Free Republic

He sat next to George Washington in the pew at St. Paul's Chapel in New York during the religious service following Washington's Presidential Inauguration. He helped ratify the U.S. Constitution. His name was Fisher Ames. Fisher Ames was a Congressman from Massachusetts where, on August 20, 1789, he proposed as the wording of the First Amendment (Annals of Congress, 1:766): "Congress shall make no law establishing religion, or to prevent the free exercise thereof, or to infringe the rights of conscience." Fisher Ames contrasted MONARCHY with a REPUBLIC (Ralph Waldo Emerson, Essays, Second Series, chp. 7-"Politics," 1844, p. 97; Library...

He sat next to George Washington in the pew at St. Paul's Chapel in New York during the religious service following Washington's Presidential Inauguration. He helped ratify the U.S. Constitution. His name was Fisher Ames. Fisher Ames was a Congressman from Massachusetts where, on August 20, 1789, he proposed as the wording of the First Amendment (Annals of Congress, 1:766): "Congress shall make no law establishing religion, or to prevent the free exercise thereof, or to infringe the rights of conscience."

He sat beside George Washington in St. Paul’s Chapel at the church service following Washington’s Presidential Inauguration in New York City. He was a Congressman from Massachusetts and helped ratify the U.S. Constitution. He authored the final House language of the First Amendment. His name was Fisher Ames. At age 46, Fisher Ames was elected Harvard’s president, but declined due to an illness which led to his death on July 4, 1808. One of the most famous orators in Congress, Fisher Ames stated that no one could be eloquent “without being a constant reader of the Bible and an admirer...