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Tag: Promoting Morality

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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Letter from Thomas Jefferson to William Canby (on Jesus), September 18, 1813

Letter from Thomas Jefferson to William Canby (on Jesus), September 18, 1813

Thomas Jefferson September 18, 1813 Jefferson praises Jesus but says those who believe in the “those moral precepts in which all religions concur” will go to heaven. MONTICELLO, September 18, 1813 SIR, — I have duly received your favor of August 27th, am sensible of the kind intentions from which it flows, and truly thankful for them. The more so as they could only be the result of a favorable estimate of my public course. During a long life, as…

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Letter from Thomas Jefferson to Thomas Law, 1814

Letter from Thomas Jefferson to Thomas Law, 1814

Thomas Jefferson June 13, 1814 Jefferson wrestles with the role of God and religion in the formation of morality. The copy of your Second Thoughts on Instinctive Impulses, with the letter accompanying it, was received just as I was setting out on a journey to this place, two or three days’ distant from Monticello. I brought it with me and read it with great satisfaction, and with the more as it contained exactly my own creed on the foundation of…

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Letter from Thomas Jefferson to Thomas Jefferson Smith, February 21, 1825

Letter from Thomas Jefferson to Thomas Jefferson Smith, February 21, 1825

Thomas Jefferson February 21, 1825 In his later years, Jefferson offers his religious and moral creed to the son of a friend. This letter will, to you, be as one from the dead. The writer will be in the grave before you can weigh its counsels. Your affectionate and excellent father has requested that I would address to you something which might possibly have a favorable influence on the course of life you have to run, and I too, as…

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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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New York Constitution of 1777

New York Constitution of 1777

New York 1777 Declaring that “the bigotry and ambition of weak and wicked priests and princes have scourged mankind,” New York’s Constitution granted broad religious freedom for all faiths, though they included a fascinating clause reassuring the populace that religious freedom couldn’t be used to justify “licentiousness” or disorder. They further banned clergy from serving in public office, a way of preventing a denomination from exerting political control, though the drafters claimed this was to keep the clergy from becoming…

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Massachusetts Constitution of 1780

Massachusetts Constitution of 1780

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Massachusetts January 1, 1780 It was the right as well as the duty” to worship “the Supreme Being.” While some states were moving to end the practice of having official, taxpayer-supported “established” religion, Massachusetts continued with the practice. They did, however, become more pluralistic In the sense that before the war, state support went mostly to the Congregational Church, the ancestors of the Puritans. This constitution allowed and encouraged taxpayers to provide “the support and maintenance of public Protestant teachers…

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Message from John Adams to the Officers of the First Brigade of the Third Division of the Militia of Massacusetts

Message from John Adams to the Officers of the First Brigade of the Third Division of the Militia of Massacusetts

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John Adams October 11, 1798 In this letter Adams declares point blank that, “Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.” Gentleman, While our country remains untainted with the principles and manners which are now producing desolation in so many parts of the world; while she continues sincere, and incapable of insidious and impious policy, we shall have the strongest reason to rejoice in the local destination…

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Letter from John Adams to Abigail Adams, November 18, 1775

Letter from John Adams to Abigail Adams, November 18, 1775

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John Adams November 18, 1775 November 18. 1775 Your kind Letter of the 5th. Inst. came to Hand yesterday by Captain McPherson. I admire your skill in Phisiognomy, and your Talent at drawing Characters, as well as that of your Friend Marcia from whom at the same Time I received several important Characters, which you shall one day see. I agree with you in your sentiments that there is Reason to be diffident of a Man who grossly violates the…

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Diary of John Adams, February 02, 1756

Diary of John Adams, February 02, 1756

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John Adams February 2, 1756 Suppos a nation in some distant Region, should take the Bible for their only law Book, and every member should regulate his conduct by the precepts there exhibited. Every member would be obliged in Concience to temperance and frugality and industry, to justice and kindness and Charity towards his fellow men, and to Piety and Love, and reverence towards almighty God. In this Commonwealth, no man would impair his health by Gluttony, drunkenness, or Lust-no…

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