The Politics of Religion

  • State conventions to ratify the Constitution included special instructions regarding freedom of religion
  • But these suggestions varied widely by state; there was no clear pattern
  • 9 of 13 American colonies in 1750 had officially established churches
  • All colonies tolerated existence of religious dissenters, but many discriminated against them in certain civil rights

So does that mean that the Bill of Rights was a philosophically empty document for the framers? More specifically, what exactly did the freedom of religion mean to Madison and the other authors of the Bill of Rights?

It can be argued that there was little more than politics driving this wrestling match over a bill of rights. For Madison, this was largely the case, and his Anti-Federalist opponents were just as political in their motivations. Their real concerns had to do with Congress's power to tax and regulate commerce, not any threat it might pose to rights of speech and religion. But to a certain extent, the feelings of these political leaders about the matter were unimportant. Madison had always said that the ratifying conventions were the true source of the Constitution's meaning. As the people were the source of authority for the new government, it was the meaning that they attached to its various parts that was most significant.

But if we look to the ratifying conventions that debated the Constitution, it is hard to decipher a clear and common set of understandings about the freedom of religion. New Hampshire, North Carolina, and New York were the most explicit in their recommendations; these states urged guarantees that "all men have an equal, natural and unalienable right to the free exercise of religion according to the dictates of conscience, and that no particular religious sect or society ought to be favored or established by Law in preference to others." But other states offered more limited or vague proposals. For example, Pennsylvania did not call for amendments but did adopt a resolution urging that the "rights of conscience shall be held inviolable." New Hampshire wanted to deny Congress the power to make laws "touching religion" or infringing upon the "the rights of Conscience."blank">members. For example, dissenting churches had to register their meeting houses and hold services with their doors open, church members had to pay taxes to support the established church to which they did not belong, and dissenters were barred from public office. But even with these restrictions, most dissenters were relatively pleased with the state of things. Their objective was to worship freely as they saw fit, and they had attained this.

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