This is James Madison at age 32. His coming of age had coincided with a massive wave of religious persecution in that part of Virginia. Between 1760 and 1778, there were more than 150 major attacks against Baptists in the colony, most of them carried out by leaders of local Anglican churches – and most within a horse ride of Madison’s home in Orange County, Virginia.“That diabolical, Hell-conceived principle of persecution rages,” he said to his friend William Bradford. He…
I admittedly I have a bit of a thing for James Madison. In addition to the powerful role he played in advancing religious freedom, I think he was overshadowed by Jefferson because he was short, sickly and not a very good writer. This, believe it or not, is a life mask of James Madison. No person played a more important role in the creation of religious freedom than Madison. He was heavily influenced by evangelicals in Virginia, having witness horrible…
12 June 1788 This statement on the “multiplicity of sects” summarizes the Madisonian view of religious liberty The honorable member has introduced the subject of religion. Religion is not guarded–there is no bill of rights declaring that religion should be secure. Is a bill of rights a security for religion? Would the bill of rights, in this state, exempt the people from paying for the support of one particular sect, if such sect were exclusively established by law? If there…
James Madison March 2, 1819 Montpellier Mar 2. 1819 This remarkable excerpt shows that Madison believes the Bill of Rights has succeeded — but the proof is not that religious minorities are less persecuted but rather that the quality and quantity of religion has increased dramatically. That there has been an increase of religious instruction since the revolution can admit of no question. The English Church was originally the established religion: the character of the clergy that above described. Of…
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…
James Monroe April 12, 1785 In the third paragraph, Madison updates his friend James Monroe about the “general assessment,” Patrick Henry’s proposal to tax Virginians to help support religion. He notes with contempt that the Presbyterians had opposed state support of religion when Orange April 12 1785. Dear Sir,— I wrote you not long since by a young gentleman who proposed to go as far as N. Y. acknowledging the rect. of your favor of Feby 1st. I have since…
James Madison December 22, 1792 In what was otherwise a political polemic, Madison writes a few sentences (the 7th paragraph) that express a personal belief about faith: that humans have little capacity to understand God’s plan. National Gazette, December 22, 1792 Republican. — The people themselves. The sacred trust can be no where so safe as in the hands most interested in preserving it. Anti-republican. — The people are stupid, suspicious, licentious. They cannot safely trust themselves. When they have established government they…
James Madison June 12, 1788 In the Virginia convention called to consider ratification of the Constitution, opponents such as Patrick Henry argued that the Constitution would allow creation of a national religion or other forms of state involvement in religion. James Madison returned to Virginia to rebut the arguments himself, claiming that a Bill of Rights was not needed because the Constitution did not give Congress powers to regular religion. The honorable member has introduced the subject of religion. Religion…
James Madison February 21, 1811 Congress passed legislation providing special legal protections to the Episcopal Church in Alexandria, Virginia. Madison vetoed the bill as a violation of the First Amendments “establishment” clause. Having examined and considered the Bill, entitled “An Act incorporating the protestant Episcopal Church in the Town of Alexandria in the District of Columbia,” I now return the Bill to the House of Representatives, in which it originated, with the following objections. Because the Bill exceeds the rightful…
James Madison November 16, 1814 Madison had resisted issuing Presidential prayer proclamations but in the midst of the war with Britain, he did provide this message calling for voluntary prayer and repentence. The two Houses of the National Legislature having by a joint resolution expressed their desire that in the present time of public calamity and war a day may be recommended to be observed by the people of the United States as a day of public humiliation and fasting…