To what extent did the religious beliefs of the American founding fathers influence their decisions in
writing the U.S. Constitution?
Peter Potash
IB Candidate Number: 001035 0046
History Rubric
West Morris Mendham High School
Word Count: 3,818
Abstract
Since the end of the Constitutional Convention, historians and politicians have debated the
influence of the religious beliefs of the founding fathers on the drafting of the U.S. Constitution. Some
believe that the founders’ goal of separation of church and state prevented the existence of any
religious influence in the Constitution; others argue that the Constitution can be considered a Christian
document because the Christian beliefs of the Framers had such a great effect on the decision-making
process. Among all of these modern arguments, the voices of the original delegates often are lost. This
investigation aims to analyze the original intentions of the founding fathers in regards to how they
allowed their religion to influence the new government set forth in the Constitution.
This investigation was conducted through a variety of primary and secondary sources. Many
primary sources from the Constitutional Era reflect the religious beliefs of the founders at the time and
how those beliefs played a role in the new government. Some primary sources include The U.S.
Constitution and Bill of Rights, the Federalist Papers, and Washington’s Farewell Address. Secondary
sources gave further information on the beliefs of the founders and the connections between
government and religion. A Stanford University database was utilized to find connections between
Christianity and morality while PBS.org’s series God in America yielded informative research on how the
founding fathers applied religion to government.
This research led to the conclusion that the religion of the framers undoubtedly had an effect
on the content of the Constitution but not to the point where it can be considered a Christian
document. Aspects of Christianity like sin and morality influenced the new laws, but the need to
separate church from state in order to purify religion prevented the Constitution from classification as a
Christian document.
Word Count: 298
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Table of Contents
Introduction
…………………………………………………………………………………………………….....
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The Founding Fathers and Religion……….…………………………………………………………………..
4
James Madison ……………………………………………………………………………………………
5
Thomas Jefferson………………………………………………………………………………………….
6
George Washington………………………………………………………………………………………
7
Religion, Morality, and Government………………………………………………………………………….
9
Religion and the Constitution……………………………………………………………………………………..
10
The First Amendment…………………………………………………………………………………….
10
Arguments for Christian Influence…………………………………………………………………
12
Separation of Church and State…………………………………………………………………….
12
Conclusions……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
13
Bibliography………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..
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To what extent did the religious beliefs of the American founding fathers influence their decisions in
writing the U.S. Constitution?
Introduction:
In the Philadelphia statehouse in 1787 delegates from the newly-independent United States of
America convened to form a new government. The result of their deliberations, the U.S. Constitution,
continues to govern the American people to this day. Naturally, many a debate has argued the true
intent of the founding fathers. One of the most contested aspects of the Constitution involves the
framers’ interpretations on religion and its purpose in the federal government. The authors of the
Constitution were for the most part deeply religious men yet the Constitution seems to construct a
completely secular government; this phenomenon has come to be known as “separation of church and
state.” Other contemporaries argue that the religious opinions of the forefathers made it impossible for
them to completely separate the church from the state. I aim to settle the debate through an analysis of
the religious backgrounds of prominent forefathers, connections between the entities of government
and religion, and specific references within the Constitution concerning religion. Through this analysis, I
conclude that the religious beliefs of the founders influenced the Constitution to a large extent yet did
not categorize it as a Christian document.
The Founding Fathers and Religion:
In order to analyze the effect of the religious beliefs of the founding fathers we must first
understand the nature of their beliefs. The Framers were white, middle-to-upper class citizens and were
therefore fairly wealthy. They were quite alike in their religious beliefs; the overwhelming majority of
the 55 delegates were Protestant. The largest sect of Protestantism among the delegates was
Episcopalian or Anglican; approximately 54% of the delegates practiced that religion (Ferris 138).
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Presbyterian followed in second with about 29% of the delegates, and other sects included
Congregationalist, Methodist, and Lutheran ( 138). Two of the more diverse religions of the delegates
were Catholicism and Quaker; two delegates represented each of these denominations (“The Charters
of Freedom” Archives.gov).These statistics though reflect an overwhelming majority of Protestantism
among the delegates; therefore this essay primarily analyzes Christianity and its connections to the
framers and the Constitution. Religions such as Islam, Judaism, or Atheism which are fairly common
today had not yet surfaced in 18th Century American politics. Influences of an author tend to translate
to his/her writing; therefore, it is entirely possible that the Christian religions of the founding fathers
affected their draft of the U.S. Constitution.
James Madison
Insight on the religious backgrounds of the most prominent delegates to the Constitutional
Convention is vital in this investigation, and no delegate was as prominent as the “Father of the
Constitution,” James Madison. He “was a close student of theology” and “was undoubtedly well-versed
in the political implications of American religious thought” (Lutz, Warren 83). Madison’s religious beliefs
were nurtured throughout his adolescence at both boarding school and college. At the College of New
Jersey, later known as Princeton, Madison studied under Dr. John Witherspoon who taught “law,
politics, ethics, and philosophy from a Christian perspective” (Sheldon 89). Throughout his life, Madison
dealt with secular problems by applying his Christian perspective to the issue.
The Constitution is a prime example in which Madison applied his religious views to his political
philosophy. Madison took the Calvinist approach that all men have a nature for sin and evil. Madison
saw that in the political world, this evil takes “the form of lust for power, control, domination, and
oppression of others” (Sheldon 90). His solution to safeguard the country from this inherent evil of
mankind was the system of checks and balances. In his Federalist Paper No. 10 Madison explains,
“Extend the sphere and… you make it less probable that a majority of the whole will have a common
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motive to invade the rights of other citizens.” By creating checks and balances, Madison prevented one
person from executing his sinful human nature at the expense of the American public. He spread the
power of the government over three branches so that numerous people can step in before a single
man’s power can dominate the political landscape in autocratic fashion.
Many historians do not associate Madison with orthodox Christianity and instead classify him as
a Deist. Deism was a “liberal strain of Christianity that stressed reason and free inquiry over revelation”
(“God and the Constitution”). In other words, both Christians and Deists believed in God as a Creator,
but Deists limit some of the more fantastical aspect of the Christian religion due to their belief in logic
and reason. Due to Madison’s quest for reason, he was not swept up in the corruptions of the Anglican
Church; when he returned from university, he was “outraged to discover that a number of Baptist
preachers had been thrown into a Virginia jail” because they had been preaching a slightly different sect
of Christianity (“People & Ideas: James Madison”). Madison saw the illogicality of this religious
persecution and also drew parallels to the dominant yet corrupt Anglican Church in England. These
factors both influenced his decision to include the First Amendment, “Congress shall make no law
respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof,” in his Bill of Rights (qtd.
in Robinson). Madison instead aimed to establish a place where the Gospel could be spread through all
sects of Protestantism instead of through just the Anglican Church; he aimed to promote Christian
evangelism (Sheldon 97). Madison’s adversity to the emotional wave produced by the Anglican Church
led him to the First Amendment which allowed for a greater evangelistic environment in America.
Madison’s religious beliefs, or in this case his skepticism, directly influenced his ideas for the
Constitution.
Thomas Jefferson
Madison’s idea of the right to religious freedom originated with Thomas Jefferson’s ideas for
Virginia’s state government. Jefferson had also noticed the problem of the dominating and intolerant
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Virginian Anglicans, so he penned the “Bill for Establishing Religious Freedom in Virginia” in 1777 to
solve the dilemma. The document states, “All men shall be free to profess, and by argument to
maintain, their opinion in matters of religion, and that shall in no ways…affect their civil capacities.”
Jefferson ensured the freedom of religion and prevented one’s religion from negatively affecting one’s
social standing. Jefferson’s passion for freedom of religion differed from that of Madison though.
Jefferson’s views on religion were “rooted in his conviction that all human beings had been endowed by
God with certain rights” (Fea 210). Jefferson’s views on rights to “life, liberty, and the pursuit of
happiness” are stated in his Declaration of Independence, and freedom of religion was simply another
natural right he added to his personal list.
Although Jefferson was not present at the Constitutional Convention, he was quite an influential
political figure of the era. Jefferson took an interesting approach to religion; he was raised an orthodox
Anglican but transformed into a skeptical follower of Jesus. The Enlightenment and Deism greatly
influenced Jefferson, and the reason and logic behind these movements led Jefferson to reject
“standard Christian doctrines like the Trinity and the divinity of Christ” (Buckley 56). Although Jefferson
denied the logic of the faith-based aspects of Christianity, he still called himself a Christian because he
attempted to follow the moral code Jesus set. Jefferson called Jesus’ teachings and morals “the most
perfect and sublime that has ever been taught by man” (Fea 205). He translated Jesus’ principles to
politics by finding a “need to establish the republic on a foundation of high moral principles” (Lutz 84).
Due to his religious skepticism, it may appear as if his religion had no effect whatsoever, but in fact, his
following of Jesus led Jefferson to establish a government based on Biblical morality.
George Washington
George Washington also articulated his religious beliefs by way of the role of morality in the
federal government. Although renowned for his military skills, Washington’s political opinions were also
well-respected, especially as Chairman of the Constitutional Convention. When Madison presented his
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freedom of religion clause in the Bill of Rights, Washington made a counter-argument. Washington
encouraged support of a single, Christian religion because he believed “government should support
religion because religion supports republican government” (Munoz 10). In other words, Washington
believed religion through its moral compass was beneficial to the institution of republicanism because it
would help to maintain the peace in society. Washington’s foresight warned him of the potential of a
religion hostile to the maintenance of peace at some point in the future. Ultimately, the delegates
accepted Madison’s idea, but Washington certainly provided a valid point for debate.
Washington’s religion was also uncertain; he was very private about his religious studies.
Washington practiced private prayer and believed in a “Creator God...who was also active in the
universe” (Tsakiridis). Some called him a Deist for his unwillingness to publicly profess his religion, but
his beliefs in an active Providence align more with orthodoxy than traditional Deism (Tsakiridis).
Nonetheless, Washington seemed to have appreciated religion more as a tool to help enrich and govern
the public. In his famous Farewell Address of 1796, Washington claimed “Of all the dispositions and
habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports.” Washington
established the symbiotic relationship of government with religion and morality. Without them,
government could not prosper to the same extent.
Washington’s Farewell Address is a particularly useful source for this investigation as it
combines the advantages of primary and secondary sources in one document. Primary sources are often
advantageous because the information reflects the ideas of the author in the specific historical moment.
Although Washington wrote his Farewell Address a decade after the Constitutional Convention, he was
still present at the Convention and knew of the original opinions of the delegates. Primary sources falter
though because often they do not have the benefit of analyzing how their ideas work in society. For
example, Madison’s Federalist Paper 10 was an idealistic application of his religion to reality; there was
no guarantee the system of checks and balances would succeed. Washington’s account had the
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advantage of analyzing the first implementations of the new government which led him to a conclusion
of the significance of religion in government. Washington’s knowledge of the Constitutional Convention
linked with his ability to analyze the results of the Convention make his Farewell Address a highly
reliable and useful source.
Religion, Morality, and Government
Washington and Jefferson both refer to Christianity, specifically its morality, as a foundation for
government. Neither man though is quite specific on how Christianity connects to this morality or how
these connect to the Constitution.
John Hare recently published a work called “Religion and Morality” in the Stanford
Encyclopedia of Philosophy that explores the connection between the two subjects. He includes a large
section on religion and morality in the Hebrew Bible and New Testament, and Hare ultimately concludes
that “morality and religion are connected in the Hebrew Bible primarily by the category of God’s
command.” I agree wholeheartedly with this statement; God creates right and wrong through the
commands he makes. In Genesis, God tells Adam and Eve they can eat from any tree of the Garden of
Eden except for the tree of knowledge of good and evil. When they disobey his commands they are
morally wrong. In Exodus 20, God gives the Ten Commandments to the Israelites to show them right and
wrong. God establishes murder, adultery, theft, and lies to be morally wrong; these are often punishable
in the courts of law in modern society as well. Jesus continues these commandments in the New
Testament when he commands to love the enemy and the neighbor as thyself (Matthew 5:43-48). This
compares to society in that those who work together and overcome differences often result in a more
functional society. These biblical connections in which God’s commandments shape morality are often
reflected in the moral code of society today.
How then can this connect to the Constitution and its Framers? The Constitution is considered
to be the “law of the land”; its main function was to establish the existing government, but it also must
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maintain that government. The Founders realized that in order to live in a free society with a limited
government that the Constitution provides, “each citizen must be able to control himself” or else there
would be a need for a police state and a highly-involved government (“George Washington and Religious
Liberty”). The Founders and the Americans had just emerged from the repressive tyranny of the British
rule which certainly violated many of these religious moral codes. The Americans most likely wanted a
new government in which both the citizens and government practiced an upstanding moral code which
would naturally result in a healthy relationship between state and citizen. When establishing this moral
code, the Founders drew on the Christian morality with which they had been raised. The Framers
established laws to encourage actions considered morally right and discouraged actions morally wrong.
Through this system of governance, the founding fathers bred civic morality based off of the religious
moral doctrines.
Religion and the Constitution
Much of the debate over the extent to which the founding fathers’ religions influenced the
Constitution lies within the semantics of the Constitution itself. Some believe the influence was so great
that the Constitution should be considered a Christian document; others believe there is a complete
void of any Christian influence within the document. Both reference specific examples throughout the
body of the document to support their respective cases.
The First Amendment
One of the most controversial topics in this debate is the First Amendment which states that
“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion.” Those that argue that the
forefathers did not include their Christian beliefs in the Constitution point to this amendment as their
main evidence. The amendment explicitly states that the government cannot establish an official
religion that is deemed better than others. It is argued that if the forefathers had let their beliefs
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interfere with the Constitution, they would have established an official religion of Protestantism.
Instead, they made a decision for the people who were different from them and established a nation
based on equality and freedom. This is the traditional view of a historian that argues the Convention was
successful in separating church and state and forming a completely secular government.
In contrast, the opposing side argues that the First Amendment is based off of ideas from
Jefferson’s statute on Freedom of Religion in that freedom of religion existed under the banner of
Christianity. These historians show historical empathy by noticing that the founding fathers really did
not consider Muslims or even Jews because those religions were not yet prevalent in the fledgling
country. Instead, the founding fathers considered the different conflicting sects of Christianity such as
Quaker, Mennonite, Catholic, Episcopal, Anglican, Presbyterian, and so on. Dr. Dave Miller of
Apolgetic.org argues this point in support of a Christian influence by citing George Mason’s original copy
of the First Amendment that states “no particular sect or society of Christians ought to be favored.” It
must be taken into consideration that Miller’s argument is highly biased towards a pro-Christian side,
but the primary source does substantiate the freedom to practice different sects of Christianity.
In reality, both sides fail to see the true meaning of the First Amendment outlined by James
Madison. As discussed earlier in the essay, Madison made the First Amendment to prevent the Anglican
Church from persecuting its fellow Protestant sects. He did not suggest it with secular implications;
Madison in fact hoped to provoke evangelism by giving all sects of Christianity the freedom to spread
the Gospel. On the other hand, the semantics of the First Amendment leaves the right open to all
Americans, so the amendment is not restricted to Christian freedom either. The Framers had the
foresight for the possibility of new and different religions, and today, with the mixed landscape of
religious practices in the United States, the First Amendment applies to all religions. The original
intentions of the First Amendment were anything but secular, and the development of new religions has
prevented it from applying to strictly Christians.
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Arguments for Christian Influence
In Article 1 Section 7 of the Constitution, there is a clause that gives Congress a time limit of 10
days to present a bill to the President, but Sundays are exempted (Miller). Proponents of a Christian
influence claim that the founding fathers excluded Sundays for religious purposes while dissenters argue
the clause’s insignificance. The clause really is insignificant and does not show excessive religious
influence on the part of the founders. After all, in modern times, many businesses without religious
affiliations take off for the weekend, the traditional days of worship. Another interesting reference
involves the date on the Constitution. The date says “in the 1787 year of our Lord.” Some argue that this
reference to a supreme being must mean that the Christianity of the forefathers influenced the
Constitution. The reality is that all official dates were completed in this manner on all important
documents in that time period. It was exactly like writing 12/20/13 in present times. Neither of these
arguments are sound and definitive examples that show the influence of the founding fathers’ religions
on their writing of the Constitution.
Separation of Church and State
A main argument for the side that opposes Christian influence is that there is not one mention
of Jesus Christ or Christianity in the whole Constitution. If the Constitution was influenced by
Christianity, one would think the religion or the figurehead of the religion would be alluded to multiple
times. The fact that the founding fathers did not allude to Christianity shows that they focused on a
government completely separated from the church. The counterargument would be that some of the
Christian influences are implied and are indeed heavily present yet not out rightly stated.
Those that argue against Christian influence tend to utilize the phrase “separation of church
from state” or “wall of separation” to articulate their opinions. Many do not realize the phrase did not
originate until Thomas Jefferson’s 1802 letter to a group of Connecticut Baptists. The Baptists had
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written to Jefferson about the oppressive Congregationalist Church oppressing the rights of the Baptists
to worship, and Jefferson responded with the following:
“Believing with you that religion is a matter which lies solely between Man & his God,, that the
legitimate powers of government reach actions only, & not opinions, I contemplate … that their
legislature should “make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise
thereof,” thus building a wall of separation between Church & State” (qtd. in “People and Ideas: Wall of
Separation”).
It can be seen that Jefferson was encouraging the practice of religion and discouraging the role
of a dominant, politicalized church. Jefferson is reminiscent of Roger Williams who compared the church
to a garden that must be protected from the wilderness of the world (“Wall of Separation”). In essence,
Jefferson aimed to protect the purity and fragility of religion from the corrupt world of politics. In
modern times, the phrase “wall of separation” is often used by anti-religionists to suppress religion from
influencing the nation’s perspective when a contentious religious point circulates the political realm.
This modern interpretation clearly strays far from that of Jefferson’s use of it to promote the spread of
religion.
Conclusions
The religious beliefs of the framers influenced the formation of the new government laid out in
the Constitution to a great extent. Madison’s religious belief of the inherent sinful nature of humans
influenced his decision to protect the country from the possibly errant decisions of a singular leader.
Washington established the importance of Christian morality to the success of the government.
Jefferson too, influenced by the teachings of Jesus Christ, aimed to adhere to the Christian moral
compass through the laws and governance of the new country. Even the Deist beliefs allowed Madison
and Jefferson to see through the corruption of the established Anglican Church and promote religious
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freedom for all sects of Christianity and any other future religions. Each of these examples depicts a
clear instance when the religious beliefs of a founder directly affected their ideas which were then used
to create the U.S. Constitution.
If the founding fathers’ Christian religions had such an influence on the Constitution, wouldn’t
the next logical step be to declare the document a Christian document? No, the Constitution was in no
way a Christian document. Many experts would agree with me; John Fea states, “The Constitution was
never meant to be a religious document, nor did its framers set out to use the document to establish a
Christian nation” (150). My conclusion comes from the simple fact that, as one source states, “God and
Christianity are nowhere to be found in the American Constitution” (Kramnick, Moore 130). Unlike the
Declaration of Independence which references the “Creator”, the U.S. Constitution never mentions God
or Jesus. The purpose of the Constitution was to establish a functional government. The founders
applied their belief systems, including their Christian beliefs, in order to search for a solution, but the
end goal was to establish a governmental system not a religious one.
The principal reason the founding fathers did not mold their religious beliefs into a Christian
document was indeed their intent to separate church from state. The phrase has developed into a
hostile statement utilized by anti-religionists whenever a religious issue arises in the political world. The
original purpose of the separation was to promote religion instead as compared to the more suppressive
modern interpretation. The founders viewed religion as a sanctified, pure, and holy entity that must be
untouched by the filthy corruption of government. Examples from the English Anglican Church and even
the Catholic Church of the Middle Ages show how the sanctity of religion is easily marred by the political
machine. In essence, the purity of the founders’ Christianity had a positive and natural effect in their
deliberations to find a functional government, but the founders made a concerted effort to separate the
corruption of politics from the purity of religion.
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Religious influence at the Constitutional Convention has become quite a contentious point over
the centuries since 1787. As new arguments begin to surface from diverse points of view, the original
intentions and beliefs of the founding fathers begin to fade away. The debate has pitted atheists who
deny any religious influence in the Constitution against radical Christians who claim the Constitution is a
Christian document. Neither of these sides is correct because they both fail to truly analyze the actions
and intentions of the founding fathers. My purpose was to find this original intent through primary
sources and other historians’ analyses and settle the debate from my research-based perspective. The
Framers of the Constitution hold the real answers to this debate as opposed to the skewed opinions of
current debaters.
Word Count: 3,818
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