- “If I could conceive that the general government might ever be so administered as to render the liberty of conscience
insecure, I beg you will be persuaded, that no one would be more zealous than myself to establish effectual barriers against
the horrors of spiritual tyranny, and every species of religious persecution.”
~George Washington, letter to the United Baptist Chamber of Virginia, May 1789
- “Of all the animosities which have existed among mankind, those which are caused by a difference of sentiments in religion
appear to be the most inveterate and distressing, and ought to be deprecated. I was in hopes that the enlightened and liberal
policy, which has marked the present age, would at least have reconciled Christians of every denomination so far that we should
never again see the religious disputes carried to such a pitch as to endanger the peace of society.”
~George Washington, letter to Edward Newenham, October 20, 1792
- “We have abundant reason to rejoice that in this Land the light of truth and reason has triumphed over the power of bigotry
and superstition… In this enlightened Age and in this Land of equal liberty it is our boast, that a man’s religious tenets will
not forfeit the protection of the Laws, nor deprive him of the right of attaining and holding the highest Offices that are known
in the United States.”
~George Washington, letter to the members of the New Church in Baltimore, January 27, 1793
- “The United States of America have exhibited, perhaps, the first example of governments erected on the simple principles
of nature; and if men are now sufficiently enlightened to disabuse themselves of artifice, imposture, hypocrisy, and superstition,
they will consider this event as an era in their history. Although the detail of the formation of the American governments is at
present little known or regarded either in Europe or in America, it may hereafter become an object of curiosity. It will never be
pretended that any persons employed in that service had interviews with the gods, or were in any degree under the influence of
Heaven, more than those at work upon ships or houses, or laboring in merchandise or agriculture; it will forever be acknowledged
that these governments were contrived merely by the use of reason and the senses.”
~John Adams, “A Defence of the Constitutions of Government of the United States of America” 1787-1788
- “The Government of the United States of America is not in any sense founded on the Christian religion.”
~1797 Treaty of Tripoli signed by John Adams
- “Thirteen governments [of the original states] thus founded on the natural authority of the people alone, without a pretence
of miracle or mystery, and which are destined to spread over the northern part of that whole quarter of the globe, are a great
point gained in favor of the rights of mankind.”
~John Adams, “A Defence of the Constitutions of Government of the United States of America” (1787-88)
- “We should begin by setting conscience free. When all men of all religions shall enjoy equal liberty, property, and an equal
chance for honors and power we may expect that improvements will be made in the human character and the state of society.”
~John Adams, letter to Dr. Price, April 8, 1785
- “I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should
make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibit the free exercise thereof, thus building a wall of separation
between church and state.”
~Thomas Jefferson, letter to the Baptists of Danbury, Connecticut, 1802
- “In every country and in every age, the priest has been hostile to liberty. He is always in alliance with the despot,
abetting his abuses in return for protection to his own. It is error alone that needs the support of government. Truth can
stand by itself.”
~Thomas Jefferson, in a letter to Horatio Spofford, 1814
- “Question with boldness even the existence of a God; because, if there be one, he must more approve of the homage of reason,
then that of blindfolded fear.”
~Thomas Jefferson, letter to Peter Carr, August 10, 1787
- “I am for freedom of religion and against all maneuvers to bring about a legal ascendancy of one sect over another.”
~Thomas Jefferson, letter to Elbridge Gerry, January 26, 1799
- “History, I believe, furnishes no example of a priest-ridden people maintaining a free civil government. This marks the
lowest grade of ignorance of which their civil as well as religious leaders will always avail themselves for their own purposes.”
-Thomas Jefferson: in letter to Alexander von Humboldt, December 6, 1813
- “Because religious belief, or non-belief, is such an important part of every person’s life, freedom of religion affects
every individual. State churches that use government power to support themselves and force their views on persons of other
faiths undermine all our civil rights. Moreover, state support of the church tends to make the clergy unresponsive to the
people and leads to corruption within religion. Erecting the 'wall of separation between church and state,' therefore, is
absolutely essential in a free society. We have solved … the great and interesting question whether freedom of religion is
compatible with order in government and obedience to the laws. And we have experienced the quiet as well as the comfort
which results from leaving every one to profess freely and openly those principles of religion which are the inductions
of his own reason and the serious convictions of his own inquiries.”
~Thomas Jefferson: in a speech to the Virginia Baptists, 1808
- “Christianity neither is, nor ever was a part of the common law.”
~Thomas Jefferson, letter to Dr. Thomas Cooper, February 10, 1814,
- “The civil government functions with complete success by the total separation of the Church from the State.”
~James Madison, 1819, Writings, 8:432, quoted from Gene Garman, “Essays In Addition to America’s Real Religion”
- “And I have no doubt that every new example will succeed, as every past one has done, in shewing that religion & Govt will
both exist in greater purity, the less they are mixed together.”
~James Madison, letter to Edward Livingston, July 10, 1822
- “Every new and successful example of a perfect separation between ecclesiastical and civil matters is of importance.”
~James Madison, letter, 1822
- “Strongly guarded as is the separation between Religion and Government in the Constitution of the United States, the
danger of encroachment by Ecclesiastical Bodies, may be illustrated by precedents already furnished in their short history.”
~James Madison; Monopolies, Perpetuities, Corporations, Ecclesiastical
Endowments
- “It is only when the people become ignorant and corrupt, when they degenerate into a populace, that they are incapable of
exercising the sovereignty. Usurpation is then an easy attainment, and an usurper soon found. The people themselves become the
willing instruments of their own debasement and ruin. Let us, then, look to the great cause, and endeavor to preserve it in full
force. Let us by all wise and constitutional measures promote intelligence among the people as the best means of preserving our
liberties.”
~James Monroe, First Inaugural Address, March 4, 1817
- “When a religion is good, I conceive it will support itself; and when it does not support itself, and God does not take care
to support it so that its professors are obligated to call for help of the civil power, it’s a sign, I apprehend, of its being
a bad one.”
~Benjamin Franklin, letter to Richard Price, October 9, 1780
- “Manufacturers, who listening to the powerful invitations of a better price for their fabrics, or their labor, of greater
cheapness of provisions and raw materials, of an exemption from the chief part of the taxes burdens and restraints, which they
endure in the old world, of greater personal independence and consequence, under the operation of a more equal government, and
of what is far more precious than mere religious toleration–-a perfect equality of religious privileges; would probably flock
from Europe to the United States to pursue their own trades or professions, if they were once made sensible of the advantages
they would enjoy, and were inspired with an assurance of encouragement and employment, will, with difficulty, be induced to
transplant themselves, with a view to becoming cultivators of the land.”
~Alexander Hamilton: Report on the Subject of Manufacturers December 5, 1791
- “In regard to religion, mutual toleration in the different professions thereof is what all good and candid minds in all
ages have ever practiced, and both by precept and example inculcated on mankind.”
~Samuel Adams, The Rights of the Colonists (1771)
- “That religion, or the duty which we owe to our Creator, and the manner of discharging it, can be directed only by reason and
conviction, not by force or violence; and therefore all men are equally entitled to the free exercise of religion, according to the
dictates of conscience; and that it is the mutual duty of all to practice Christian forebearance, love, and charity towards each
other.”
~George Mason, Virginia Bill of Rights, 1776
- “It is contrary to the principles of reason and justice that any should be compelled to contribute to the maintenance of a
church with which their consciences will not permit them to join, and from which they can derive no benefit; for remedy whereof,
and that equal liberty as well religious as civil, may be universally extended to all the good people of this commonwealth.”
~George Mason, Virginia Declaration of Rights, 1776
- “A man of abilities and character, of any sect whatever, may be admitted to any office or public trust under the United States.
I am a friend to a variety of sects, because they keep one another in order. How many different sects are we composed of throughout
the United States? How many different sects will be in congress? We cannot enumerate the sects that may be in congress. And there
are so many now in the United States that they will prevent the establishment of any one sect in prejudice to the rest, and will
forever oppose all attempts to infringe religious liberty. If such an attempt be made, will not the alarm be sounded throughout
America? If congress be as wicked as we are foretold they will, they would not run the risk of exciting the resentment of all, or
most of the religious sects in America.”
~Edmund Randolph, address to the Virginia Ratifying Convention, June 10, 1788
- “I never liked the Hierarchy of the Church — an equality in the teacher of Religion, and a dependence on the people, are
republican sentiments — but if the Clergy combine, they will have their influence on Government”
~Rufus King, Rufus King: American Federalist, pp. 56-57
- A general toleration of Religion appears to me the best means of peopling our country… The free exercise of religion hath
stocked the Northern part of the continent with inhabitants; and altho’ Europe hath in great measure adopted a more moderate
policy, yet the profession of Protestantism is extremely inconvenient in many places there. A Calvinist, a Lutheran, or Quaker,
who hath felt these inconveniences in Europe, sails not to Virginia, where they are felt perhaps in a (greater degree).”
~Patrick Henry, observing that immigrants flock to places where there is no established religion, Religious Tolerance, 1766
- “No religious doctrine shall be established by law.”
~Elbridge Gerry, Annals of Congress 1:729-731
- “Knowledge and liberty are so prevalent in this country, that I do not believe that the United States would ever be disposed
to establish one religious sect, and lay all others under legal disabilities. But as we know not what may take place hereafter,
and any such test would be exceedingly injurious to the rights of free citizens, I cannot think it altogether superfluous to
have added a clause, which secures us from the possibility of such oppression.”
~Oliver Wolcott, Connecticut Ratifying Convention, 9 January 1788
- “Some very worthy persons, who have not had great advantages for information, have objected against that clause in the
constitution which provides, that no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust
under the United States. They have been afraid that this clause is unfavorable to religion. But my countrymen, the sole purpose
and effect of it is to exclude persecution, and to secure to you the important right of religious liberty. We are almost the
only people in the world, who have a full enjoyment of this important right of human nature. In our country every man has a
right to worship God in that way which is most agreeable to his conscience. If he be a good and peaceable person he is liable
to no penalties or incapacities on account of his religious sentiments; or in other words, he is not subject to persecution.
But in other parts of the world, it has been, and still is, far different. Systems of religious error have been adopted, in
times of ignorance. It has been the interest of tyrannical kings, popes, and prelates, to maintain these errors. When the
clouds of ignorance began to vanish, and the people grew more enlightened, there was no other way to keep them in error, but
to prohibit their altering their religious opinions by severe persecuting laws. In this way persecution became general
throughout Europe.”
~Oliver Ellsworth, Philip B Kurland and Ralph Lerner (eds.), The Founder’s Constitution, University of Chicago Press, 1987,
Vol. 4, p. 638
- “Persecution is not an original feature in any religion; but it is always the strongly marked feature of all religions
established by law. Take away the law-establishment, and every religion re-assumes its original benignity.”
~Thomas Paine, The Rights of Man, 1791
- “God has appointed two kinds of government in the world, which are distinct in their nature, and ought never to be
confounded together; one of which is called civil, the other ecclesiastical government.”
~Isaac Backus, An Appeal to the Public for Religious Liberty, 1773
- “Congress has no power to make any religious establishments.”
~Roger Sherman, Congress, August 19, 1789
- “The American states have gone far in assisting the progress of truth; but they have stopped short of perfection.
They ought to have given every honest citizen an equal right to enjoy his religion and an equal title to all civil emoluments,
without obliging him to tell his religion. Every interference of the civil power in regulating opinion, is an impious attempt
to take the business of the Deity out of his own hands; and every preference given to any religious denomination, is so far
slavery and bigotry.”
~Noah Webster, calling for no religious tests to serve in public office, Sketches of American Policy, 1785
- “The legislature of the United States shall pass no law on the subject of religion.”
~Charles Pinckney, Constitutional Convention, 1787
Richard dot J dot Wagner at gmail dot com