives of the states, June 11, 1783. George Washington, Manuscript. Manuscript Division, Library of Congress (153)
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"To Bigotry no Sanction"President George Washington and a group of public officials, including Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson, left New York City, the temporary capital of the United States, on August 15, 1790, for a brief tour of Rhode Island. At Newport, Washington received an address of congratulations from the congregation of the Touro Synagogue. His famous answer, assuring his fellow citizens "of the Stock of Abraham" that the new American republic would give "to bigotry no sanction, to persecution not assistance," is seen here in the copy from Washington's letterbook.
George Washington to the Hebrew Congregation in New Port, Rhode Island. [page one] - [page two] Manuscript copy, Letterbook 1790-1794. Manuscript Division. Library of Congress (154)
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Washington's Farewell AddressGeorge Washington's Farewell Address is one of the most important documents in American history. Recommendations made in it by the first president, particularly in the field of foreign affairs, have exerted a strong and continuing influence on American statesmen and politicians. The address, in which Washington informed the American people that he would not seek a third term and offered advice on the country's future policies, was published on September 19, 1796, in David Claypoole's American Daily Advertiser. It was immediately reprinted in newspapers and as a pamphlet throughout the United States. The address was drafted in July 1796 by Alexander Hamilton and revised for publication by the president himself. Washington also had at his disposal an earlier draft by James Madison.
The "religion section" of the address was for many years as familiar to Americans as was Washington's warning that the United States should avoid entangling alliances with foreign nations. Washington's observations on the relation of religion to government were commonplace, and similar statements abound in documents from the founding period. Washington's prestige, however, gave his views a special authority with his fellow citizens and caused them to be repeated in political discourse well into the nineteenth century.
Hamilton's Draft of Washington's Farewell AddressGeorge Washington's Farewell Address was drafted by Alexander Hamilton who made a stronger case for the necessity of religious faith as a prop for popular government than Washington was willing to accept. Washington incorporated Hamilton's assertion that it was unreasonable to suppose that "national morality can be maintained in exclusion of religious principle," but declined to add Hamilton's next sentence, written in the left margin of this page: "does it [national morality] not require the aid of a generally received and divinely authoritative Religion?"
Draft of Washington's Farewell Address, [July] 1796. Alexander Hamilton. Manuscript Division, Library of Congress (155)
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The Farewell AddressIn his Farewell Address, the first president advised his fellow citizens that "Religion and morality" were the "great Pillars of human happiness, these firmest props of the duties of Men and citizens." "National morality," he added, could not exist "in exclusion of religious principle." "Virtue or morality," he concluded, as the products of religion, were "a necessary spring of popular government." The "religion section" is located in the lower right portion of page one and continues to the upper right portion of page two.
The Farewell Address. [page one] - [page two] - [page three] George Washington, Broadside. Rare Book and Special Collections Division, Library of Congress (156)
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Adams on ReligionJohn Adams, a self-confessed "church going animal," grew up in the Congregational Church in Braintree, Massachusetts. By the time he wrote this letter his theological position can best be described as Unitarian. In this letter Adams tells Jefferson that "Without Religion this World would be Something not fit to be mentioned in polite Company, I mean Hell."
John Adams to Thomas Jefferson, April 19, 1817. [page one] - [page two] - [page three] - [page four] Holograph letter. Manuscript Division, Library of Congress (157)
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Adams's Fast Day ProclamationJohn Adams continued the practice, begun in 1775 and adopted under the new federal government by Washington, of issuing fast and thanksgiving day proclamations. In this proclamation, issued at a time when the nation appeared to be on the brink of a war with France, Adams urged the citizens to "acknowledge before God the manifold sins and transgressions with which we are justly chargeable as individuals and as a nation; beseeching him at the same time, of His infinite grace, through the Redeemer of the World, freely to remit all our offences, and to incline us, by His Holy Spirit, to that sincere repentance and reformation which may afford us reason to hope for his inestimable favor and heavenly benediction."
Fast Day Proclamation, March 23, 1798. John Adams. Broadside. Rare Book and Special Collections Division, Library of Congress (158)
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Part 2
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Sections: America as a Religious Refuge: The Seventeenth Century | Religion in Eighteenth-Century America | Religion and the American Revolution | Religion and the Congress of the Confederation, 1774-89 | Religion and the State Governments | Religion and the Federal Government | Religion and the New RepublicConnect with the LibraryAll ways to connect
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Religion and the Founding of the American Republic
Religion and the Federal Government, Part 2
Home | Overview | Exhibition Items | Public Programs | Acknowledgments
Sections: America as a Religious Refuge: The Seventeenth Century | Religion in Eighteenth-Century America | Religion and the American Revolution | Religion and the Congress of the Confederation, 1774-89 | Religion and the State Governments | Religion and the Federal Government | Religion and the New RepublicPart 1
The State Becomes the Church: Jefferson and MadisonIt is no exaggeration to say that on Sundays in Washington during the administrations of Thomas Jefferson (1801-1809) and of James Madison (1809-1817) the state became the church. Within a year of his inauguration, Jefferson began attending church services in the House of Representatives. Madison followed Jefferson's example, although unlike Jefferson, who rode on horseback to church in the Capitol, Madison came in a coach and four. Worship services in the House--a practice that continued until after the Civil War--were acceptable to Jefferson because they were nondiscriminatory and voluntary. Preachers of every Protestant denomination appeared. (Catholic priests began officiating in 1826.) As early as January 1806 a female evangelist, Dorothy Ripley, delivered a camp meeting-style exhortation in the House to Jefferson, Vice President Aaron Burr, and a "crowded audience." Throughout his administration Jefferson permitted church services in executive branch buildings. The Gospel was also preached in the Supreme Court chambers.
Jefferson's actions may seem surprising because his attitude toward the relation between religion and government is usually thought to have been embodied in his recommendation that there exist "a wall of separation between church and state." In that statement, Jefferson was apparently declaring his opposition, as Madison had done in introducing the Bill of Rights, to a "national" religion. In attending church services on public property, Jefferson and Madison consciously and deliberately were offering symbolic support to religion as a prop for republican government.
"A Wall of Separation"Thomas Jefferson's reply of January 1, 1802, to an address of congratulations from the Danbury (Connecticut) Baptist Association contains a phrase familiar in today's political and judicial circles: "a wall of separation between church and state." Many in the United States, including the courts, have used this phrase to interpret the Founders' intentions regarding the relationship between government and religion, as set down by the First Amendment to the Constitution: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion . . . ." However, the meaning of this clause has been the subject of passionate dispute for the past fifty years.
Presented here are both the handwritten, edited draft of the letter and an adjusted facsimile showing the original unedited draft. The draft of the letter reveals that, far from dashing it off as a "short note of courtesy," as some have called it, Jefferson labored over its composition. Jefferson consulted Postmaster General Gideon Granger of Connecticut and Attorney General Levi Lincoln of Massachusetts while drafting the letter. That Jefferson consulted two New England politicians about his messages indicated that he regarded his reply to the Danbury Baptists as a political letter, not as a dispassionate theoretical pronouncement on the relations between government and religion.
Jefferson Attacked as an InfidelDuring the presidential campaign of 1800, the Federalists attacked Thomas Jefferson as an infidel, claiming that Jefferson's intoxication with the religious and political extremism of the French Revolution disqualified him from public office. In this cartoon, the eye of God has instigated the American eagle to snatch from Jefferson's hand the "Constitution & Independence" of the United States before he can cast it on an "Altar to Gallic Despotism," whose flames are being fed by the writings of Thomas Paine, Helvetius, Rousseau, and other freethinkers. The paper, "To Mazzei," dropping from Jefferson's right hand, was a 1796 letter that was interpreted by Jefferson's enemies as an indictment of the character of George Washington.
The Providential Detection. Etching by an unknown artist, c. 1800. The Library Company of Philadelphia (159)
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Jefferson's Opinion of JesusIn the 1790s, Thomas Jefferson, influenced by the writings of Joseph Priestly, seems to have adopted a more positive opinion of Christianity. In this letter to his friend Benjamin Rush, Jefferson asserted that he was a "Christian, in the only sense in which [Jesus] wished any one to be." In an attached syllabus, Jefferson compared the "merit of the doctrines of Jesus" with those of the classical philosophers and the Jews. Jefferson pronounced Jesus' doctrines, though "disfigured by the corruptions of schismatising followers" far superior to any competing system. Jefferson declined to consider the "question of [Jesus] being a member of the god-head, or in direct communication with it, claimed for him by some of his followers, and denied by others."
Thomas Jefferson to Benjamin Rush, April 21, 1803. [page one] - [page two] - [page three] Holograph letter and syllabus. (Copyprint of verso.) Manuscript Division, Library of Congress (160)
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The Lord's Prayer in Jefferson's HandJefferson liked to experiment with and use cryptology. There are several different codes in his papers at the Library of Congress, including this one based on the Lord's Prayer, which Jefferson carefully wrote out as a block of consecutive letters.
The Lord's Prayer. Thomas Jefferson, Holograph manuscript. Manuscript Division, Library of Congress (161)
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The Jefferson BibleIt is thought that Jefferson prepared what is referred to as the "Jefferson Bible" in 1820. In this volume, Jefferson used excerpts from New Testaments in four languages to create parallel columns of text recounting the life of Jesus, preserving what he considered to be Christ's authentic actions and statements, eliminating the mysterious and miraculous. He began his account with Luke's second chapter, deleting the first in which the angel Gabriel announced to the Virgin Mary that she would give birth to the Messiah by the Holy Spirit. On the pages seen here, Jefferson deleted the part of the birth story in which the angel of the Lord appeared to the shepherds. The text ends with the crucifixion and burial and omits any resurrection appearance.
The Life and Morals of Jesus of Nazareth extracted textually from the Gospels in Greek, Latin, French & English. [index page one] -- [index page two] -- [index page three] Thomas Jefferson, c. 1820. National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution (162a)
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The Life and Morals of Jesus of Nazareth extracted textually from the Gospels in Greek, Latin, French & English. [title page] - [page one] - [page two] Thomas Jefferson. Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1904. General Collections, Library of Congress (162c)
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A Wall of SeparationThe celebrated phrase, "a wall of separation between church and state," was contained in Thomas Jefferson's letter to the Danbury Baptists. American courts have used the phrase to interpret the Founders' intentions regarding the relationship between government and religion. The words, "wall of separation," appear just above the section of the letter that Jefferson circled for deletion. In the deleted section Jefferson explained why he refused to proclaim national days of fasting and thanksgiving, as his predecessors, George Washington and John Adams, had done. In the left margin, next to the deleted section, Jefferson noted that he excised the section to avoid offending "our republican friends in the eastern states" who cherished days of fasting and thanksgiving.
Thomas Jefferson to Nehemiah Dodge, Ephraim Robbins and Stephen S. Nelson, a committee of the Danbury Baptist Association in the state of Connecticut, January 1, 1802. Holograph draft letter, 1802. Jefferson Papers, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress (163a)
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The Danbury Baptist Letter, as Originally DraftedThe Library of Congress is grateful to the Federal Bureau of Investigation Laboratory for recovering the lines obliterated from the Danbury Baptist letter by Thomas Jefferson. He originally wrote "a wall of eternal separation between church and state," later deleting the word "eternal." He also deleted the phrase "the duties of my station, which are merely temporal." Jefferson must have been unhappy with the uncompromising tone of both of these phrases, especially in view of the implications of his decision, two days later, to begin attending church services in the House of Representatives.
Thomas Jefferson to Nehemiah Dodge, Ephraim Robbins and Stephen S. Nelson, a committee of the Danbury Baptist Association in the state of Connecticut, January 1, 1802. Letter, digitally revised to expose obliterated sections. Copyprint. Manuscript Division, Library of Congress (163b)
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Jefferson at Church in the CapitolThe Library of Congress is grateful to the Federal Bureau of Investigation Laboratory for recovering the lines obliterated from the Danbury Baptist letter by Thomas Jefferson. He originally wrote "a wall of eternal separation between church and state," later deleting the word "eternal." He also deleted the phrase "the duties of my station, which are merely temporal." Jefferson must have been unhappy with the uncompromising tone of both of these phrases, especially in view of the implications of his decision, two days later, to begin attending church services in the House of Representatives.
Journal entry, January 3, 1802. Manasseh Cutler. Charles Deering McCormick Library of Special Collections, Northwestern University Library (164)
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Jefferson and Family at ChurchIn this letter Manasseh Cutler informs Joseph Torrey that Thomas Jefferson "and his family have constantly attended public worship in the Hall" of the House of Representatives.
Manasseh Cutler to Joseph Torrey, January 3, 1803. [page one] -- [page two] -- [page three] -- [page four] Manuscript letter. Charles Deering McCormick Library of Special Collections, Northwestern University Library (165)
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Reserved Seats at Capitol ServicesHere is a description, by an early Washington "insider," Margaret Bayard Smith (1778-1844), a writer and social critic and wife of Samuel Harrison Smith, publisher of the National Intelligencer, of Jefferson's attendance at church services in the House of Representatives: "Jefferson during his whole administration was a most regular attendant. The seat he chose the first day sabbath, and the adjoining one, which his private secretary occupied, were ever afterwards by the courtesy of the congregation, left for him."
Reminiscences. [left page] - [right page] Margaret Bayard Smith, 1837. Manuscript volume. (Copyprint of verso). Manuscript Division, Library of Congress (166-166a)
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Incident at Congressional Church ServicesIn this letter Catherine Mitchill, wife of New York senator Samuel Latham Mitchill, describes stepping on Jefferson's toes at the conclusion of a church service in the House of Representatives. She was "so prodigiously frighten'd," she told her sister, "that I could not stop to make an apology, but got out of the way as quick as I could."
Catherine Akerly Mitchill to her sister, Margaret Miller, April 8, 1806. Manuscript letter. Manuscript Division, Library of Congress (167)
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Madison Seen at House Church ServiceAbijah Bigelow, a Federalist congressman from Massachusetts, describes President James Madison at a church service in the House on December 27, 1812, as well as an incident that had occurred when Jefferson was in attendance some years earlier.
Abijah Bigelow to Hannah Bigelow, December 28, 1812. [left page] - [right page] Manuscript letter. The American Antiquarian Society, Worcester, Massachusetts (168)
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Hymns Played at Congressional Church ServiceAccording to Margaret Bayard Smith, a regular at church services in the Capitol, the Marine Band "made quite a dazzling appearance in the gallery . . . but in their attempts to accompany the psalm-singing of the congregation, they completely failed and after a while, the practice was discontinued."
"The President's Own" United States Marine Corp Band, ca. 1798. Watercolor, Lt. Col. Donna Neary, USMCR, late twentieth century. Copyprint. United States Marine Corp Band, Washington, D.C. (169)
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The Old House of RepresentativesChurch services were held in what is now called Statuary Hall from 1807 to 1857. The first services in the Capitol, held when the government moved to Washington in the fall of 1800, were conducted in the "hall" of the House in the north wing of the building. In 1801 the House moved to temporary quarters in the south wing, called the "Oven," which it vacated in 1804, returning to the north wing for three years. Services were conducted in the House until after the Civil War. The Speaker's podium was used as the preacher's pulpit.
The Old House of Representatives. Oil on canvas by Samuel F.B. Morse, 1822. Copyprint. In the collection of the Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. Museum Purchase, Gallery Fund (170)
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A Millennialist Sermon Preached in CongressThis sermon on the millennium was preached by the Baltimore Swedenborgian minister, John Hargrove (1750-1839) in the House of Representatives. One of the earliest millennialist sermons preached before Congress was offered on July 4, 1801, by the Reverend David Austin (1759-1831), who at the time considered himself "struck in prophesy under the style of the Joshua of the American Temple." Having proclaimed to his Congressional audience the imminence of the Second Coming of Christ, Austin took up a collection on the floor of the House to support services at "Lady Washington's Chapel" in a nearby hotel where he was teaching that "the seed of the Millennial estate is found in the backbone of the American Revolution."
A Sermon on the Second Coming of Christ, and on the Last Judgment. Delivered the 25th December, 1804 before both houses of Congress, at the Capitol in the city of Washington. John Hargrove. Baltimore: Warner & Hanna, 1805. Rare Book and Special Collections Division, Library of Congress (171)
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First Catholic Sermon in the HouseOn January 8, 1826, Bishop John England (1786-1842) of Charleston, South Carolina, became the first Catholic clergyman to preach in the House of Representatives. The overflow audience included President John Quincy Adams, whose July 4, 1821, speech England rebutted in his sermon. Adams had claimed that the Roman Catholic Church was intolerant of other religions and therefore incompatible with republican institutions. England asserted that "we do not believe that God gave to the church any power to interfere with our civil rights, or our civil concerns." "I would not allow to the Pope, or to any bishop of our church," added England, "the smallest interference with the humblest vote at our most insignificant balloting box."
John England, Bishop of Charleston, South Carolina. Oil on canvas. Diocese of Charleston, Charleston, South Carolina (173)
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The substance of a discourse preached in the hall of the House of Representatives of the United States, January 8, 1826. John England. Baltimore: F. Lucas, 1826. Rare Book and Special Collections Division, Library of Congress (172)
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Woman Preacher in the HouseIn 1827, Harriet Livermore (1788-1868), the daughter and granddaughter of Congressmen, became the second woman to preach in the House of Representatives. The first woman to preach before the House (and probably the first woman to speak officially in Congress under any circumstances) was the English evangelist, Dorothy Ripley (1767-1832), who conducted a service on January 12, 1806. Jefferson and Vice President Aaron Burr were among those in a "crowded audience." Sizing up the congregation, Ripley concluded that "very few" had been born again and broke into an urgent, camp meeting style exhortation, insisting that "Christ's Body was the Bread of Life and His Blood the drink of the righteous."
Harriet Livermore. Engraving by J.B. Longacre, from a painting by Waldo and Jewett, 1827. National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution (174)
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Communion Service in the Treasury BuildingManasseh Cutler here describes a four-hour communion service in the Treasury Building, conducted by a Presbyterian minister, the Reverend James Laurie: "Attended worship at the Treasury. Mr. Laurie alone. Sacrament. Full assembly. Three tables; service very solemn; nearly four hours."
Journal entry, December 23, 1804. Manasseh Cutler. Manuscript. Charles Deering McCormick Library of Special Collections, Northwestern University Library (175)
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The Treasury BuildingThe first Treasury Building, where several denominations conducted church services, was burned by the British in 1814. The new building, seen here on the lower right, was built on approximately the same location as the earlier one, within view of the White House.
Washington City, 1820. Watercolor sketch by Baroness Hyde de Neuville, 1820. I. N. Phelps Stokes Collection, The Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Division of Art, Prints and Photographs, The New York Public Library, Astor, Lenox and Tilden Foundations (176)
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Adams's Description of a Church Service in the Supreme CourtJohn Quincy Adams here describes the Reverend James Laurie, pastor of a Presbyterian Church that had settled into the Treasury Building, preaching to an overflow audience in the Supreme Court Chamber, which in 1806 was located on the ground floor of the Capitol.
Diary entry, February 2, 1806. John Quincy Adams. Copyprint. Adams Family Papers, Massachusetts Historical Society, Boston (177)
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The Old Supreme Court ChamberDescription of church services in the Supreme Court chamber by Manasseh Cutler (1804) and John Quincy Adams (1806) indicate that services were held in the Court soon after the government moved to Washington in 1800.
The Old Supreme Court Chamber, ca. 1810, U. S. Capitol Building. Photograph by Franz Jantzen. Copyprint. Collection of the Supreme Court of the United States (178)
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Church Services in Congress after the Civil WarCharles Boynton (1806-1883) was in 1867 chaplain of the House of Representatives and organizing pastor of the First Congregational Church in Washington, which was trying at that time to build its own sanctuary. In the meantime the church, as Boynton informed potential donors, was holding services "at the Hall of Representatives" where "the audience is the largest in town. . . .nearly 2000 assembled every Sabbath" for services, making the congregation in the House the "largest Protestant Sabbath audience then in the United States." The First Congregational Church met in the House from 1865 to 1868.
Fundraising brochure. Charles B. Boynton. Washington, D.C.: November 1, 1867. Rare Book and Special Collections Division, Library of Congress (180)
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House of Representatives, After the Civil WarThe House moved to its current location on the south side of the Capitol in 1857. It contained the "largest Protestant Sabbath audience" in the United States when the First Congregational Church of Washington held services there from 1865 to 1868.
The House of Representatives, 1866. Chromo-lithograph by E. Sachse & Co, 1866. Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress (179)
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Ed. Notes;
The first two Presidents of the United States were patrons of religion--George Washington was an Episcopal vestryman, and John Adams described himself as "a church going animal." Both offered strong rhetorical support for religion. In his Farewell Address of September 1796, Washington called religion, as the source of morality, "a necessary spring of popular government," while Adams claimed that statesmen "may plan and speculate for Liberty, but it is Religion and Morality alone, which can establish the Principles upon which Freedom can securely stand." Thomas Jefferson and James Madison, the third and fourth Presidents, are generally considered less hospitable to religion than their predecessors, but evidence presented in this section shows that, while in office, both offered religion powerful symbolic support.
Actually America was founded as a Christian Nation but our Founders and Framers realized that it should not be led into the trap of a Theocracy like England had been.They also realized it should not be ruled by a Papacy controlled government. Bear in mind that Catholic Spain had already claimed most of the American continent and had established colonies up and down our eastern coast starting in 1494 and That was before the English had colonized Jamestown.
Basically the original colonists from Europe were all Christians be they Protestant, Anabaptist,Catholic, Episcopalian etc. ALL Christians. Eight of the original colonies that became America had set up their own Christian religions as religions of State. The Second Amendment was created Not to be free from religion, but instead, to have freedom of choice concerning religion. The Constitution never denied religion. That and the fact that America was considered a Christian Nation founded on Christian principles going back to the beginning of the european colonizations.
Speech to the Constitutional Convention, June 28, 1787. Benjamin Franklin, Holograph manuscript. Manuscript Division, Library of Congress (145)
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Constitution of the United States (William Jackson Copy), Committee of Detail report. Broadside, August 6, 1787. Manuscript Division, Library of Congress (146)
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Proposed amendments to the Constitution of the United States. [page one] - [page two] - [page three] - [page four] Virginia Ratifying Convention, Broadside, June 25, 1788. Rare Book and Special Collections Division, Library of Congress (147)
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Objections to the Federal Constitution, [February 1788]. [page one] - [page two] John Leland. Manuscript Division, Library of Congress (148)
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Notes for a speech introducing the Bill of Rights, [June 8, 1789]. [page one] - [page two] James Madison, Holograph notes. Manuscript Division, Library of Congress (149)
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The Bill of Rights (the John Beckley copy) September 28, 1789. Holograph manuscript on vellum. Manuscript Division, Library of Congress (150)
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The Vestry Book of Truro Parish, Virginia, 1732-1802. Manuscript volume. Manuscript Division, Library of Congress (152)
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Circular to the chief executives of the states, June 11, 1783. George Washington, Manuscript. Manuscript Division, Library of Congress (153)
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George Washington to the Hebrew Congregation in New Port, Rhode Island. [page one] - [page two] Manuscript copy, Letterbook 1790-1794. Manuscript Division. Library of Congress (154)
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Draft of Washington's Farewell Address, [July] 1796. Alexander Hamilton. Manuscript Division, Library of Congress (155)
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The Farewell Address. [page one] - [page two] - [page three] George Washington, Broadside. Rare Book and Special Collections Division, Library of Congress (156)
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John Adams to Thomas Jefferson, April 19, 1817. [page one] - [page two] - [page three] - [page four] Holograph letter. Manuscript Division, Library of Congress (157)
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Fast Day Proclamation, March 23, 1798. John Adams. Broadside. Rare Book and Special Collections Division, Library of Congress (158)
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The Providential Detection. Etching by an unknown artist, c. 1800. The Library Company of Philadelphia (159)
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Thomas Jefferson to Benjamin Rush, April 21, 1803. [page one] - [page two] - [page three] Holograph letter and syllabus. (Copyprint of verso.) Manuscript Division, Library of Congress (160)
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The Lord's Prayer. Thomas Jefferson, Holograph manuscript. Manuscript Division, Library of Congress (161)
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The Life and Morals of Jesus of Nazareth extracted textually from the Gospels in Greek, Latin, French & English. [index page one] -- [index page two] -- [index page three] Thomas Jefferson, c. 1820. National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution (162a)
Image addresses
https://www.loc.gov/exhibits/religion/images/vc006799.jpg
https://www.loc.gov/exhibits/religion/images/vc006800.jpg
https://www.loc.gov/exhibits/religion/images/vc006801.jpg
Thomas Jefferson to Nehemiah Dodge, Ephraim Robbins and Stephen S. Nelson, a committee of the Danbury Baptist Association in the state of Connecticut, January 1, 1802. Holograph draft letter, 1802. Jefferson Papers, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress (163a)
Image Address
https://www.loc.gov/exhibits/religion/images/f0605ath.jpg
As originally drafted;Thomas Jefferson to Nehemiah Dodge, Ephraim Robbins and Stephen S. Nelson, a committee of the Danbury Baptist Association in the state of Connecticut, January 1, 1802. Letter, digitally revised to expose obliterated sections. Copyprint. Manuscript Division, Library of Congress (163b)
Image Address
https://www.loc.gov/exhibits/religion/images/danburth.jpg
Journal entry, January 3, 1802. Manasseh Cutler. Charles Deering McCormick Library of Special Collections, Northwestern University Library (164)
Image Address
https://www.loc.gov/exhibits/images/image-unavailable-150.jpg
Manasseh Cutler to Joseph Torrey, January 3, 1803. [page one] -- [page two] -- [page three] -- [page four] Manuscript letter. Charles Deering McCormick Library of Special Collections, Northwestern University Library (165)
Image Addresses
https://www.loc.gov/exhibits/religion/images/vc006760.jpg
https://www.loc.gov/exhibits/religion/images/vc006761.jpg
https://www.loc.gov/exhibits/religion/images/vc006762.jpg
https://www.loc.gov/exhibits/religion/images/vc006763.jpg
Reminiscences. [left page] - [right page] Margaret Bayard Smith, 1837. Manuscript volume. (Copyprint of verso). Manuscript Division, Library of Congress (166-166a)
Image Addresses
https://www.loc.gov/exhibits/religion/images/vc006520.jpg
https://www.loc.gov/exhibits/religion/images/vc006521.jpg
Catherine Akerly Mitchill to her sister, Margaret Miller, April 8, 1806. Manuscript letter. Manuscript Division, Library of Congress (167)
Image Address
https://www.loc.gov/exhibits/religion/images/f0609sth.jpg
Abijah Bigelow to Hannah Bigelow, December 28, 1812. [left page] - [right page] Manuscript letter. The American Antiquarian Society, Worcester, Massachusetts (168)
Image Addresses
https://www.loc.gov/exhibits/religion/images/f0615as.jpg
https://www.loc.gov/exhibits/religion/images/f0615bs.jpg
"The President's Own" United States Marine Corp Band, ca. 1798. Watercolor, Lt. Col. Donna Neary, USMCR, late twentieth century. Copyprint. United States Marine Corp Band, Washington, D.C. (169)
Image Address
https://www.loc.gov/exhibits/religion/images/f0608sth.jpg
The Old House of Representatives. Oil on canvas by Samuel F.B. Morse, 1822. Copyprint. In the collection of the Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. Museum Purchase, Gallery Fund (170)
Image Address
https://www.loc.gov/exhibits/religion/images/f0607sth.jpg
A Sermon on the Second Coming of Christ, and on the Last Judgment. Delivered the 25th December, 1804 before both houses of Congress, at the Capitol in the city of Washington. John Hargrove. Baltimore: Warner & Hanna, 1805. Rare Book and Special Collections Division, Library of Congress (171)
Image Address
https://www.loc.gov/exhibits/religion/images/vc6451th.jpg
John England, Bishop of Charleston, South Carolina. Oil on canvas. Diocese of Charleston, Charleston, South Carolina (173)
Image Address
https://www.loc.gov/exhibits/religion/images/vc006805.jpg
The substance of a discourse preached in the hall of the House of Representatives of the United States, January 8, 1826. John England. Baltimore: F. Lucas, 1826. Rare Book and Special Collections Division, Library of Congress (172)
Image Address
https://www.loc.gov/rr/rarebook/
Harriet Livermore. Engraving by J.B. Longacre, from a painting by Waldo and Jewett, 1827. National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution (174)
Image Address
https://www.loc.gov/exhibits/religion/images/f0605bth.jpg
Journal entry, December 23, 1804. Manasseh Cutler. Manuscript. Charles Deering McCormick Library of Special Collections, Northwestern University Library (175)
Image Address
https://www.loc.gov/exhibits/religion/images/f0606sth.jpg
Washington City, 1820. Watercolor sketch by Baroness Hyde de Neuville, 1820. I. N. Phelps Stokes Collection, The Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Division of Art, Prints and Photographs, The New York Public Library, Astor, Lenox and Tilden Foundations (176)
Image address
https://www.loc.gov/exhibits/religion/images/f0614sth.jpg
Diary entry, February 2, 1806. John Quincy Adams. Copyprint. Adams Family Papers, Massachusetts Historical Society, Boston (177)
Image Address
https://www.loc.gov/exhibits/religion/images/f0611sth.jpg
The Old Supreme Court Chamber, ca. 1810, U. S. Capitol Building. Photograph by Franz Jantzen. Copyprint. Collection of the Supreme Court of the United States (178)
Image Address
https://www.loc.gov/exhibits/religion/images/f0612sth.jpg
Fundraising brochure. Charles B. Boynton. Washington, D.C.: November 1, 1867. Rare Book and Special Collections Division, Library of Congress (180)
Image Address
https://www.loc.gov/exhibits/religion/images/vc6581th.jpg
The House of Representatives, 1866. Chromo-lithograph by E. Sachse & Co, 1866. Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress (179)
Image Address
https://www.loc.gov/exhibits/religion/images/00265uth.jpg
Free PDF Booklet - The Founding Fathers and Enlightenment Thought Guide to Responding-FINAL
http://www.saylor.org/site/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/POLSC201-3.2.2-The-Founding-Fathers-and-Enlightenment-Thought-Guide-to-Responding-FINAL.pdf
The links below represent our ever growing collection of books and source documents designed to tell the tale of the Founding Fathers and the Founding Era without the filter of either the public education system or the media. Here are some of the most important documents related to the founding of the United States of America.The Anti-Federalist Papers
Religion and the Founding of the American Republic
Religion and the Federal Government, Part 1 & Part 2 ( https://www.loc.gov/exhibits/religion/rel06.html )
In response to widespread sentiment that to survive the United States needed a stronger federal government, a convention met in Philadelphia in the summer of 1787 and on September 17 adopted the Constitution of the United States. Aside from Article VI, which stated that "no religious Test shall ever be required as Qualification" for federal office holders, the Constitution said little about religion. Its reserve troubled two groups of Americans--those who wanted the new instrument of government to give faith a larger role and those who feared that it would do so. This latter group, worried that the Constitution did not prohibit the kind of state-supported religion that had flourished in some colonies, exerted pressure on the members of the First Federal Congress. In September 1789 the Congress adopted the First Amendment to the Constitution, which, when ratified by the required number of states in December 1791, forbade Congress to make any law "respecting an establishment of religion."
The first two Presidents of the United States were patrons of religion--George Washington was an Episcopal vestryman, and John Adams described himself as "a church going animal." Both offered strong rhetorical support for religion. In his Farewell Address of September 1796, Washington called religion, as the source of morality, "a necessary spring of popular government," while Adams claimed that statesmen "may plan and speculate for Liberty, but it is Religion and Morality alone, which can establish the Principles upon which Freedom can securely stand." Thomas Jefferson and James Madison, the third and fourth Presidents, are generally considered less hospitable to religion than their predecessors, but evidence presented in this section shows that, while in office, both offered religion powerful symbolic support.
See the following topics in the article at: https://www.loc.gov/exhibits/religion/rel06.html
- Religion and the Constitution
- Franklin Requests Prayers in the Constitutional Convention
- Prohibition of Religious Tests
- Religion and the Bill of Rights
- Proposed Constitutional Amendments
- Baptist Preacher's Objections to the Constitution
- Madison's Notes for the Bill of Rights
- The Bill of Rights
- The Rhetorical Support of Religion: Washington and Adams
- George Washington, Episcopal Vestryman
- Washington's Prayer
- "To Bigotry no Sanction"
- Washington's Farewell Address
- Hamilton's Draft of Washington's Farewell Address
- The Farewell Address
- Adams on Religion
- Adams's Fast Day Proclamation
Very interesting website! https://www.loc.gov/exhibits/religion/rel06.html
The Founding Fathers, etc.
http://www.saylor.org/site/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/POLSC201-3.2.2-The-Founding-Fathers-and-Enlightenment-Thought-Guide-to-Responding-FINAL.pdf
************************************
The Articles of Association of 1774
The Articles of Confederation
Second Link for the Articles of Confederation
The Constitution of the United States
The Declaration of Independence
Original Draft of the Declaration of Independence – Thomas Jefferson
The Federalist Papers by Hamilton, Madison and Jay
The Kentucky Resolutions of 1798
The Treaty of Paris of 1783
If the links above do not work, here is the original link - http://www.thefederalistpapers.org/founding-documents-2
************************************
Early America http://www.earlyamerica.com/earlyamerica/milestones/
Federal Jurisdiction http://www.constitution.org/juris/fedjur1.htm
A Guide to Theories Concerning Congressional Control of Federal Jurisdiction http://www2.law.ucla.edu/volokh/blog_data/jurisdiction.htm
Principles and Acts of the Revolution in America - By John Brunke Those interested in gaining more insight into what people believed back in those days may find this old publication of some interest.
The Law: by Frederic Bastiat https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9z8u7Sz8n1c
In Their Own Words http://deila.dickinson.edu/theirownwords/title/0006.htm
Thomas Jefferson on Congressional Abuse of Commerce and Welfare -
http://tenthamendmentcenter.com/2014/09/29/thomas-jefferson-on-congressional-abuse-of-commerce-and-welfare/
http://www.saylor.org/site/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/POLSC201-3.2.2-The-Founding-Fathers-and-Enlightenment-Thought-Guide-to-Responding-FINAL.pdf
The links below represent our ever growing collection of books and source documents designed to tell the tale of the Founding Fathers and the Founding Era without the filter of either the public education system or the media. Here are some of the most important documents related to the founding of the United States of America.The Anti-Federalist Papers
Religion and the Founding of the American Republic
Religion and the Federal Government, Part 1 & Part 2 ( https://www.loc.gov/exhibits/religion/rel06.html )
In response to widespread sentiment that to survive the United States needed a stronger federal government, a convention met in Philadelphia in the summer of 1787 and on September 17 adopted the Constitution of the United States. Aside from Article VI, which stated that "no religious Test shall ever be required as Qualification" for federal office holders, the Constitution said little about religion. Its reserve troubled two groups of Americans--those who wanted the new instrument of government to give faith a larger role and those who feared that it would do so. This latter group, worried that the Constitution did not prohibit the kind of state-supported religion that had flourished in some colonies, exerted pressure on the members of the First Federal Congress. In September 1789 the Congress adopted the First Amendment to the Constitution, which, when ratified by the required number of states in December 1791, forbade Congress to make any law "respecting an establishment of religion."
The first two Presidents of the United States were patrons of religion--George Washington was an Episcopal vestryman, and John Adams described himself as "a church going animal." Both offered strong rhetorical support for religion. In his Farewell Address of September 1796, Washington called religion, as the source of morality, "a necessary spring of popular government," while Adams claimed that statesmen "may plan and speculate for Liberty, but it is Religion and Morality alone, which can establish the Principles upon which Freedom can securely stand." Thomas Jefferson and James Madison, the third and fourth Presidents, are generally considered less hospitable to religion than their predecessors, but evidence presented in this section shows that, while in office, both offered religion powerful symbolic support.
See the following topics in the article at: https://www.loc.gov/exhibits/religion/rel06.html
- Religion and the Constitution
- Franklin Requests Prayers in the Constitutional Convention
- Prohibition of Religious Tests
- Religion and the Bill of Rights
- Proposed Constitutional Amendments
- Baptist Preacher's Objections to the Constitution
- Madison's Notes for the Bill of Rights
- The Bill of Rights
- The Rhetorical Support of Religion: Washington and Adams
- George Washington, Episcopal Vestryman
- Washington's Prayer
- "To Bigotry no Sanction"
- Washington's Farewell Address
- Hamilton's Draft of Washington's Farewell Address
- The Farewell Address
- Adams on Religion
- Adams's Fast Day Proclamation
Very interesting website! https://www.loc.gov/exhibits/religion/rel06.html
The Founding Fathers, etc.
http://www.saylor.org/site/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/POLSC201-3.2.2-The-Founding-Fathers-and-Enlightenment-Thought-Guide-to-Responding-FINAL.pdf
************************************
The Articles of Association of 1774
The Articles of Confederation
Second Link for the Articles of Confederation
The Constitution of the United States
The Declaration of Independence
Original Draft of the Declaration of Independence – Thomas Jefferson
The Federalist Papers by Hamilton, Madison and Jay
The Kentucky Resolutions of 1798
The Treaty of Paris of 1783
If the links above do not work, here is the original link - http://www.thefederalistpapers.org/founding-documents-2
************************************
Early America http://www.earlyamerica.com/earlyamerica/milestones/
Federal Jurisdiction http://www.constitution.org/juris/fedjur1.htm
A Guide to Theories Concerning Congressional Control of Federal Jurisdiction http://www2.law.ucla.edu/volokh/blog_data/jurisdiction.htm
Principles and Acts of the Revolution in America - By John Brunke Those interested in gaining more insight into what people believed back in those days may find this old publication of some interest.
The Law: by Frederic Bastiat https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9z8u7Sz8n1c
In Their Own Words http://deila.dickinson.edu/theirownwords/title/0006.htm
Thomas Jefferson on Congressional Abuse of Commerce and Welfare -
http://tenthamendmentcenter.com/2014/09/29/thomas-jefferson-on-congressional-abuse-of-commerce-and-welfare/
The works of Thomas Paine Age of Reason book in audio form on video.
A Rebuttal of The Age of Reason
http://www.apologeticspress.org/apcontent.aspx?category=7&article=2605
Paine held many views during his life. All are worth studying and remembering.
Thomas Paine was remarkable for his time the number of works he read and quoted were quite unusual for the time. We shall give give you one other error in his work - he Quoted Homer and the Trojan horse as fable but a man named - found Troy.
Archaeologist http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heinrich_Schliemann
A Rebuttal of The Age of Reason
http://www.apologeticspress.org/apcontent.aspx?category=7&article=2605
Paine held many views during his life. All are worth studying and remembering.
Thomas Paine was remarkable for his time the number of works he read and quoted were quite unusual for the time. We shall give give you one other error in his work - he Quoted Homer and the Trojan horse as fable but a man named - found Troy.
Archaeologist http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heinrich_Schliemann
Blackstone's View of Natural Law and Its Influence on the Formation of American Declaration of Independence and the Constitution
By Kent Schmidt
One of the greatest ironies of American history is the influence of Sir William Blackstone on the American War for Independence. Blackstone, though most famous for his Commentaries on the Laws of England, also enjoyed a distinguished career as a prominent member of Parliament, faithfully supporting the Crown and stingingly criticizing the Colonies for their insurrection and disloyalty to their mother country.1 Contemporaneous with his tenure in Parliament (1761–1770), Blackstone put the finishing touches on the Commentaries, which ironically served to defeat the cause of British sovereignty for which he so loyally fought. Little did Blackstone realize that his project to systemize the English common law2 would fuel the American flames of desire for independence from the Crown.
It is interesting to speculate how Blackstone would have refined his writings had he known that they would be devoured so heartily by the Colonists3 and utilized to encourage their rebellion against the Crown to which his loyalties belonged. The Commentaries were so well received by the Colonists that Edmund Burke noted in 1775 that nearly as many of Blackstone's Commentaries had been sold in America as in England.4 At least one thousand copies of the English edition had been sold in the United States by 1771, prompting printer Robert Bell of Philadelphia to propose a domestic edition. Fifteen hundred of these sets were ordered by lawyers, judges, public officers, and interested laymen throughout the Colonies.
While much has been written regarding the influence of Blackstone on the formation and development of various aspects of early American law from legal education to the common law, this thesis probes specifically into the contribution which Blackstone made in the areas of natural law which became the foundation of America's two primary founding documents: the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution.
http://www.laissez-fairerepublic.com/blackstone.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Blackstone
http://www.blackstoneinstitute.org/sirwilliamblackstone.html
http://www.sullivan-county.com/deism/blackstone.htm
http://www.earlyamerica.com/review/spring97/blackstone.html
http://www.let.rug.nl/usa/biographies/william-blackstone/
http://www.partyof1776.net/p1776/influences/Blackstone%20William/quotes/contents.html
http://www.studymode.com/subjects/sir-william-blackstone-influence-on-us-politics-page3.html
One of the greatest ironies of American history is the influence of Sir William Blackstone on the American War for Independence. Blackstone, though most famous for his Commentaries on the Laws of England, also enjoyed a distinguished career as a prominent member of Parliament, faithfully supporting the Crown and stingingly criticizing the Colonies for their insurrection and disloyalty to their mother country.1 Contemporaneous with his tenure in Parliament (1761–1770), Blackstone put the finishing touches on the Commentaries, which ironically served to defeat the cause of British sovereignty for which he so loyally fought. Little did Blackstone realize that his project to systemize the English common law2 would fuel the American flames of desire for independence from the Crown.
It is interesting to speculate how Blackstone would have refined his writings had he known that they would be devoured so heartily by the Colonists3 and utilized to encourage their rebellion against the Crown to which his loyalties belonged. The Commentaries were so well received by the Colonists that Edmund Burke noted in 1775 that nearly as many of Blackstone's Commentaries had been sold in America as in England.4 At least one thousand copies of the English edition had been sold in the United States by 1771, prompting printer Robert Bell of Philadelphia to propose a domestic edition. Fifteen hundred of these sets were ordered by lawyers, judges, public officers, and interested laymen throughout the Colonies.
While much has been written regarding the influence of Blackstone on the formation and development of various aspects of early American law from legal education to the common law, this thesis probes specifically into the contribution which Blackstone made in the areas of natural law which became the foundation of America's two primary founding documents: the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution.
http://www.laissez-fairerepublic.com/blackstone.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Blackstone
http://www.blackstoneinstitute.org/sirwilliamblackstone.html
http://www.sullivan-county.com/deism/blackstone.htm
http://www.earlyamerica.com/review/spring97/blackstone.html
http://www.let.rug.nl/usa/biographies/william-blackstone/
http://www.partyof1776.net/p1776/influences/Blackstone%20William/quotes/contents.html
http://www.studymode.com/subjects/sir-william-blackstone-influence-on-us-politics-page3.html
GREAT SITES FOR STUDYING THE FOUNDERS WORKS AND THE CONSTITUTION - HOPE YOU ENJOY THEM :
http://teachingamericanhistory.org/convention/intro.html
http://teachingamericanhistory.org/convention/debates/preface.html#31r
http://www.foundingfathers.info/federalistpapers/fedindex.htm
http://www.usconstitution.net/consttop_acon.html
http://www.libertytreeuniversity.net/
Forgotten Founders: http://api.ning.com/files/CFRpP7InnGtcBI5COtttySYfaaktTzvkYybH9LQse9EL*yI7cX9a0EqlchAmPGJ8n1PVSntbuO8lLFXNk8DjzeL*TEFw9DGs/FORGOTTENFOUNDERS.pdf
http://teachingamericanhistory.org/convention/debates/preface.html#31r
http://www.foundingfathers.info/federalistpapers/fedindex.htm
http://www.usconstitution.net/consttop_acon.html
http://www.libertytreeuniversity.net/
Forgotten Founders: http://api.ning.com/files/CFRpP7InnGtcBI5COtttySYfaaktTzvkYybH9LQse9EL*yI7cX9a0EqlchAmPGJ8n1PVSntbuO8lLFXNk8DjzeL*TEFw9DGs/FORGOTTENFOUNDERS.pdf
Basic Documents for Education
These papers might be of interest to those that desire to really learn about our Constitution. After reading these and exploring some of the links you will have a much better understanding of the complex nuances that the scholars apply to the Constitution. IMO after much reading the following books and links will contain the salvation of the Republic.
"THE AMERICAN YARD STICK" [Hamilton Abert Long - 1963 available on amazon] It was written as a study guide of the Constitution and the Founders works.
"THE ORIGINAL CONSTITUTION" What it Actually Said and Meant [Robert G. Natelson - 2010]
http://www.megaessays.com/viewpaper/3492.html
Study of Constitutional Originalism http://originalismblog.typepad.com/the-originalism-blog/
http://www.directessays.com/essay_search/Constitutional_Convention....
http://www.constitution.org/afp/afp.htm
http://www.constitution.org/wr/rawle-00.htm
http://www.foundingfathers.info/federalistpapers/fedindex.htm
http://suite101.com/article/the-us-constitutions-bill-of-rights-promise-made-promise-kept-a390456
http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?allowed_in_frame=0&search=natural+born&searchmode=none
"THE AMERICAN YARD STICK" [Hamilton Abert Long - 1963 available on amazon] It was written as a study guide of the Constitution and the Founders works.
"THE ORIGINAL CONSTITUTION" What it Actually Said and Meant [Robert G. Natelson - 2010]
http://www.megaessays.com/viewpaper/3492.html
Study of Constitutional Originalism http://originalismblog.typepad.com/the-originalism-blog/
http://www.directessays.com/essay_search/Constitutional_Convention....
http://www.constitution.org/afp/afp.htm
http://www.constitution.org/wr/rawle-00.htm
http://www.foundingfathers.info/federalistpapers/fedindex.htm
http://suite101.com/article/the-us-constitutions-bill-of-rights-promise-made-promise-kept-a390456
http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?allowed_in_frame=0&search=natural+born&searchmode=none
More Basic Documents
(1774-1789) Journals of the Continental Congress
Letters of Delegates - Elliot's Debates - Farrand's Records
(1776) Virginia Declaration of Rights (Audio Version)
(1777) The Articles of Confederation - Agreed to by Congress 1777; ratified in 1781
(1781) Jeffersons Notes on the State of Virginia
Federalist Papers by author
http://www.thefederalistpapers.org/category/founders/james-wilson
http://www.thefederalistpapers.org/category/founders/adams
http://www.thefederalistpapers.org/category/founders/john-francis-mercer
http://www.thefederalistpapers.org/category/founders/john-hancock
http://www.thefederalistpapers.org/category/founders/jay
http://www.thefederalistpapers.org/category/founders/john-quincy-adams
http://www.thefederalistpapers.org/category/founders/john-witherspoon
http://www.thefederalistpapers.org/category/founders/jospeh-warren
http://www.thefederalistpapers.org/category/founders/mercy-otis-warren
http://www.thefederalistpapers.org/category/founders/noah-webster
http://www.thefederalistpapers.org/category/founders/richard-henry-lee
http://www.thefederalistpapers.org/category/founders/robert-yates
http://www.thefederalistpapers.org/category/founders/samuel-adams
http://www.thefederalistpapers.org/category/founders/samuel-bryan
http://www.thefederalistpapers.org/category/founders/samuel-huntington
http://www.thefederalistpapers.org/category/founders/jefferson
http://www.thefederalistpapers.org/category/founders/william-grayson
(1787) Notes of the Secret Debates of the Federal Convention
(1787) The Records of the Federal Convention of 1787, 3vols.
The Farrand editon is considered to be the most complete.
(1788) Constitution of the United States
(1788) The Debates in the Convention of the Commonwealth of Virginia
on the adoption of the Federal Constitution
(1796) Washingtons Farewell Address
(1774-1789) Journals of the Continental Congress
Letters of Delegates - Elliot's Debates - Farrand's Records
(1776) Virginia Declaration of Rights (Audio Version)
(1777) The Articles of Confederation - Agreed to by Congress 1777; ratified in 1781
(1781) Jeffersons Notes on the State of Virginia
Federalist Papers by author
http://www.thefederalistpapers.org/category/founders/james-wilson
http://www.thefederalistpapers.org/category/founders/adams
http://www.thefederalistpapers.org/category/founders/john-francis-mercer
http://www.thefederalistpapers.org/category/founders/john-hancock
http://www.thefederalistpapers.org/category/founders/jay
http://www.thefederalistpapers.org/category/founders/john-quincy-adams
http://www.thefederalistpapers.org/category/founders/john-witherspoon
http://www.thefederalistpapers.org/category/founders/jospeh-warren
http://www.thefederalistpapers.org/category/founders/mercy-otis-warren
http://www.thefederalistpapers.org/category/founders/noah-webster
http://www.thefederalistpapers.org/category/founders/richard-henry-lee
http://www.thefederalistpapers.org/category/founders/robert-yates
http://www.thefederalistpapers.org/category/founders/samuel-adams
http://www.thefederalistpapers.org/category/founders/samuel-bryan
http://www.thefederalistpapers.org/category/founders/samuel-huntington
http://www.thefederalistpapers.org/category/founders/jefferson
http://www.thefederalistpapers.org/category/founders/william-grayson
(1787) Notes of the Secret Debates of the Federal Convention
(1787) The Records of the Federal Convention of 1787, 3vols.
The Farrand editon is considered to be the most complete.
(1788) Constitution of the United States
(1788) The Debates in the Convention of the Commonwealth of Virginia
on the adoption of the Federal Constitution
(1796) Washingtons Farewell Address
