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Separation Of Church And State: James Madison

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"The belief in a God All-Powerful, wise, and good is so essential to the moral order of the World and to the happiness of man, that arguments which enforce it cannot be drawn from too many sources, nor adapted with too much solicitude to the different characters and capacities to be impressed with it."   Excerpt of letter from Madison to Reverend Frederick Beasley on November 20, 1825.

- James Madison
Founding Father
Fourth President of the United States
"Father of the Constitution"

    The phrase "separation of Church and State" is found nowhere in the United States Constitution. It was a phrase coined by newly elected President Thomas Jefferson, in a letter of correspondence to the Danbury Baptist Association of Danbury, Connecticut, in reference to the First Amendment. The Association initially wrote a letter expressing their great satisfaction in the election of Jefferson to the Presidency, but also emphasized their dissatisfaction concerning the stance the government seemingly was taking towards them as the minority denominationally, conveying "what religious privileges we enjoy (as a minor part of the State) we enjoy as favors granted, and not as inalienable rights."

They asserted:
    "Our sentiments are uniformly on the side of religious liberty: that Religion is at all times and places a matter between God and individuals, that no man ought to suffer in name, person, or effects on account of his religious opinions, [and] that the legitimate power of civil government extends no further than to punish the man who works ill to his neighbor."

Jefferson concurred with their assessment, assuring that even constitutional legislation protected their religious convictions and practices independent of any governmental positions:
    "Believing with you that religion is a matter which lies solely between Man & his God, that he owes account to none other for his faith or his worship, that the legitimate powers of government reach actions only, and not opinions, 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 prohibiting the free exercise thereof," thus building a wall of separation between Church and State.'" 

    This "wall" was a means of protecting Religion from the State, as was certainly a prominent issue in the persuading of early Americans to fight for such liberties.

Other Founding Father Quotes

Alexander Hamilton: symplearts.deviantart.com/art/…

Benjamin Franklin: symplearts.deviantart.com/art/…

George Washington: symplearts.deviantart.com/art/…

John Adams: symplearts.deviantart.com/art/…

John Jay: symplearts.deviantart.com/art/…

Thomas Jefferson: symplearts.deviantart.com/art/…


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ericmatrix1's avatar
This is great. Good work!