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Letter from Thomas Jefferson to Benjamin Rush

Letter from Thomas Jefferson to Benjamin Rush

Thomas Jefferson May 21, 1803 In 1803, Jefferson had hoped that someone other than himself write a book on the merits of Christianity. He wrote a “Syllabus of an Estimate of the Merit of the Doctrines of Jesus” and sent it to Benjamin Rush, the prominent doctor and Patriot. The syllabus can be found here. The cover letter to Rush is interesting in itself, reflecting as it does Jefferson’s bitterness about how his own religious views had been mischaracterized. Dear…

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Letter from John Adams to Thomas Jefferson, December 25, 1813

Letter from John Adams to Thomas Jefferson, December 25, 1813

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John Adams December 25, 1813 Though praising Christianity, Adams also finds much that he likes in Eastern religions. Joseph Priestley was a leading scientist and theologian, who helped found Unitarianism. Answer my letter at your leisure. Give yourself no concern. I write as a refuge and protection against ennui. The fundamental principle of all philosophy and all Christianity is, “Rejoice always in all things.” “Be thankful at all times for all good, and all that we call evil.” Will it…

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Letter from John Adams to Thomas Jefferson, December 12, 1816

Letter from John Adams to Thomas Jefferson, December 12, 1816

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John Adams December 12, 1816 Adams summarizes his religious creed in four words: “Be just and good.” return the Analysis of Dupuis, with my thanks for the loan of it. It is but a faint miniature of the original. I have read that original in twelve volumes, besides a thirteenth of plates. I have been a lover and a reader of romances all my life, from Don Quixote and Gil Bias to the Scottish Chiefs, and a hundred others. For…

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Letter from John Adams to Thomas Jefferson, November 4, 1816

Letter from John Adams to Thomas Jefferson, November 4, 1816

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John Adams November 4, 1816 Adams suggests that before we promote the Bible in the rest of the world, we should fix Christianity’s problems. Your letter of October 14th has greatly obliged me. Tracy’s Analysis I have read once, and wish to read it a second time. It shall be returned to you; but I wish to be informed whether this gentleman is one of that family of Tracys with which the Marquis Lafayette is connected by intermarriages. I have…

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Letter from James Madison to Thomas Jefferson, August 20, 1785

Letter from James Madison to Thomas Jefferson, August 20, 1785

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James Madison August 20, 1785 This is the cover letter that Madison wrote when he sent Thomas Jefferson, his “Memorial and Remonstrance,” which would become one of the most important documents in the history of American religious freedom. Madison drew up the treatise to turn the public. Orange Aug. 20th. 1785. Dear Sir, –Yours of the 18th of March never reached me till the 4th inst. It came by post from N. York, which it did not leave till the…

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Letter from James Madison to Thomas Jefferson, August 20, 1785

Letter from James Madison to Thomas Jefferson, August 20, 1785

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James Madison August 20, 1785 Dear Sir,–Yours of the 18th of March never reached me till the 4th inst. It came by post from N. York, which it did not leave till the 21 of July. My last was dated in April, & went by Mr. Mazzei, who picked it up at N. York and promised to deliver it with his own hand. The machinations of G. B. with regard to Commerce have produced much distress and noise in the…

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Letter from Danbury Baptists to Thomas Jefferson, October 7, 1801

Letter from Danbury Baptists to Thomas Jefferson, October 7, 1801

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Danbury Baptists October 7, 1801 This is the letter that prompted Jefferson’s famous letter declaring there to be a wall separating church and state. Sir, — Among the many millions in America and Europe who rejoice in your Election to office; we embrace the first opportunity which we have enjoyd in our collective capacity, since your Inauguration, to express our great satisfaction, in your appointment to the chief Majestracy in the United States; And though our mode of expression may…

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Letter from Thomas Jefferson to Benjamin Rush, April 21, 1803

Letter from Thomas Jefferson to Benjamin Rush, April 21, 1803

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Thomas Jefferson April 21, 1803 Dear Sir, –In some of the delightful conversations with you, in the evenings of 1798–99, and which served as an anodyne to the afflictions of the crisis through which our country was then laboring, the Christian religion was sometimes our topic; and I then promised you, that one day or other, I would give you my views of it. They are the result of a life of inquiry & reflection, and very different from that…

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