Allison, Batte, and Peters'
Separation Home Page

Who are we, and why did we create this home page?

• What do we mean by separation of church and state?
• Where did the phrase "separation of church and state" originate?

The phrase originates in Thomas Jefferson's 1802 letter to the Baptist Association of Danbury,

We consider and refute three other charges against Jefferson's wall metaphor elsewhere in this web page. If you want to read these sections now, click here,
here,
and here.

• Is separationism anti-religious?

Indeed, this is exactly what Thomas Jefferson, one of the greatest American defenders of religious liberty, believed.

• Do separationists want to eliminate religion from public life?
• Why did we create this web page?

the religious right have talked openly of getting rid of separation. Their spoken and written comments on the subject leave no doubt where they stand

An overview of the debate.

• The Constitution

As we document elsewhere, the assumption of the framers of the Constitution was that the federal government could exercise only those powers delegated to it by the Constitution.

This issue is the focus of our discussion in the sections of our web page entitled federalism and absence of delegated powers.

A second issue is whether the First Amendment can itself be interpreted as a grant of power to the federal government. We discuss this issue in our section of this web page devoted to the grammar of the establishment clause.

• The Bill of Rights

The classic statement of this position is Justice Black's majority opinion in Everson v. Board of Education. These issues are discussed throughout our section of the web page devoted to the case for separation.

Some other controversies concern the interpretation of the word "establishment" in the First Amendment, what the framers meant by "respecting" establishment, and why the framers modified the word establishment with the word "an." We take on all these issues in our section on the grammar of the establishment clause.

• The positions of the different sides in the debate

1. Separationists
   A classic summary of the broad interpretation is given in Everson v. Board of Education.
2. Accomodationists.
3. Non-preferentialists.

The case for separation of church and state.

• Federalism and state establishments
       multiple religious establishments,

• Absence of delegated power
       the worries of the anti-federalists
       Thomas Tucker

• The grammar of the establishment clause

     Grammatical arguments in favor of a broad reading of the establishment clause
     Responses to grammatical arguments in favor of a narrow reading.

a popular non-preferentialist interpretation

Malbin on the history of the religion clauses,

and his discussion of Article III of the Northwest Ordinance

• Legislative history of the religion clauses
       Additionally, please consult our online collection of all the mentions of the religion clauses recorded in the Annals of Congress and the Senate Journal for the first Congress.)
       statements by anti-Federalists

• Statements by the framers
  [= What the Founders believed about separation, below]

• The history of state establishments [coming soon!]

What the Founders believed about separation.

• As we demonstrate elsewhere, some of these quotes are either fabricated or taken out of context.
• Who were the most important founders?
• What were the religious affiliations of the American founders?
• What did the most important founders believe about separation of church and state?

1. James Madison
2. James Wilson
3. Rufus King
4. Elbridge Gerry
5. Edmund Randolph
6. Charles Pinckney
7. George Mason
8. Alexander Hamilton
9. Gouverneur Morris
10. John Rutledge
11. Caleb Strong
12. George Read
13. John Marshall
14. John Vining
15. Ben Franklin
16. Fisher Ames
17. James Monroe
18. James McHenry
19. Thomas Jefferson
20. Samuel Adams
21. Patrick Henry
22. John Q. Adams
23. John Adams
24. Oliver Ellsworth
25. Ben Rush
26. John Jay
27. John Randolph
28. Joseph Story
29. Henry Lee
30. John Hancock
31. John Witherspoon
32. Noah Webster

• What other early Americans influenced the separation debate?

• Isaac Backus
• John Leland
• Roger Williams

• What about quotations that seem to oppose separation?

Answering the religious right.

1. The phrase "separation of church and state" is not in the Constitution.
2. Jefferson's "separation of church and state" letter was hastily written and does not accurately represent Jefferson's view of church and state.

        For the full text of Jefferson's letter to Lincoln, click here.
        For the full text of Jefferson's letter to the Danbury Baptists, click here.

3. Thomas Jefferson actually said that the wall of separation between Church and State is "one-directional."

        For a more complete explanation of Jefferson's beliefs, look here.

4. Jefferson's Danbury letter was written mearly to assure Connecticut Baptists that the Constitution did not permit the establishment of a national denomination.

        the significance of Jefferson's Danbury letter
        a copy of the Danbury Baptist's letter to Jefferson survives
        This view, over course, is absurd, and we refute it here.

5. Jefferson's Danbury letter was written mearly to address the Danbury Baptists' fears that the First Amendment might be misinterpreted.
      Barton's 1996 account of the Baptists' letter
       (his other attempts are examined here
       and here).
6. Jefferson's letter to Benjamin Rush shows that Jefferson was a non-preferentialist.
7. Thomas Jefferson supported Bible reading in school; this is proven by his service as the first president of the Washington D. C. public schools, which used the Bible and Watt's Hymns as textbooks for reading.
        Leonard Levy's book Jefferson and Civil Liberties: The Darker Side
8. Federal officials take their oaths upon a Bible, and use the words "so help me God."
9. The Northwest Ordinance proves that the First Amendment did not separate church and state.
        First examine the history of the first sentence of Article III of the Northwest Ordinance.
       The Northwest Ordinance:
   • does not violate the separationist understanding of the First Amendment.
   • cannot be read as a commentary on the First Amendment;
   • had no constitutional authority.
     Finally, we note that:
   • The accommodationist argument omits evidence that the Ordinance's framers had no desire to aid religion.
10. The Supreme Court has declared that the United States is a Christian nation.
11. Depictions of Moses and the 10 Commandments are featured prominently in the Supreme Court Building; this proves that the founders had no intention of separating Church and State.
         (click here for a more detailed discussion of the subordinate placement of Moses and the 10 Commandments in the architectural fabric of the Supreme Court building).
         the Supreme Court building committee deferred to the architects in their choice of artistic embellishment
         click here for a look for our critique of one popular accommodationist commentary on the art of the Supreme Court).
12. The Constitution is based on the Bible. This is proven by the frequency with which the founding fathers quote the Bible in their political writings.
13. Montesquieu based his theory of separation of powers on Isaiah 33:22 and Jeremiah 17:9.
14. As a general matter, the Constitution embodies the principles of Christianity and the 10 Commandments.

• Does the Constitution embody Christian thought and morality?
• The "Sundays excepted" clause and the Sabbath.
• "The Year of our Lord" and separation.

Misquoting by the religious right.

• Did Madison ever say that our future is staked on the 10 commandments?
• Did Madison ever say that religion is the foundation of government?
• Did the Supreme Court of New York, in an 1811 decision, ever say that the First Amendment was "never meant to withdraw religion...from all consideration and notice of the law?"
• Did Supreme Court justice and early legal historian Joseph Story every say that, at the time of the adoption of the Constitution, there was near universal consensus that "christianity ought to receive encouragement from the state?"
• Did John Quincy Adams ever say that the American Revolution "connected in one indissoluable bond the principles of civil government with the principles of Christianity?"

An alleged case of misquoting by Separationists:

Does the 1797 Treaty of Tripoli say that "The Government of the United States is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion?" 

Important Establishment Clause cases.

Standards for adjudicating establishment clause cases:

• Everson v. Board of Education
• The Lemon Test
• The Endorsement Test

Interpretive issues:

• pervasively sectarian institutions
• indirect vs. direct aid

The establishment clause and education:

• prayer in schools
• vouchers
• A Table of Establishment Clause Cases Dealing with Public Education.

The Historical Evidence

The Founding Period: 1774-1789

• Establishment and Free Exercise Clauses only Reinforced Separation of Church and State.
  • No Power to Congress over Religion: The "Elastic Clause" and the 1st Amendment
  • Article VI, Section III: The No Religious Test Ban Clause (Separation clause)
    • Part I: Introduction
    • Part II: The Constitutional Convention
    • Part III: The Pennsylvania State Ratifying Convention
    • Part IV: The Connecticut State Ratifying Convention and The Massachusetts State Ratifying Convention
    • Part V: The Virginia State Ratifying Convention
    • Part VI: The North Carolina State Ratifying Convention
  • Congressional Debates: Religious Amendments, 1789
  • Original Intent: Introduction What intent, whose intent?
    • Original Intent? Part II Excerpts from correspondence of members of the First Federal Congress -- January 2, 1789 to June 30, 1789
    • Original Intent? Part III Excerpts from correspondence of members of the First Federal Congress -- July 5, 1789 to August 18, 1789
    • Original Intent? Part IV Excerpts from correspondence of members of the First Federal Congress -- August 19, 1789 to October 2, 1789
• Sundays excepted
  • History of the "Sundays excepted" argument
  • The Sunday Mail argument
• The Northwest Ordinance
• The Northwest Ordinance: Course of Debate
• The First Federal Congress
  • Representative Thomas Tucker on Church and State
  • Chaplains
    • Chaplains and Congress: An Overview from 1774 to early 1800's
    • Chief Justice Burger, I Would Like You To Meet Mr. Madison
    • Discrepancies
    • The Political Move That Backfired
    • Duche's Letter To Washington
• A Critical Response to Bernard Katz On Our Founding Fathers by Robert Nordland
• Who were the most important Founders?

The Post-Founding Period: 1790-1861

• Madison's Arguments Against Special Religious Sanction of American Government
• Madison's vetoes: Some of The First Official Meanings Assigned to The Establishment Clause
• Treaty of Tripoli, 1796: Little-Known U.S. Document Signed by President Adams Proclaims America's Government Is Secular

Post-Civil War attempts to incorporate religious language into the Constitution -- 1863 - 1910

• First major attempts to amend the Constitution 1863 - 1880
• The second wave attempts to amend the Constitution -- 1880 - 1910
• Sixty-four religious measures introduced in Congress -- 1888 - 1910
• Chronology of Religious Measures Introduced in Congress between 1888 - 1910
• In God We Trust

State Constitutions

The sections dealing with religion of the state constitutions have been excerpted on the following pages:

• The Original Thirteen States:
  • Introduction
  • Connecticut
  • Delaware
  • Georgia
  • Maryland
  • Massachusetts
  • New Hampshire
  • New Jersey
  • New York
  • North Carolina
  • Pennsylvania
  • Rhode Island
  • South Carolina
  • Virginia
• The Additional States
  • Vermont
  • Kentucky
  • Tennessee

The Legal Heritage

• Annotations of First Amendment Cases Decided by the Supreme Court of the United States Table of Contents

  Case Excerpts from The Constitution of the United States of America: Analysis and Interpretation: Annotations of Cases Decided by the Supreme Court of the United States as prepared by the Congressional Research Service of the Library of Congress

  • First Amendment -- Religion
  • First Amendment -- Establishment of Religion
  • First Amendment -- Establishment of Religion (Continued)
  • First Amendment -- Free Exercise of Religion
  • First Amendment -- Religion and Expression -- Freedom of Expression -- Speech and Press

Important Establishment Clause Cases decided by the U. S. Supreme Court

• Cases from 1899 to 1970
• Cases from 1971 to 1977
• Cases from 1978 to present

Evolution of the Principle

• General Discussions
  • Some Thoughts on Religion and Law
  • Religious Freedom vs Religion

• Politics of History
  • Historically Inaccurate Quotes
  • What about quotations that seem to oppose separation?
  • The Constitution and Separation of Church and State Part I
  • The Constitution and Separation of Church and State Part II
  • The Constitution and Separation of Church and State Part III
  • The Constitution and Separation of Church and State Part IV
  • The Constitution and Separation of Church and State Part V
  • The Constitution and Separation of Church and State Part VI
  • The Constitution and Separation of Church and State Part VII
  • The Constitution and Separation of Church and State Part VIII
  • The Constitution and Separation of Church and State Part IX
  • The Constitution and Separation of Church and State Part X
  • The American Idea of Religious Freedom