James Madison the 4th President is known as the
"Father of the Constitution."
James Madison the 4th President is known as the
"Father of the Constitution."
More than any other he is responsible for the
content and form of the First Amendment.
An act for establishing Religious Freedom, passed in the
Assembly of Viginnia in the beginning of the Year, 1786
Commonwealth of Virginia
Memorial and Remonstrance
Commonwealth of Virginia
Memorial and Remonstrance
We the subscribers, citizens of the said
Commonwealth, having taken into serious
consideration, a Bill printed by order of the last
Session of General Assembly entitled
Commonwealth of Virginia
Memorial and Remonstrance
We the subscribers, citizens of the said
Commonwealth, having taken into serious
consideration, a Bill printed by order of the last
Session of General Assembly entitled
"A Bill establishing a provision for Teachers of the
Christian Religion,"
Commonwealth of Virginia
Memorial and Remonstrance
We the subscribers, citizens of the said
Commonwealth, having taken into serious
consideration, a Bill printed by order of the last
Session of General Assembly entitled
"A Bill establishing a provision for Teachers of the
Christian Religion,"
and conceiving that the same if finally armed
with the sanctions of a law, will be a dangerous
abuse of power,
Commonwealth of Virginia
Memorial and Remonstrance
We the subscribers, citizens of the said
Commonwealth, having taken into serious
consideration, a Bill printed by order of the last
Session of General Assembly entitled
"A Bill establishing a provision for Teachers of the
Christian Religion,"
and conceiving that the same if finally armed
with the sanctions of a law, will be a dangerous
abuse of power,
are bound as faithful members of a free State to
remonstrate against it, and to declare the
reasons by which we are determined. We
remonstrate against the said Bill,
Because we hold it for a fundamental and
undeniable truth, "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.“
Because we hold it for a fundamental and
undeniable truth, "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.“
The Religion then of every man must be left to
the conviction and conscience of every man;
Because we hold it for a fundamental and
undeniable truth, "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.“
The Religion then of every man must be left to
the conviction and conscience of every man;
and it is the right of every man to exercise it as
these may dictate.
“The civil government ... functions with complete
success ... by the total separation of the Church
from the State.”
1786: The Virginia Legislature passes into law the Bill for
Religious Freedom, written by both future 3d President of
the United States, Thomas Jefferson, and Madison. In this
measure, they wrote that a person’s civil rights should not
depend in any way on that person’s opinions on religion.
They also wrote that everyone should be free to profess
and to argue for any view on matters of religion, and that
no one’s legal rights should depend in any way on those
views, whatever they may be.
1785: James Madison, future 4th president of the United
States, who collaborated on religious liberty issues with
Thomas Jefferson, wrote the Memorial and Remonstrance
Against Religious Assessments in opposition to a proposal in
the Virginia Legislature to use government funds for the
support of any ministry.
1785: James Madison, future 4th president of the United
States, who collaborated on religious liberty issues with
Thomas Jefferson, wrote the Memorial and Remonstrance
Against Religious Assessments in opposition to a proposal in
the Virginia Legislature to use government funds for the
support of any ministry.
Madison wrote that the religion of each individual must be
left to the conviction and conscience of each individual.
He also said that such a right is inalienable because each
of us makes up our minds about religion on only that
evidence which our minds contemplate and thus we
cannot follow the dictates of others.
1785: James Madison, future 4th president of the United States, who
collaborated on religious liberty issues with Thomas Jefferson, wrote the Memorial and
Remonstrance Against Religious Assessments in opposition to a proposal in the Virginia
Legislature to use government funds for the support of any ministry. Madison wrote that
the religion of each individual must be left to the conviction and conscience of each
individual. He also said that such a right is inalienable because each of us makes up our
minds about religion on only that evidence which our minds contemplate and thus we
cannot follow the dictates of others.
1786: The Virginia Legislature passes into law the Bill for
Religious Freedom, written by both future 3d President of
the United States, Thomas Jefferson, and Madison. In this
measure, they wrote that a person’s civil rights should not
depend in any way on that person’s opinions on religion.
They also wrote that everyone should be free to profess
and to argue for any view on matters of religion, and that
no one’s legal rights should depend in any way on those
views, whatever they may be.
James Madison - To the Honorable the General
Assembly of the Commonwealth of Virginia
Memorial and Remonstrance
We the subscribers, citizens of the said
Commonwealth, having taken into serious
consideration, a Bill printed by order of the last
Session of General Assembly, entitled "A Bill
establishing a provision for Teachers of the
Christian Religion," and conceiving that the
same if finally armed with the sanctions of a law,
will be a dangerous abuse of power, are bound
as faithful members of a free State to
remonstrate against it, and to declare the
reasons by which we are determined. We
remonstrate against the said Bill,
Because we hold it for a fundamental and
undeniable truth, "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." The
Religion then of every man must be left to the
conviction and conscience of every man; and
it is the right of every man to exercise it as these
may dictate.
This right is in its nature an unalienable right. It is
unalienable, because the opinions of men,
depending
only
on
the
evidence
contemplated by their own minds cannot follow
the dictates of other men: It is unalienable also,
because what is here a right towards men, is a
duty towards the Creator.
James Madison on Separation of Church
and State
James Madison (1751-1836) is popularly
known as the "Father of the Constitution."
More than any other framer he is responsible
for the content and form of the First
Amendment.
His understanding of federalism is the
theoretical basis of the US Constitution.
James Madison on Separation of Church
and State
James Madison (1751-1836) is popularly
known as the "Father of the Constitution."
More than any other framer he is responsible
for the content and form of the First
Amendment.
His understanding of federalism is the
theoretical basis of the US Constitution.
Madison was 4th President between 18091817.
James Madison - To the Honorable the General
Assembly of the Commonwealth of Virginia
Memorial and Remonstrance
Madison's most famous important statement
on behalf of religious liberty was the
Memorial and Remonstrance Against
Religious Assessment
which he wrote to oppose a bill that would
have authorized tax support for Christian
ministers in the state of Virginia.
"The Religion then of every man must be left to the
conviction and conscience of every man; and it is the
right of every man to exercise it as these may dictate.
This right is in its nature an unalienable right. ... We
maintain therefore that in matters of Religion, no
man's right is abridged by the institution of Civil
Society, and that Religion is wholly exempt from its
cognizance.“
-- James Madison, Memorial and Remonstrance,
1785
James Madison on Separation of Church and State
All quotation taken from Robert S. Alley, ed., James
Madision on Religious Liberty, pp. 37-94. James Madison
(1751-1836) is popularly known as the "Father of the
Constitution." More than any other framer he is responsible
for the content and form of the First Amendment. His
understanding of federalism is the theoretical basis of our
Constitution. He served as President of the United States
between 1809-1817.
Madison's most famous statement on behalf of religious
liberty was his Memorial and Remonstrance Against Religious
Assessments, which he wrote to oppose a bill that would have
authorized tax support for Christian ministers in the state of
Virginia.
“If tyranny and oppression come to this land, it will be in
the guise of fighting a foreign enemy.” - “It is a universal
truth that the loss of liberty at home is to be charged to the
provisions against danger, real or pretended, from abroad.”
- “No nation could preserve its freedom in the midst of
continual warfare.” - James Madison
James Madison, the leading opponent of
government-supported religion, combined both
arguments in his celebrated Memorial and
Remonstrance. In the fall of 1785, Madison
marshaled
sufficient
legislative support
to
administer a decisive defeat to the effort to levy
religious taxes. In place of Henry's bill, Madison and
his allies passed in January 1786 Thomas
Jefferson's famous Act for Establishing Religious
Freedom, which brought the debate in Virginia to a
close by severing, once and for all, the links
between government and religion.
Madison's Memorial and Remonstrance
Madison's principal written contribution to the contest over
Henry's general assessment bill was his Memorial and
Remonstrance. Madison's petition has grown in stature over time
and is now regarded as one of the most significant American
statements on the issue of the relationship of government to
religion. Madison grounded his objection to Henry's bill on the
civil libertarian argument that it violated the citizen's
"unalienable" natural right to freedom of religion and on the
practical argument that government's embrace of religion had
inevitably harmed it.
Thus, he combined and integrated the two principal arguments
used by opponents of Henry's bill.
http://candst.tripod.com/tnppage/qmadison.htm
Separation of Church and State Home Page
James Madison on Separation of Church and State
All quotation taken from Robert S. Alley, ed., James
Madision on Religious Liberty, pp. 37-94. James Madison
(1751-1836) is popularly known as the "Father of the
Constitution." More than any other framer he is responsible
for the content and form of the First Amendment. His
understanding of federalism is the theoretical basis of our
Constitution. He served as President of the United States
between 1809-1817.
Madison's most famous statement on behalf of religious
liberty was his Memorial and Remonstrance Against Religious
Assessments, which he wrote to oppose a bill that would have
authorized tax support for Christian ministers in the state of
Virginia.
Other sources for Madison's beliefs are his letter to Jasper
Adams, where he argues on behalf of letting religion survive
on its own merits, and a 1792 article in which he suggests
that there is no specific religious sanction for American
government.
Finally, a good deal of Madision's Detached Memoranda
concerns the issue of religious liberty. This material is
particularly important in that it gives Madision's views of a
number of events that are sometimes disputed by
accomodationists (eg., congressional chaplains, days of
prayer, etc.).
Direct references to separation:
The civil Government, though bereft of everything like an associated
hierarchy, possesses the requisite stability, and performs its
functions with complete success, whilst the number, the industry, and
the morality of the priesthood, and the devotion of the people, have
been manifestly increased by the total separation of the church from
the State (Letter to Robert Walsh, Mar. 2, 1819).
Strongly guarded as is the separation between religion and & Gov't
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 (Detached Memoranda, circa 1820).
Every new and successful example, therefore, of a perfect
separation between the ecclesiastical and civil matters, is of
importance; and I have no doubt that every new example will
succeed, as every past one has done, in showing that religion and
Government will both exist in greater purity the less they are mixed
together (Letter to Edward Livingston, July 10, 1822). I must admit
moreover that it may not be easy, in every possible case, to trace the
line of separation between the rights of religion and the civil authority
with such distinctness as to avoid collisions and doubts on
unessential points.
The tendency to a usurpation on one side or the other or to a
corrupting coalition or alliance between them will be best guarded
against by entire abstinence of the government from interference in
any way whatever, beyond the necessity of preserving public order
and protecting each sect against trespasses on its legal rights by
others. (Letter Rev. Jasper Adams, Spring 1832).
To the Baptist Churches on Neal's Greek on Black Creek, North
Carolina I have received, fellow-citizens, your address, approving my
objection to the Bill containing a grant of public land to the Baptist
Church at Salem Meeting House, Mississippi Territory. Having
always regarded the practical distinction between Religion and Civil
Government as essential to the purity of both, and as guaranteed by
the Constitution of the United States, I could not have otherwise
discharged my
Madison's summary of the First Amendment:
Congress should not establish a religion and enforce the legal
observation of it by law, nor compel men to worship God in
any manner contrary to their conscience, or that one sect
might obtain a pre-eminence, or two combined together, and
establish a religion to which they would compel others to
conform (Annals of Congress, Sat Aug 15th, 1789 pages 730 731).
Against establishment of religion
The experience of the United States is a happy disproof of the
error so long rooted in the unenlightened minds of wellmeaning Christians, as well as in the corrupt hearts of
persecuting usurpers, that without a legal incorporation of
religious and civil polity, neither could be supported. A mutual
independence is found most friendly to practical Religion, to
social harmony, and to political prosperity (Letter to F.L.
Schaeffer, Dec 3, 1821).
Notwithstanding the general progress made within the two last
centuries in favour of this branch of liberty, and the full
establishment of it in some parts of our country, there remains
in others a strong bias towards the old error, that without some
sort of alliance or coalition between Government and Religion
neither can be duly supported. Such, indeed, is the tendency
to such a coalition, and such its corrupting influence on both
the parties, that the danger cannot be too carefully guarded
against. And in a Government of opinion like ours, the only
effectual guard must be found in the soundness and stability
of the general opinion on the subject. Every new and
On Congressional chaplains and proclaimations of days
of prayer:
Is the appointment of Chaplains to the two Houses of
Congress consistent with the Constitution, and with the pure
principle of religious freedom? In the strictness the answer on
both points must be in the negative. The Constitution of the U.
S. forbids everything like an establishment of a national
religion. The law appointing Chaplains establishes a religious
worship for the national representatives, to be performed by
Ministers of religion, elected by a majority of them; and these
are to be paid out of the national taxes. Does not this involve
the principle of a national establishment, applicable to a
provision for a religious worship for the Constituent as well as
of the representative Body, approved by the majority, and
conducted by Ministers of religion paid by the entire nation?
The establishment of the chaplainship to Congs is a palpable
violation of equal rights, as well as of Constitutional principles:
The tenets of the chaplains elected [by the majority shut the
door of worship agst the members whose creeds &
consciences forbid a participation in that of the majority. To
Did Madison want the Bill of Rights to apply to the states?
No state shall infringe the equal rights of conscience, nor the
freedom of speech, or of the press, nor of the right of trial by
jury in criminal cases [Proposed amendment to make certain
parts of the Bill of Rights to apply to the states]. The
Congressional Record of August 17, 1789 made the following
comment on Madison's proposal:
MR. MADISON Conceived this to be the most valuable
amendment on the whole list; if there was any reason to
restrain the government of the United States from infringing
upon these essential rights, it was equally necessary that they
should be secured against the state governments; he thought
that if they provided against the one, it was an necessary to
provide against the other, and was satisfied that it would be
equally grateful to the people (from Alley, James Madison on
Religious Liberty, pp. 75-76).
Madision's definition of "establishment":
One can get some idea of Madison's defintion of
establishment by looking at his veto messages for certain
James Madison's Memorial and Remonstrance
To the Honorable the General Assembly of the Commonwealth of
Virginia
Memorial and Remonstrance
We the subscribers, citizens of the said Commonwealth, having taken
into serious consideration, a Bill printed by order of the last Session of
General Assembly, entitled "A Bill establishing a provision for Teachers
of the Christian Religion," and conceiving that the same if finally
armed with the sanctions of a law, will be a dangerous abuse of
power, are bound as faithful members of a free State to remonstrate
against it, and to declare the reasons by which we are determined. We
remonstrate against the said Bill,
1. Because we hold it for a fundamental and undeniable truth, "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." The Religion then of every man must be left to the
conviction and conscience of every man; and it is the right of every
man to exercise it as these may dictate.
This right is in its nature an unalienable right. It is unalienable,
because the opinions of men, depending only on the evidence
contemplated by their own minds cannot follow the dictates of other
men: It is unalienable also, because what is here a right towards men,
Madison's letter to Jasper Adams
See Robert Alley, James Madison on Religious Liberty, pp. 8688. Background:
Jasper Adams was president of the College of Charleston. He had
sent Madison a copy of his pamphlet, The Relation of Christianity to
Civil Government in the United States, and requested Madison's
comments. Adams contested the view "that Christianity had no
connection with our civil government." Rather, he argued, "the
people of the United States have retained the Christian religion as
the foundation of their civil, legal, and political institutions." Adams
sent the pamphlet to numerous other statesmen, including John
Marshall and justice Joseph Story. Marshall replied, "The American
population is entirely Christian, and with us, Christianity and religion
are identified." Story went further, writing, "I have read it with
uncommon satisfaction. I think its tone and spirit excellent. My own
private judgment has long been (and every day's experience more
and more confirms me in it) that government can not long exist
without an alliance with religion; and that Christianity is
indispensable to the true interests and sold foundations of free
government." Madision, of course, disagreed. In his reply, Madison
argues that history demonstrates that religion flourishes most freely
when it is not supported by the state, and that the state should not
Madison's "Who are the Best Keepers of the People's Liberties?"
(1792)
Research by Jim Allison According to historian Robert Morgan, one
of the reasons Madison called for a strict separation of church and
state was his distrust of appeals to "irrational sources of authority in
the American Republic" (James Madison on the Constitution and the
Bill of Rights, p. 150). In 1792, for example, Madison authored a
famous article in the National Gazett in which he contrasted his
republican views with those who argued that the role of the people is
mearly to submitt to the dictates of its leadership. In the process of
arguing that the people themsleves are the best guardians of the
people's liberty, he denies that their is any special religious sanction
for American Government. Morgan comments on the Article as
follows:
Composing it [the article] in the form of a dramatic dialogue, Madison
ascribed to an imaginary "anti-republican" the belief that the people
are "stupid, suspicious, licentious." They cannot trust themselves and,
therefore, must resign themselves to "obedience," once they have
established government. They should leave their liberties to the care
of their "wise rulers." To this call for elite rule a "republican" replies that
Exerpts from Madison's Detached Memoranda.
This document was discovered in 1946 among the papers of William
Cabell Rives, a biographer of Madison. Scholars date these
observations in Madison's hand sometime between 1817 and 1832.
They offer glimpses of Madison's opinions on several topics and
personalities. What follows is that part of the "Memoranda" devoted to
the subject of religious liberty. The entire document was published by
Elizabeth Fleet in the William and Mary Quarterly of October 1946.
The danger of silent accumulations & encroachments by
Ecclesiastical Bodies have not sufficiently engaged attention in the
U.S. They have the noble merit of first unshackling the conscience
from persecuting laws, and of establishing among religious Seas a
legal equality. If some of the States have not embraced this just and
this truly Xn principle in its proper latitude, all of them present
examples by which the most enlightened States of the old world may
be instructed; and there is one State at least, Virginia, where religious
liberty is placed on its true foundation and is defined in its full latitude.
The general principle is contained in her declaration of rights, prefixed
to her Constitution: but it is unfolded and defined, in its precise extent,
in the act of the Legislature, usually named the Religious Bill, which
passed into a law in the year 1786. Here the separation between the
authority of human laws, and the natural rights of Man excepted from