Take these GREAT WORDS with you.
Put them on posters along with the faces that said them.
Let us remember WHERE we came from.
- Footnote: U.S. Constitution
- Article I, Section 8: Uniform Immigration Article II, Section 1: President Natural-Born Article III, Section3: Witnesses Article III, Section 3: Attainer Separation of Powers Three Branches of Government Tax-Exemption for Churches Republicanism
“For what business, in the name of common sense, has the magistrate with our religion? The state does not have any concern in the matter.
In what manner does it affect society in what outward form we think it best to pay our adoration to God?
The consciences of men are not the objects of human legislation.
In contrast with this spiritual tyranny, how beautiful appears our constitution in disclaiming all jurisdiction over the souls of men,
- securing by a never-to-be- repealed section the voluntary, unchecked moral persuasion of every person by his own self-directed communication with the Father of spirits!”
- – William Livingston, Constitution Signer
“Security under our constitution is given to the rights of conscience and private judgment.They are by nature subject to no control but that of Deity, a
nd in that free situation they are now left.”
- – John Jay, first Supreme Court Chief Justice
- Original Intent of the First Amendment
Fisher Ames provided the wording for the First Amendment in the House of Representatives. He did not say anything about “separation of church and state” in his debate, nor may it be inferred as his intent.
In fact, Fisher Ames said something that would be ruled unconstitutional because of the court’s modern application of that very phrase, “separation of church and state.”
He said,
- “Not only should the Bible be in our schools, it should be the primary textbook of our schools.” xliv
Earlier, at the time of the Constitutional Convention, the founders discussed the individual rights of American citizens, which would later become the Bill of Rights.
How many times did they mention the phrase “separation of church and state?”
- Zero.
The phrase “separation of church and state” was not even introduced into the American vernacular until a little over a decade after the First Amendment was adopted. The phrase is exactly that - a phrase.
It is not a statute, it is not a law, and it is not an amendment to the Constitution.
It is simply a phrase lifted from a letter written by one of our Founding Fathers, Thomas Jefferson.
Jefferson was writing to the Danbury Baptist Association on January 1, 1802, in response to a letter wherein
- they raised their concerns about religious liberty ever being infringed by the American government.
So much has been erroneously inferred from that one statement.
(I encourage you to read David Barton’s article in the November 2003 issue of the Notre Dame Law Review for a more thorough treatment of Jefferson’s intent.)Simply stated, Jefferson was using the phrase to describe the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment, which says, “or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.” The protection of our rights to live out our faith without government interference is what was being expressed both in the letter and in the First Amendment.
What About Separation of Church & State
The Supreme Court twisted the meaning of the First Amendment by isolating those eight words from this personal letter from Jefferson. xlvi
They did not even consider the letter in its full context. xlvii
Then, in 1962, the Court used the phrase to completely remove God from all governmental institutions. xlviii
It is amazing how the court can ignore history and rewrite it to fulfill their particular agenda and purpose.
We’ve Got the Wrong Guy
Perhaps even worse than misapplying Jefferson’s words is the fact that Jefferson’s words were used in the first place
- as a means for discovering the intent of the First Amendment.
- because Jefferson did not give us the Constitution or the Bill of Rights.
When a biographer wrote to Thomas Jefferson, to congratulate him for his influence on the Constitution, his response was,
- One passage of the paper you enclosed must be corrected.
It is the following.
- ‘I will say it was yourself more than any other individual that planned and established the Constitution.’
Jefferson pointed out to the biographer that
- he “was in Europe when the Constitution was planned,
and never saw it
until after it had been established.”l
Nor was Thomas Jefferson one of the Congressmen that passed the Bill of Rights, which contains the First Amendment.
So, arguing what the framers’ intent was by using Thomas Jefferson as an expert witness on the First Amendment
is the same as
- having a murder trial where the judge allows those who were not at the scene of the murder
- to come forth and tell us what happened.
and a piece of cleverly crafted creative history at best, to say that Thomas Jefferson’s words provide the intent for the First Amendment.
To understand the original intent of the First Amendment, you must scrutinize the thoughts of those who took part in the debate,
- the ones who actually gave us the First Amendment.
In other words, they were trying to prevent a national denomination from being forced upon the citizens.
None of their comments reflected intent to separate religious principles from government or from the public square.
Just the opposite:
- they wanted to foster free expression, not political oppression.
For those who still want to rely on Jefferson as their expert regarding the First Amendment, it should not go unnoticed that
exactly two days after writing his letter to the Danbury Baptists, he attended the weekly church service being held AT the U.S. Capitol.
These were religious services that he had helped to start and faithfully attended throughout the remainder of his presidency.li
It appears that Jefferson’s views were far removed from the interpretation of them by our modern courts today.
Would Jefferson,
- a man who himself established and attended religious services on federal property while holding the office of the President,
- for children to pray for their teachers, parents, and country at the beginning of each school day?
Notes:
- xliv. Compiled By Friends, Works of Fisher Ames 134 (Boston: T. B. Wait & Co., 1809).
xlv. Letter to the Danbury Baptist Association (January 1, 1802), in Thomas Jefferson, Jefferson Writings 510 (Merril D. Peterson et al. eds., 1984) (1781).
xlvi. Everson v. Board of Education, 330 U.S. 1 (1947).
xlvii. Thomas Jefferson, Letter to the Danbury Baptist Association, in Thomas Jefferson, Jefferson Writings 510 (Merrill D. Peterson et al. eds., 1984)
- (1802): Believing with you
- that religion is a matter which lies solely between man and his God,
that he owes account to none other for faith or his worship,
that the legislative powers of government reach actions only, and not opinions,
- that their legislature should “make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof,”
lii. Letter to Dr. Joseph Priestly (Washington ed., 441). < http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/etcbin/foley-page?id=JCE1686>.
l. Id.
li. William Parker Cutler and Julia Perkins Cutler, Life, Journal, and Correspondence of Rev. Manasseh Cutler (Cincinnati: Colin Robert Clarke & Co., 1888), Vol. II, p. 66, 119,
letter to Joseph Torrey, January 4, 1802.
- Cutler meant that Jefferson attended church on January 3, 1802, for the first time as President.
Bishop Claggett’s letter of February 18, 1801, already revealed that as Vice-President, Jefferson went to church services in the House.
- Congressional resolution, September 12, 1782, endorsing Robert Aitken's Bible [page 468]
David C. Claypoole, 1782 from the Journals of Congress
The war with Britain cut off the supply of Bibles to the United States with the result that on Sept. 11, 1777, Congress instructed its Committee of Commerce to import 20,000 Bibles from "Scotland, Holland or elsewhere."
On January 21, 1781, Philadelphia printer Robert Aitken (1734-1802) petitioned Congress
to officially sanction a publication of the Old and New Testament
which he was preparing at his own expense.
Congress "highly approve the pious and laudable undertaking of Mr. Aitken,
as subservient to the interest of religion . . . in this country, and . . . they recommend this edition of the bible to the inhabitants of the United States."
This resolution was a result of Aitken's successful accomplishment of his project.
Aitken’s Bible
Aitken published Congress's recommendation of September 1782 and related documents (Item 115)
as an imprimatur on the two pages following his title page.
Aitken's Bible, published under Congressional patronage,
was the first English language Bible published on the North American continent.
"The Bible of the American Revolution"As long as the United States remained under British rule,
the British government forbade the printing of Bibles in America.
When the Colonies declared their independence,
the importation of Bibles became restricted
and by 1777 there was a severe shortage of Bibles in America.
On September 11, 1777, this shortage of Bibles was brought to the attention of the Continental Congress
by its chaplain, Dr. Patrick Allison.
He said in his report that Bibles were urgently needed because,
- “the use of the Bible is so universal and its importance so great”
to make every attempt to import 20,000 Bibles in English
- “from Holland, Scotland, or elsewhere, into the different parts of the Union.”
and the Continental Congress had to search for another alternative
to supply the population with their most important book.
On January 21, 1781, the noted colonial printer Robert Aitken petitioned Congress
for both sanction and support for the production of a complete Bible for the American people
and a committee was immediately formed to determine
if Aitken were qualified to produce a book of such significance.
Aitken’s impressive credentials
- (he had, among other things, been the publisher of the Journals of Congress for the first Congress
and published numerous articles by Thomas Paine)
a Congressional Resolution was adopted granting Aitken permission and financial support
for the printing of the first edition of the first American Bible.
George Washington, one of the greatest supporters of the Aitken Bible, was so pleased with the result
that he regretted that the Revolutionary troops had been disbanded
before he could provide them with such an appropriate symbol of his gratitude.
Writing to a friend, Washington lamented,
- "It would have pleased me well,
if Congress had been pleased to make such an important present
(a copy of the Aitken Bible) to the brave fellows,
who have done so much for the security of their Country's rights and establishment."
The printing of the new Bible marked a significant moment in the history of the United States.
More American versions of the Bible soon followed
and, no longer subject to British editions of the Bible, the United States was,
for the first time, able to fully express the freedom of religion held so dearly by the population.
The Aitken Bible was championed by the people
and symbolized a dramatic release from British, and indeed government control,
over their right and ability to worship.
Also see http://courses.ischool.berkeley.edu/i182ac/s01/third78.html
- Although 10,000 copies of the Aitken Bible were printed, the first printing is extraordinarily scarce today.
20th-century estimates place the number of extant copies between 30-40, with possibly five (certainly no more than ten) in private hands.
It is one of the world’s rarest books, significantly rarer than even the Gutenberg Bible.
The photo of the copy to the left is an extraordinarily scarce first edition,
one of approximately 30 known copies (with perhaps only five in private hands),
of the first English Bible printed in America,
the first and only Bible ever to be printed with Congressional approval.
An absolutely extraordinary copy of a most rare and important volume.