Religious Freedom Archive

Message from the Continental Congress to the People of Great Britain, October 21, 1774

May 22, 2017 Religious Freedom Archive Comments 0 Comment

Congress October 21, 1774 Congress virulently attacked Great Britain’s Quebec Act, which gave religious freedom to Catholics In Canada. The Continental Congress expressed “astonishment, that a British Parliament should ever consent to establish in that country a religion that has deluged your island in blood, and dispersed bigotry, persecution, murder and rebellion through every part of the world.” Congress soon thereafter realized that Insulting the Canadian Catholics might not be the best way to win their favor or that of…

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Federal Veto of State Laws on Religion, House Debate, August 17, 1789

May 22, 2017 Religious Freedom Archive Comments 0 Comment

Congress August 17, 1789 Few people remember that James Madison wanted to give Congress the ability to veto state laws that harmed religious freedom. What follows is the brief debate on this topic. Incredibly, this amendment passed the House but died later in the Senate. The committee then proceeded to the fifth proposition: Article I, Section 10 between the first and second paragraph, insert ‘No state shall infringe the equal rights of conscience, nor the freedom of speech or of…

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Drafts of the First Amendment in Congress, 1789

May 22, 2017 Religious Freedom Archive Comments 0 Comment

The First Amendment didn’t go from James Madison’s pen straight to the National Archives. It was the product of legislative wrangling in the House and Senate of the first Congress. Here, without annotation, are the different drafts the lawmakers considered. On June 8, 1789, James Madison proposed a religious freedom amendment to the Constitution: “That in article 1st, section 9, between clauses 3 and 4, be inserted these clauses, to wit: The civil rights of none shall be abridged on…

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Debate on the First Amendment, House of Representatives, August 15, 1789

May 22, 2017 Religious Freedom Archive Comments 0 Comment

Congress August 15, 1789 The most complete record of Congressional debate on the first amendment was in the House of Representatives. In it, you can see James Madison attempting to cobble together a winning majority by assuaging concerns of certain Congressman who feared that this amendment would limit the ability of the states to regulate or support religion. Madison assured them the states would still be free to treat religion as they liked. Aug. 15 The House again went into…

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Diary Entry of Christopher Columbus, 1492

May 22, 2017 Religious Freedom Archive Comments 0 Comment

Christopher Columbus 1492 In the Name of Our Lord Jesus Christ Whereas, Most Christian, High, Excellent, and Powerful Princes, King and Queen of Spain and of the Islands of the Sea, our Sovereigns, this present year 1492, after your Highnesses had terminated the war with the Moors reigning in Europe, the same having been brought to an end in the great city of Granada, where on the second day of January, this present year, I saw the royal banners of…

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Silence Dogood, No. 9 (Benjamin Franklin) July 23, 1722

May 22, 2017 Religious Freedom Archive Comments 0 Comment

Benjamin Franklin July 23, 1722 Franklin was just 16 when he wrote this attack on religious hypocrites, using his alias “Silence Dogood.” He later recalled that as word spread that Silence was actually Benjamin, “my indiscreet Disputations about Religion begun to make me pointed at with Horror by good People, as an Infidel or Atheist.” Corruptio optimi est pessima. To the Author of the New-England Courant. Sir, It has been for some Time a Question with me, Whether a Commonwealth…

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Remarks Concerning the Savages of North America by Benjamin Franklin

May 22, 2017 Religious Freedom Archive Comments 0 Comment

Benjamin Franklin A sympathetic description of the patience and civility of the Indians, Including on matters of faith. Savages we call them, because their Manners differ from ours, which we think the Perfection of Civility. They think the same of theirs. Perhaps if we could examine the Manners of different Nations with Impartiality, we should find no People so rude as to be without Rules of Politeness, nor any so polite as not to have some Remains of Rudeness The…

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Plain Truth: or, Serious Considerations On the Present State of the City of Philadelphia, and Province of Pennsylvania (Benjamin Franklin, 1706)

May 22, 2017 Religious Freedom Archive Comments 0 Comment

Benjamin Franklin 1706 In “A Tradesman of Philadelphia,” Franklin waded into a vexing religious/political dilemma of his time. Pennsylvania was controlled by Quakers, who were pacifists. But Indians, allied with the French, were raising the Pennsylvania border towns, scalping and terrorizing citizens. Franklin complimented the sincerity of the Quakers while nonetheless calling upon other Pennsylvanians to pay for the colony’s defense. It is said the wise Italians make this proverbial Remark on our Nation, viz. The English feel, but they…

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Letter from Benjamin Franklin to Peter Collinson, May 9, 1753

May 22, 2017 Religious Freedom Archive Comments 0 Comment

Benjamin Franklin May 9, 1753 Philadelphia May 9th. 1753 Sir I received your Favour of the 29th. August last and thank you for the kind and judicious remarks you have made on my little Piece. Whatever further occurs to you on the same subject, you will much oblige me in communicating it. I have often observed with wonder, that Temper of the poor English Manufacturers and day Labourers which you mention, and acknowledge it to be pretty general. When any…

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Letter from Benjamin Franklin to Richard Price, October 9, 1780

May 22, 2017 Religious Freedom Archive Comments 0 Comment

Benjamin Franklin October 9, 1780 Franklin criticizes the Massachusetts Constitution for allowing religious tests for public office but points out that the state is at least more liberal than it used to be. He also utters the memorable sentiment (shared by Madison, Jefferson and others) that if there is no government support for religion, good faiths will thrive while ineffective ones will decline. I am fully of your Opinion respecting religious Tests; but, tho’ the People of Massachusetts have not…

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