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Category: Colonial Period

Letter from William Bradford to James Madison (about religious freedom in Pennsylvania)

Letter from William Bradford to James Madison (about religious freedom in Pennsylvania)

William Bradford March 4, 1774 Bradford’s college classmate, James Madison, has informed Bradford that persecution is rampant in Virginia.  Bradford respond that liberty seems to be thriving in Pennsylvania. I am sorry to hear that Persecution has got so much footing among you. The discription you give of your Country makes me more in love with mine. Indeed I have ever looked on America as the land of freedom when compared with the rest of the world, but compared with…

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Vermont Constitution of 1786

Vermont Constitution of 1786

Vermont 1786 By 1786, states were beginning to give up the stated preference for Christianity. Vermont here provides full freedom of religion for all faiths, while encouraging (but not requiring) the practice of religion. Chapter One, Article III. That all men have a natural and unalienable right to worship Almighty God according to the dictates of their own consciences and understandings, as in their opinion shall be regulated by the word of God; and that no man ought, or of…

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Vermont Constitution of 1777

Vermont Constitution of 1777

Vermont 1777 In the sections on religion (chapter 1/section 3 and chapter 2/ sections 41), the Constitution provides religious freedom to Protestants and requires that “provision shall be made” to support churches through tax dollars. It also required officeholders to be Protestant and declare belief In a God who Is a ” rewarder of the good and punisher of the wicked.” Section III. That all men have a natural and unalienable right to worship Almighty God, according to the dictates…

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Common Sense by Thomas Paine

Common Sense by Thomas Paine

Thomas Paine January 10, 1776 Tom Paine later was a prominent Deist, viewed by many church leaders as a threat and heretic because he didn’t accept the Bible as literal truth. As a result, it’s often forgotten that his seminal revolutionary rallying cry made heavy use of the Bible. MANKIND being originally equals in the order of creation, the equality could only be destroyed by some subsequent circumstance; the distinctions of rich, and poor, may in a great measure be…

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Thomas Jefferson’s Draft Declaration of Independence

Thomas Jefferson’s Draft Declaration of Independence

Thomas Jefferson Jefferson’s draft Included a passage blaming the King of England for the slave trade. To heighten the critique, he points out that this heinous act Is perpetrated by the “Christian king.” When, in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for a people to advance from that subordination in which they have hitherto remained, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the equal and independent station to which the laws of nature and of nature’s…

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The Virginia Act for Establishing Religious Freedom

The Virginia Act for Establishing Religious Freedom

Thomas Jefferson January 1, 1786 Thomas Jefferson would put the passage of this law as one of his greatest accomplishments. Although Jefferson wrote the measure, it was James Madison who ushered it through the Virginia legislature. Jefferson argued that the Lord’s way is to allow humans to find their way to Him, not through revelation or blind faith but through reason: The “holy author of our religion, who being lord both of body and mind, yet chose not to propagate…

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Draft of The Virginia Act for Establishing Religious Freedom

Draft of The Virginia Act for Establishing Religious Freedom

Thomas Jefferson January 1, 1779 This was Jefferson’s original draft of the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom. This version placed a greater emphasis on “reason” as the path to God. For instance, the legislature ultimately deleted the idea that God had chosen to “extend it by its influence on reason alone.” The bill, amended, was passed in 1785, while Jefferson was in Paris. SECTION I. Well aware that the opinions and belief of men depend not on their own will,…

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South Carolina Constitution of 1778

South Carolina Constitution of 1778

South Carolina January 1, 1778 Section XXI. And whereas the ministers of the gospel are by their profession dedicated to the service of God and the cure of souls, and ought not to be diverted from the great duties of their function, therefore no minister of the gospel or public preacher of any religious persuasion, while he continues in the exercise of his pastoral function, and for two years after, shall be eligible either as governor, lieutenant-governor, a member of…

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The Rights of the Colonists by Sam Adams, 1772

The Rights of the Colonists by Sam Adams, 1772

Samuel Adams November 20, 1772 The Patriot leader here argues for religious liberty for all, except Catholics. As neither reason requires, nor religeon permits the contrary, every Man living in or out of a state of civil society, has a right peaceably and quietly to worship God according to the dictates of his conscience.”   Just and true liberty, equal and impartial liberty” in matters spiritual and temporal, is a thing that all Men are clearly entitled to, by the…

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Patrick Henry on “Bill Establishing A Provision for Teachers of the Christian Religion”

Patrick Henry on “Bill Establishing A Provision for Teachers of the Christian Religion”

Patrick Henry January 1, 1784 After the revolutionary war, some in Virginia came to fear that religion had gone into decline. Church buildings had been destroyed during the war. It was thought that worship attendance was declining, immorality rising and clergy struggling.  The measure would provide support for Christianity in general, and would not force members of minority denominations to support churches other than their own. Richard Henry Lee argued that it was least the citizens of Virginia could do…

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