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Tag: First Amendment

Engel v. Vitale Majority Opinion

Engel v. Vitale Majority Opinion

U. S. Supreme Court 1962 The plaintiffs in Engel v. Vitale—three Jews and two “spiritual” people who did not belong to an organized religion—objected to their children having to recite prayers that had been written and required by the State of New YTork. The Court agreed 6 to 1, with three Republican- appointed justices joining three appointed by Democrats. The majority opinion was offered by Justice Hugo Black The respondent Board of Education of Union Free School District No. 9,…

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Everson v. Board of Education of the Township of Ewing

Everson v. Board of Education of the Township of Ewing

U.S. Supreme Court 1947 In Everson, the Court focused on the meaning of the Establishment Clause. Did that cryptic phrase intend merely to block the establishment of a state religion? Or did it prohibit taxpayer support for religion more generally? The Court disagreed with a New Jersey taxpayer who objected that his tax dollars were being used to subsidize the transportation of students to parochial schools. But it offered a set of guidelines and then these controversial words: “In the…

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Employment Division, Department of Human Resources of Oregon v. Smith

Employment Division, Department of Human Resources of Oregon v. Smith

U.S. Supreme Court 1990 In Sherbert v. Verner, the Supreme Court had said that under some circumstances the government could not impose laws that burdened religion — even if that harm was incidental or accidental.  This issue reappeared thanks to the case of a man named Al Smith, who was definitely no relation to the Catholic New York governor but had other remarkable connections to earlier themes in religious history. Smith was a Native American who had been sent to…

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Sherbert v. Verner

Sherbert v. Verner

U.S. Supreme Court 1963 The Supreme Court’s first major twentieth-century religious liberty case involved Adele Sherbert, a textile worker in Beaumont Mills, South Carolina. The factory that employed her instituted a six-day workweek—Monday through Satur- day. But Sherbert was a Seventh-day Adventist, which teaches that the Sab- bath is Saturday (Exod. 31:15: “Six days may work be done; but in the seventh is the Sabbath of rest, holy to the Lord: whosoever doeth any work in the Sabbath day, he…

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Letter from Thomas Jefferson to James Madison, March 15, 1789

Letter from Thomas Jefferson to James Madison, March 15, 1789

Thomas Jefferson March 15, 1789 James Madison had written Jefferson suggesting that perhaps a Bill of Rights might not be wise, since it would not have the breadth that the two of them might want. Jefferson responded forcefully that a Bill of Rights was essential. Your thoughts on the subject of the Declaration of rights in the letter of Oct. 17. I have weighed with great satisfaction. Some of them had not occurred to me before, but were acknoleged just…

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Patrick Henry at the Virginia Ratifying Convention, June 12, 1788

Patrick Henry at the Virginia Ratifying Convention, June 12, 1788

Patrick Henry June 12, 1788 During the debates over ratification of the Constitution, supporters argued that religion was protected because the document didn’t give Congress explicit powers to regular religion. Patrick Henry, a popular figure in Virginia, opposed the Constitution and stated that such an important right should be explicitly protected. Wherefore is religious liberty not secured? One honorable gentlemen, who favors adoption, said that he had had his fears on the subject. If I can well recollect, he informed…

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“Detached Memoranda” by James Madison, 1817

“Detached Memoranda” by James Madison, 1817

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James Madison January 1, 1817 In 1946, this amazing document was found in the files of Madison’s earliest biographer. explaining his views on a wide variety of issues – especially religious freedom. In this “Detached Memoranda,” thought to have been written between 1817-32, Madison gave his reasoning for his positions and actions on a variety of church-state issues including his opposition congressional chaplains, military chaplains, his vetoes of religion-related laws. The danger of silent accumulations & encroachments by Ecclesiastical Bodies…

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Bill of Rights Amendments Offered in Congress by James Madison, June 8, 1789

Bill of Rights Amendments Offered in Congress by James Madison, June 8, 1789

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James Madison June 8, 1789 James Madison initially argued that a Bill of Rights was unnecessary. But in his first race for Congress, he promised he would propose a Bill of Rights, including a provision for religious freedom. He kept his promise. On June 8, 1789, he went to the floor of the House and proposed amendments to be embedded throughout the original constitution, rather than as a separate Bill of Rights. His proposal included language that would evolve into…

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Drafts of the First Amendment in Congress, 1789

Drafts of the First Amendment in Congress, 1789

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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

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

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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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