George Washington on religious liberty

Review of Politics

Volumn 65, Issue 1, 2003, Pages 11-33

  Munoz, Vincent Phillip ^a  

^a NONE

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EID: 0012994040     PISSN: 00346705     EISSN: 17486858     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1017/S0034670500036512     Document Type: Article

References (69)

1. The Records of the Federal Convention of 1787, ed. Max Farrand (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1966), 2: 666.
2. Paul F. Boiler offers the most comprehensive account of George Washington's personal religious beliefs in George Washington and Religion (Dallas: Southern Methodist University Press, 1963), especially chapter 5.
3. For a more recent discussion, see John G. West, Jr., "George Washington and the Religious Impulse," in Patriot Sage: George Washington and the American Political Tradition, ed. Gary L. Gregg and Matthew Spaulding (Wilmington, Delaware: ISI Books, 1999), pp. 267-286
4. Boiler claims Washington was a Deist, yet maintained an "eminently serene and untroubled faith" in a providential God (p. 107). West agrees that Washington possessed a firm belief in a providential God and therefore concludes that he cannot be considered a Deist (p. 269). Glen Phelps, George Washington and American Constitutionalism (Lawrence, KS: Kansas University Press, 1993) addresses Washington's political thought more generally, but does not address Washington's understanding of religious liberty.
5. Everson v. Board of Education, 330 U.S. 1 (1947), 13.
6. For further discussion of this point see, Daniel L. Dreisbach, "A Lively and Fair Experiment: Religion and the American Constitutional Tradition," Emory Law Journal 49 (Winter 2000): 228-238
7. George Washington to the Reformed German Congregation in the City of New York, 27 November 1783, in The Writings of George Washington, ed. John C. Fitzpatrick (Washington, D.C.: United States Government Printing Office, 1938), 27:249.
8. Madison's "strict-separationism" has been documented most exhaustively by Irving Brant, "Madison: On the Separation of Church and State," William and Mary Quarterly, 3rd series, 8 (January 1951): 3-24. Other scholars labeling Madison a "strictseparationist" include Leo Pfeffer, Church, State, and Freedom (Boston: Beacon Press, 1953), pp. 111-113,129,137
9. and Leonard W. Levy, 77K Establishment Clause: Religion and the First Amendment (New York; Macmillan Publishing Company, 1986). The Supreme Court adopted the "strict-separationist" interpretation of Madison, and hence the Establishment Clause, in Everson v. Board of Education, 330 U.S. 1 (1947). On the contemporary Supreme Court, Justice Souter has defended this position most forcefully in a pair of non-majority opinions: Lee v. Weisman, 505 U.S. 577 (1992) (Souter concurring);
10. Rosenberger v. Virginia, 515 U.S. 819 (1995) (Souter dissenting). For competing accounts of Madison see: Robert Cord, Separation of Church and State: Historical Fact and Current Fiction (New York: Lambeth Press, 1982), 20-36;
11. Paul Weber, "James Madison and Religious Equality: The Perfect Separation," Review of Politics 44 (1982): 163-86
12. Justice Rehnquist's dissent in Wallace v. Jaffree, 472 U.S. 38 (1985) (Rehnquist dissenting);
13. and Justice Thomas' concurring opinion in Rosenberger v. Virginia, 515 U.S. 819 (1995) (Thomas concurring). For a redonsideration of Madison's position, see Vincent Phillip Mufioz, "James Madison's Principle of Religious Liberty," American Political Science Review 97 (2003): 1-16.
14. Washington's emphasis. George Washington to George Mason, 3 October 1785, Writings of George Washington, 28:285. Washington wrote to Mason on account of Mason's sending to Washington a copy of a memorial and remonstrance against Henry's bill. It is fair to assume that Mason sent Washington Madison's "Memorial and Remonstrance," although it is unclear from Washington's letter, which refers only to "a memorial and remonstrance." Madison published his "Memorial and Remonstrance" anonymously and several other petitions against the bill were also circulating at that time.
15. Elizabeth Fleet, "Madison's 'Detached Memoranda,'" William and Mary Quarterly, 3rd series, 3 (October 1946): 559-560
16. George Washington to the President of Congress, 31 December 1775, Writings of George Washington, 4:197-98, requesting an increase in the salary of military chaplains to $33 a month. On 29 July 1775, the Continental Congress, in its first official act regarding army chaplains, passed a resolution providing for a salary of $20 a month, the same as captains. For a discussion of Washington's military requests and orders pertaining to religion see, Boiler, George Washington and Religion, 49-60.
17. George Washington to Governor Jonathan Trumbull, 15 December 1775, Writings of George Washington, 4:162.
18. General Orders, 4 July 1775, Writings of George Washington, 3:309.
19. General Orders, 22 March 1783, Writings of George Washington, 26:250.
20. General Orders, 4 July 1775, Writings of George Washington, 3:309.
21. General Orders, 5 May 1778, Writings of George Washington, 11:354.
22. Fleet, "Madison's 'Detached Memoranda/" pp. 560-562
23. Both proclamations marked significant events, the former the ratification of the Constitution and the latter when the prospect of another foreign war had decreased.
24. George Washington, "Proclamation. A National Thanksgiving," 3 October 1787
25. in James D. Richardson, A Compilation of the Messages and Papers of the Presidents: 1789 - 1897 (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1896), 1:64.
26. Washington, "A Proclamation," 1 January 1795, ibid., 1:180.
27. George Washington, "First Inaugural Address," 30 April 1789, Papers of George Washington, Presidential Series, ed. Dorothy Twohig (Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1987-), 2:174.
28. Steven B. Epstein, "Rethinking the Constitutionality of Ceremonial Deism," Columbia Law Review 96 (December 1996): 2110.
29. Washington's Farewell Address was not a speech but a long letter addressed "To the PEOPLE of the United States," first published in American Daily Advisor, Philadelphia's largest newspaper, on 19 September 1796.
30. For a discussion of the drafting and publication of the Farewell Address, see Matthew Spalding andPatrickJ. Garrity, A Sacred Union of Citizens: George Washington's Farewell Address and the American Character, intro. Daniel J. Boorstin (Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield Publishers, Inc., 1996), pp. 45-61
31. Felix Gilbert, To The Farewell Address: Ideas of Early American Foreign Policy (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1961), chapter 5.
32. George Washington, "Farewell Address," 19 September 1796, Writings of George Washington, 35: 229.
33. Ibid. George Washington, "Farewell Address," 19 September 1796, Writings of George Washington, 35: 229.
34. Montesquieu, The Spirit of the Laws, book 3, chaps. 1-2.
35. Montesquieu, The Spirit of the Laws, Ibid.
36. For Montesquieu's clarification of what he means by virtue see book 3, chapter 5, note 9, and book 5, chapter 2.
37. Washington's emphasis. "Farewell Address," p. 229.
38. Ibid. cf. Montesquieu, Spirit of the Laws, book 24, chaps. 1 and 6.
39. James Madison, "A Memorial and Remonstrance Against Religious Assessments/' article 5, in The Writings of James Madison, ed. Gaillard Hunt (New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1900-1910), 2:187.
40. Washington, "First Inaugural Address," pp. 173-177
41. Washington, "Proclamation. A National Thanksgiving," p. 64.
42. Washington, "A Proclamation," 1 January 1795, p. 180.
43. George Washington to the President of Congress, 8 June 1777, Writings of George Washington, 8:203.
44. Madison, "A Memorial and Remonstrance/' article 3, 2:185-86.
45. Thomas G. West claims that the American Founders in general maintained this position. I think it is more properly assigned to Washington and not to Madison or Jefferson. See Thomas G. West, "Religious Liberty: The View from the Founding," in On Faith and Free Government, ed. Daniel C. Palm (Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield Publishers, Inc., 1997), pp. 3-27.
46. Madison, "Memorial and Remonstrance/' article 1. Michael McConnell, the leading recognized scholar of the original intentions of the Free Exercise Clause, claims article 1 of Madison's "Memorial" sets forth an argument consistent with the interpretation that finds in the Free Exercise Clause a constitutional right for religious citizens to exemptions from all laws that, in their effect, burden religious exercise. Michael W. McConnell, "The Origins and Historical Understanding of Free Exercise of Religion," Harvard Law Review 103 (1990): 1453.
47. For a competing interpretation of the original intentions of the Free Exercise Clause see Philip A. Hamburger, "A Constitutional Right of Religious Exemptions: An Historical Perspective," George Washington Law Review 60 (1992): 915-948 Hamburger, it should be noted, fails to address McConnell's interpretation of Madison.
48. For a criticism of McConnell's interpretation of Madison, see Munoz, "James Madison's Principle of Religious Liberty."
49. Harry V. Jaffa, The American Founding as the Best Regime: The Bonding of Civil and Religious Liberty (Claremont, CA: The Claremont Institute for the Study of Statesmanship and Political Philosophy, 1990), p. 25.
50. George Washington to the United Baptist Churches of Virginia, May 1789, Papers of George Washington, Presidential Series, 2:424.
51. George Washington to Robert Dinwiddie, 25 June 1756, Writings of George Washington, 1:394. Washington refused to discharge the six Quakers on account of their religious beliefs.
52. The Religious Society called Quakers, from their Yearly Meeting for Pennsylvania, New-Jersey, and the western Parts of Virginia and Maryland, 28 September-3 October 1789 to George Washington, Papers of George Washington, Presidential Series, 4:267.
53. George Washington to the Society of Quakers, October 1789, Papers of George Washington, Presidential Series, 4:266.
54. George Washington to the Society of Quakers, October 1789, Papers of George Washington, Presidential Series, 4:266. Ibid.
55. Cf. John West, "George Washington and the Religious Impulse," p. 285.
56. George Washington to the Roman Catholics in America, 15 March 1790, Papers of George Washington, Presidential Series, 5: 299-300.
57. George Washington to the Hebrew Congregation in Newport, Rhode Island, 18 August 1790, Papers of George Washington, Presidential Series, 6:285
58. George Washington to the Pennsylvania Council of Safety, 19 January 1777, Writings of George Washington, 7:35. Also see Washington's letter to the same dated, 29 January 1777.
59. Boiler, "George Washington and the Quakers/' p. 73.
60. George Washington to Governor William Livingston, 11 May 1777, Writings of George Washington, 8:44-45.
61. George Washington, Power to Officers to Collect Clothing, Etc., November 1777, Writings of George Washington, 10:124.
62. See also Washington's commands to Colonel John Siegfried, 6 October 1777, Writings of George Washington, 9:318.
63. George Washington to Brigadier General John Lacy, Junior, 20 March 1778, Writings of George Washington, 11:114.
64. Sherbert v. Verner, 374 U.S. 398 (1963).
65. Wisconsin v. Yoder, 406 U.S. 205 (1972).
66. Employment Division, Department of Human Resources of Oregon v. Smith, 494 U.S. 872 (1990).
67. General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church to George Washington, 30 May 1789, The Papers of George Washington, Presidential Series, 2:422.
68. George Washington to the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church, May 1789, The Papers of George Washington, Presidential Series, 2:420-421
69. Ibid. George Washington to the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church, May 1789, The Papers of George Washington, Presidential Series, 2:420-421