The world of the framers: A Christian nation?

UCLA Law Review

Volumn 56, Issue 1, 2008, Pages 1-26

  Stone, Geoffrey R ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO   (United States)

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EID: 57049143208     PISSN: 00415650     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: None     Document Type: Review

References (300)

1. 403 U.S. 15 (1971).
2. Id. at 16.
3. Id.
4. See BOB WOODWARD & SCOTT ARMSTRONG, THE BRETHREN: INSIDE THE SUPREME COURT 128-31 (1979).
5. Id. at 128-29.
6. Id.
7. See Neela Banerjee, Clashing Over Church Ritual and Flag Protocol at the Naval Academy Chapel, N.Y. TIMES, Mar. 8, 2008, at A9.
8. See id.
9. THE FUNDAMENTAL ORDERS OF CONNECTICUT (1639), reprinted in DOCUMENTS OF AMERICAN HISTORY 23 (Henry S. Commager ed., Appleton-Century-Crofts 7th ed. 1963).
10. FRANK LAMBERT, THE FOUNDING FATHERS AND THE PLACE OF RELIGION IN AMERICA 1-2 (2003).
11. See id. at 2.
12. See id. (quoting THE FUNDAMENTAL ORDERS OF CONNECTICUT, supra note 9).
13. see, e.g., JERRY FALWELL, LISTEN AMERICA! 25 (1980);
14. ISAAC KRAMNICK & R. LAURENCE MOORE, THE GODLESS CONSTITUTION: THE CASE AGAINST RELIGIOUS CORRECTNESS 22-23 (1996);
15. TIM LAHAYE, FAITH OF OUR FOUNDING FATHERS 29 (1987).
16. GORDON S. WOOD, THE RADICALISM of the AMERICAN REVOLUTION 129-33 (1993).
17. See BERNARD BAILYN, TO BEGIN THE WORLD ANEW: THE GENIUS AND AMBIGUITIES OF THE AMERICAN FOUNDERS 6, 35 (2003) ("bold," "recast");
18. HENRY F. MAY, THE ENLIGHTENMENT IN AMERICA 88 (1976) ("nature of man").
19. SYDNEY E. AHLSTROM, A. RELIGIOUS HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN PEOPLE 362 (1972).
20. Id.
21. Letter From Thomas Paine to the Abbé Raynal (1782), in THOMAS PAINE READER 147, 163 (Michael Foot & Isaac Kramnick eds., 1987).
22. Id. at 163-65.
23. LAMBERT, supra note 10, at 161.
24. Id.
25. AHLSTROM, supra note 16, at 365;
26. see also ROGER FINKE & RODNEY STARK, THE CHURCHING OF AMERICA, 1776-1990: WINNERS AND LOSERS IN OUR RELIGIOUS ECONOMY 16 (1992) (finding that 17 percent were churchgoers);
27. KRAMNICK & MOORE, supra note 13, at 17 (noting that 10 to 15 percent of the population were church members);
28. LAMBERT, supra note 10, at 281-82 (noting that 17 percent were churchgoers);
29. JON BUTLER, Why Revolutionary America Wasn't a "Christian Nation," in RELIGION AND THE NEW REPUBLIC: FAITH IN THE FOUNDING OF AMERICA 187, 191 (James H. Hutson ed., 2000) [hereinafter RELIGION AND THE NEW REPUBLIC] (noting that it is "impossible to calculate church membership at more than 20 percent of colonial adults before the American Revolution");
30. Rodney Stark & Roger Finke, American Religion in 1776: A Statistical Portrait, 49 SOC. ANALYSIS 39, 39 (1988) (observing that 10 to 20 percent in colonial America belonged to a church).
31. Mark A. Noll, Evangelicals in the American Founding and Evangelical Political Mobilization Today, in RELIGION AND THE NEW REPUBLIC, supra note 22, at 137, 146.
32. THE FUNDAMENTAL ORDERS OF CONNECTICUT, supra note 9, at 23.
33. U.S. CONST. pmbl.
34. THE FUNDAMENTAL ORDERS OF CONNECTICUT, supra note 9, at 23.
35. See, e.g., KRAMNICK & MOORE, supra note 13, at 13.
36. LAMBERT, supra note 10, at 2.
37. See Butler, supra note 22, at 196.
38. LAMBERT, supra note 10, at 164-65.
39. Id. at 165.
40. Id.
41. See LAMBERT, supra note 10, at 165-66; KERRY WALTERS, RATIONAL INFIDELS: THE AMERICAN DEISTS 13-17 (1992).
42. LAMBERT, supra note 10, at 165-66;
43. See also DAVID L. HOLMES, THE FAITHS OF THE FOUNDING FATHERS 40 (2006); WALTERS, supra note 33, at 13, 17.
44. See HOLMES, supra note 34, at 134;
45. WOOD, supra note 14, at 330.
46. WALTERS, supra note 33, at 22-23.
47. Thomas Woolston, A Second Discourse on the Miracles of Our Saviour, in SIX DISCOURSES ON THE MIRACLES OF OUR SAVIOUR AND DEFENCES OF HIS DISCOURSES, 1727-1730, at 48 (René Wellek ed., Garland Publ'g, Inc. 1979) (1727).
48. See BROOKE ALLEN, MORAL MINORITY: OUR SKEPTICAL FOUNDING FATHERS, at xii-xiii, 172-73 (2006); HOLMES, supra note 34, at 40 (deism in Britain);
49. WALTERS, supra note 33, at 23 (Toland, Collins. Woolston, and Tindal).
50. See HOLMES, supra note 34, at 47.
51. WALTERS, supra note 33, at ix-xi.
52. Id. at.
53. Id.
54. HOLMES, supra note 34, at 47.
55. See AHLSTROM, supra note 16, at 358-59 (American deists);
56. ALLEN, supra note 38, at 172-73 (American deists);
57. HOLMES, supra note 34, at 143-60;
58. LAMBERT, supra note 10, at 161-62 (American deists);
59. WALTERS, supra note 33, at xii-xiii.
60. LAMBERT, supra note 10, at 161;
61. see also HOLMES, supra note 34, at 49-50
62. WALTERS, supra note 33, at ix.
63. The concepts of "natural rights" and "natural law," which played a central role in the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights, flourished during the Enlightenment. As Voltaire observed, the "eternal and immutable truths [are] founded upon natural tights and the necessary order of society."
64. M. DE VOLTAIRE, Rights, in 2 A PHILOSOPHICAL DICTIONARY 412, 417 (W. Dugolale 1843);
65. See also ALLEN, supra note 38, at 179.
66. See SLLEN, supra note 38, at 102;
67. HOLMES, supra note 34, at 143-60.
68. GORDON S. WOOD, REVOLUTIONARY CHARACTERS 69 (2006).
69. BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, AUTOBIOGRAPHY, reprinted in A BENJAMIN FRANKLIN READER 47, 59 (Nathan G. Goodman ed., 1945) (1868).
70. Id. at 97.
71. Id. at 96.
72. Id. at 117.
73. Letter From Benjamin Franklin to the Printer of the London Packet (June 3, 1772), reprinted in 19 THE PAPERS OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 163, 164 (William B. Wilcox ed., 1975).
74. Letter From Benjamin Franklin to Ezra Stiles (Mar. 9, 1790), in 3 THE LITERARY DIARY OF EZRA STILES 387, 387 (Franklin B. Dexter ed., Charles Scribner's Sons 1901).
75. Id.
76. Id.
77. Id.
78. BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, A MAN OF SENSE, reprinted in 2 THE PAPERS OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 15, 16 (Leonard W. Labaree ed., 1960) (1735).
79. BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, ARTICLES OF BELIEF AND ACTS OF RELIGION, reprinted in 1 THE PAPERS OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, supra note 58, at 101,103.
80. Letter From Benjamin Franklin to Joseph Huey (June 6, 1753), in A BENJAMIN FRANKLIN READER, supra note 49, at 235.
81. JOSEPH PRIESTLY, AUTOBIOGRAPHY 117 (1970). On Franklin's religious beliefs, see A BENJAMIN FRANKLIN READER 376-78 (Walter Isaacson ed., 2003);
82. ALLEN, supra note 38, at 3, 8-13;
83. BAILYN, supra note 15, at 65;
84. HOLMES, supra note 34, at 53-57;
85. LAMBERT, supra note 10, at 159-60;
86. MAY, supra note 15, at 126-32;
87. JON MEACHAM, AMERICAN GOSPEL: GOD, THE FOUNDING FATHERS, AND THE MAKING OF A NATION 20-22 (2006);
88. WALTERS, supra note 33, at 44-81;
89. WOOD, supra note 48, at 70;
90. See also STEVEN WALDMAN, FOUNDING FAITH: PROVIDENCE, POLITICS, AND THE BIRTH OF RELIGIOUS FREEDOM IN AMERICA 18-26 (2008).
91. WOOD, supra note 48, at 93.
92. Letter From Abraham Lincoln to H.L. Pierce and Others (Apr. 6, 1859), in ABRAHAM LINCOLN: HIS SPEECHES AND WRITINGS 488, 489 (Roy P. Basler ed., 1946).
93. ALLEN, supra note 38, at 70.
94. Letter From Thomas Jefferson to Peter Carr (Aug. 10, 1787), in THOMAS JEFFERSON: WRITINGS 900, 902 (Merrill D. Peterson ed., 1984).
95. Id.
96. Letter From Thomas Jefferson to John Adams (Oct. 12, 1813), in 2 THE ADAMS-JEFFERSON LETTERS: THE COMPLETE CORRESPONDENCE BETWEEN THOMAS JEFFERSON AND ABIGAIL AND JOHN ADAMS 383, 384 (Lester J. Capponed., 1987) [hereinafter THE ADAMS- JEFFERSON LETTERS].
97. Letter From Thomas Jefferson to Joseph Priestly (Apr. 9, 1803), in 10 THOMAS JEFFERSON: WRITINGS, supra note 65, at 1120, 1122 (describing Jesus as "most innocent" and "most eloquent");
98. See also HOLMES, supra note 34, at 82-85;
99. Letter From Thomas Jefferson to William Short (Apr. 13, 1820), in 15 THE WRITINGS OF THOMAS JEFFERSON 243, 243-15 (Albert E. Bergh ed., 1905);
100. Letter From Thomas Jefferson to Benjamin Waterhouse (June 28, 1822), in 15 THE WRITINGS OF THOMAS JEFFERSON, supra, at 383, 383-85.
101. See Letter From Thomas Jefferson to William Short (Aug. 4, 1820), in THOMAS JEFFERSON: WRITINGS, supra note 65, at 1435, 1437-38 (suggesting that the claim that Jesus was the son of God was the result of the overheated zealotry of his era).
102. Letter From Thomas Jefferson to Benjamin Rush (Apr. 21, 1803), in 10 THE WRITINGS OF THOMAS JEFFERSON, supra note 68, at 380, 380 ("[T]o the corruption of Christianity I am, indeed, opposed, but not to the genuine precepts of Jesus himself.").
103. See id.
104. HOLMES, supra note 34, at 82-87.
105. Letter From Thomas Jefferson to James Smith (Dec. 8, 1822), THE WRITINGS OF THOMAS JEFFERSON, supra note 68, at 408-10.
106. Letter From Thomas Jefferson to Benjamin Waterhouse (June 26, 1822), THE WRITINGS OF THOMAS JEFFERSON, supra note 68, at 383, 383-85;
107. Letter From Thomas Jefferson to Benjamin Waterhouse (July 19, 1822), THE WRITINGS OF THOMAS JEFFERSON, supra note 68, at 390-92;
108. Letter Ftom Thomas Jefferson to Jared Sparks (Nov. 4, 1820), in 15 THE WRITINGS OF THOMAS JEFFERSON, supra note 68, at 287, 287-88.
109. Letter From Thomas Jefferson to John Davis (Jan. 18, 1824), in JEFFERSON & MADISON ON SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE: WRITINGS ON RELIGION AND SECULARISM 373 (Lenni Brenner ed., 2004).
110. Letter From Thomas Jefferson to Francis Adrian Van der Kemp (July 30, 1816), in JEFFERSON'S EXTRACTS FROM THE GOSPELS 375 (Dickinson W. Adams ed., 1983).
111. Letter From Thomas Jefferson to William Short (Apr. 13, 1820), in 15 THE WRITINGS OF THOMAS JEFFERSON, supra note 68, at 243, 244-47 ("We have most unwisely committed to the hierophants of our particular superstition . . . .");
112. Letter From Thomas Jefferson to Benjamin Waterhouse (June 26, 1822), in 15 THE WRITINGS OF THOMAS JEFFERSON, supra note 68, at 383, 383-85;
113. Letter From Thomas Jefferson to Francis Adrian Van der Kemp (July 30, 1816), in JEFFERSON'S EXTRACTS FROM THE GOSPELS, supra note 76, at 374, 375 (comparing clergy to "scuttle fish").
114. KRAMNIK & MOORE, supra note 13, at 95.
115. Id.
116. See ALLEN, supra note 38, at 78.
117. Letter From Thomas Jefferson to John Adams (Oct. 14, 1816), in 2 THE ADAMS-JEFFERSON LETTERS, supra note 67, at 490, 492.
118. Letter From Thomas Jefferson to Peter Carr (Aug. 10, 1787), in THOMAS JEFFERSON: WRITINGS, supra note 65, at 900, 901.
119. Letter From Thomas Jefferson to Thomas Law (June 13, 1814), in THOMAS JEFFERSON: WRITINGS, supra note 65, at 1335, 1337-38.
120. THOMAS JEFFERSON, OPINION ON FRENCH TREATIES (1793), reprinted in THOMAS JEFFERSON: WRITINGS, supra note 65, at 422-23.
121. ALLEN, supra note 38, at 180.
122. Letter From Thomas Jefferson to Matthew Carey (Nov. 11, 1816), in 10 THE WRITINGS OF THOMAS JEFFERSON 67 (G.P. Putnam's Sons 1899).
123. See Letter From Thomas Jefferson to Thomas Law (June 13, 1814), in THOMAS JEFFERSON: WRITINGS, supra note 65, at 1335, 1336 (noting that atheists are moral). Many of the philosophes, including Rousseau and Condorcet, took this position. Some went even further and argued that Christianity actively hampered the moral instincts that had been endowed by the Creator.
124. See, e.g., BARON D' HOLBACH, GOOD SENSE WITHOUT GOD: OR, FREETHINKING OPPOSED TO SUPERNATURAL IDEAS ARTICLE 178 (1772), quoted in ALLEN, supra note 38, at 180;
125. See also ALLEN, supra note 38, at 87, 180.
126. Letter From Thomas Jefferson to Thomas Leiper (Jan. 21,1809), in THEFOUNDERS ON RELIGION: A BOOK OF QUOTATINOS 148 (James H. Hutson ed., 2005) [hereinafter FOUNDERS ON RELIGION].
127. WALTERS, supra note 33, at 181.
128. Letter From Thomas Jefferson to John Adams (Oct. 14, 1816), in 2 THE ADANS-JEFFERSON LETTERS, supra note 67, at 490, 492.
129. See generally THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE (U.S. 1776).
130. On Jefferson's religious beliefs, see AHLSTROM, supra note 16, at 367-68;
131. ALLEN, supra note 38, at 70-87;
132. HOLMES, supra note 34, at 79-80;
133. KRAMNICK & MOORE, supra note 13, at 95-96;
134. LAMBERT, supra note 10, at 174-77, 279;
135. MEACHAM, supra note 61, at 3-12;
136. John M. Murrin, Religion and Politics in America From the First Settlements to the Civil War, in RELIGION AND AMERICAN POLITICS: FROM THE COLONIAL PERIOD TO THE 1980S, at 19, 32-33 (Mark a. Noll ed., 1990);
137. WOOD, supra note 48, at 101-07;
138. see also WALDMAN, supra note 61, at 72-85.
139. BAILYN, supra note 15, at 64.
140. WOOD, supra note 48, at 178-79.
141. ALLEN, supra note 38, at 59;
142. see also AHLSTROM, supra note 16, at 367-68.
143. Letter From John Adams to Benjamin Rush (June 12, 1812), in THE SPUR OF FAME: DIALOGUES OF JOHN ADAMS AND BENJAMIN RUSH, 1805-1813, at 244 (John A. Schutz & Douglass Adair eds., 2001) [hereinafter SPUR OF FAME].
144. Letter From John Adams to Benjamin Rush (Dec.28, 1807), in SPUR OF FAME, supra note 96, at 101.
145. See HOLMES, supra note 34, at 73-74, 78.
146. JOHN ADAMS, DIARY AND AUTOBIOGRAPHY, in 1 THE ADAMS PAPERS 42-44 (Lyman H. Butterfield ed., 1963);
147. see also WOOD, supra note 14, at 330 (noting that Adams rejected the divinity of Jesus as an "awful blasphemy").
148. See THE SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE: WRITINGS ON A FUNDAMENTAL FREEDOM BY AMERICA'S FOUNDERS 31 (Forrest Church ed., 2004) (hereinafter THE SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE].
149. See SYDNEY E. AHLSTROM & JONATHAN S. CAREY, AN AMERICAN REFORMATION: A DOCUMENTARY HISTORY OF UNITARIAN C HRISTIANITY 23,36-37 (1985).
150. Letter From John Adams to Thomas Jefferson (Dec. 12, 1816), in 2 THE ADAMS-JEFFERSON LETTERS, supra note 67, at 499;
151. see also ANN HOLT, A LIFE OF JOSEPH PRIESTLY 140 (1931). Jefferson wrote back that he agreed that this was the result of their "fifty or sixty years of religious reading." Indeed, he wrote, "What all agree in, is probably right." Letter From Thomas Jefferson to John Adams (Jan. 11, 1817), in 2 THE ADAMS-JEFFERSON LETTERS, supra note 67, at 499.
152. Letter From John Adams to Benjamin Rush (June 12, 1812), in SPUR OF FAME, supra note 96, at 224.
153. Letter From John Adams to Benjamin Rush (Apr. 12, 1809), in SPUR OF FAME, supra note 96, at 155.
154. See John Witte, Jr., "A Most Mild and Equitable Establishment of Religion": John Adams and the Massachusetts Experiment, in RELIGION AND THE NEW REPUBLIC, supra note 22, at 1.
155. Id. at 19;
156. see also id. at 1,18-19.
157. JOSEPH J. ELLIS, PASSIONATE SAGE: THE CHARACTER AND LEGACY OF JOHN ADAMS 123 (1993).
158. See Letter From John Adams to Abigail Adams (Sept. 17, 1775), in THE LETTERS OF JOHN AND ABIGAIL ADAMS 97 (Frank Shuffelton ed., 2004).
159. Id.
160. Treaty of Peace and Friendship Between the United States of America and the Bey and Subjects of Tripoli of Barbary art. 11, U.S.-Tripoli, Jan. 3,1797,8 Stat. 154, quoted in ALLEN, supra note 38, at 142.
161. Letter From Thomas Jefferson to John Adams (Oct. 12, 1813), in 2 THE ADAMS-JEFFERSON LETTERS, supra note 67, at 509.
162. Letter From John Adams to Thomas Jefferson (Apr. 19, 1817), in 2 THE ADAMS-JEFFERSON LETTERS, supra note 67, at 509.
163. 6 THE WORKS OF JOHN ADAMS 10 (Charles Francis Adams ed., 1850-1856);
164. see also JOHN ADAMS, A DEFENCE OF THE CONSTITUTIONS OF GOVERNMENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, reprinted in 5 THE WORKS OF JOHN ADAMS, supra, at 488;
165. THE WORKS OF JOHN ADAMS, supra, at 406;
166. WOOD, supra note 48, at 182,188.
167. Letter From John Adams to Mercy Warren (Apr. 16, 1776), in 1 THE FOUNDERS' CONSTITUTION 670 (Philip B. Kurland & Ralph Lemer eds., 1987).
168. Letter From John Adams to Mercy Warren (Jan. 8, 1776), in 1 THE WARREN-ADAMS LETTERS 201, 202 (Worthington Chauncey Ford ed., 1917);
169. see also Lerter From John Adams to Benjamin Rush (May 21, 1787), in FOUNDERS ON RELIGION, supra note 88, at 146 (Adams laments the "ominous dissolution of Morality... throughout the civilized World.");
170. WOOD, supra note 48, at 180.
171. WOOD, supra note 48, at 180.
172. Id. at 181.
173. Letter From John Adams to Zabdiel Adams (June 21, 1776), in 2 ADAMS FAMILY CORRESPONDENCE 21, 22 (L.H. Butterfield ed., 1963);
174. JOHN ADAMS, DISSERTATION ON THE CANON AND FEUDAL LAW (1765), reprinted in 3 THE WORKS OF JOHN ADAMS, supra note 113, at 455-57;
175. Letter From John Adams to Mercy Warren (Apr. 14, 1776), in 1 THE WARREN-ADAMS LETTERS, supra note 115, at 201-02, 225;
176. see also WOOD, supra note 48, at 181;
177. JOHN ADAMS, A DEFENCE OF THE CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA (1787-1788), reprinted in THE PORTABLE JOHN ADAMS, at xxv-xxvi (John Patrick Diggins ed., 2004) (noting that "the nature of mankind is one thing, and the reason of mankind is another" and that "human nature must he taken us it is, as it lias been, and will be").
178. MEACHAM, supra note 61, at 27-28.
179. See FOUNDERS ON RELIGION, supra note 88, at 147;
180. see also John Adams, Hand-Written Note in Condorcet's Outlines of an Historical View of the Progress of the Human Mind, quoted in Zoltan Haraszti, JOHN ADAMS AND THE PROPHETS OF PROGRESS 252 (1952) ("There is no such thing [as morality] without a supposition of a God. There is no right or wrong in the universe without the supposition of a moral government and an intellectual and moral governor.").
181. Letter From John Adams to Thomas Jefferson (Dec. 12, 1816), in 2 THE ADAMS-JEFFERSON LETTERS, supra note 67, at 499.
182. Letter From Thomas Jefferson to John Adams (Jan. 11, 1817), in 2 tHE ADAMS-J EFFERSON LETTERS, supra note 67, at 506.
183. See, e.g., THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE (U.S. 1776).
184. JEAN-JACQUES ROUSSEAU, ON THE SOCIAL CONTRACT 131 (Roger D. Masters ed., Judith R. Masters trans., St. Martin's Press 1978);
185. see also AHLSTROM, supra note 16, at 363;
186. AMBERT, supra note 10, at 282;
187. JOHN G. WEST, THE POLITICS OF REVELATION AND REASON: RELIGION AND CIVIC LIFE IN THE NEW NATION 76-77 (1996).
188. WOOD, supra note 48, at 35.
189. Letter From George Washington to Marquis de Lafayette (Aug. 15, 1787), in 29 THE WRITINGS OF GEORGE WASHINGTON 258, 259 (John C. Fitzpatrick ed., 1939).
190. See WILLIAM J. JOHNSON, GEORGE WASHINGTON THE CHRISTIAN 288-90 (1919);
191. see also PETER R. HENRIQUES, REALISTIC VISIONARY: A PORTRAIT OF GEORGE WASHINGTON 170 (2006).
192. PAUL LONGMORE, THE INVENTION OF GEORGE WASHINGTON 169 (1988);
193. see also PAUL F. BOLLER, JR., GEORGE WASHINGTON AND REUGION 31 (1963);
194. HENRIQUES, supra note 127, at 168-69;
195. AY, supra note 15, at 72
196. ; FRANKLIN STEINER, THE RELIGIOUS BELIEFS OF OUR PRESIDENTS: FROM WASHINGTON TO F.D.R. 17-18 (1995) (WASHINGTON was not an avid churchgoer even during his presidency).
197. HENRIQUES, supra note 127, at 168-69, 175;
198. see also BOLLER, supra note 128, at 67;
199. Edwin S. Gaustad, Disciples of Reason, CHRISTIAN HIST., Spring 1996, quoted in ALLEN, supra note 38, at 40.
200. JOSEPH J, ELLIS, HIS EXCELLENCY: GEORGE WASHINGTON 269 (2004).
201. A.W. Greely, The Personal Side of Georg Washingum, LADIES HOME J., Apr. 1896, at 7, quoted in ALLEN, supra note 38, at 35.
202. BARRY SCHWARTZ, GEORGE WASHINGTON: THE MAKING OF AN AMERICAN SYMBOL 175 (1987);
203. see also MEACHAM, supra note 61, at 11-12;
204. STEINER, supra note 128, at 39 (noting that there were no religious references in Washington's will, which was unusual at the time).
205. RUPERT HUGHES, GEORGE WASHINGTON: THE SAVIOR OF THE STATES 1777-1781, at 286, 287 (1930);
206. see also BOLLER, supra note 128, at 89;
207. EACHAM, supra note 61, at 78.
208. KRAMNICK & MOORE, supra note 13, at 101.
209. HENRIQUES, supra note 127, at 170-75, 182-83, 185.
210. Id.
211. ALLEN, supra note 38, at 36.
212. HOLMES, supra note 34, at 140-41;
213. see also WALDMAN, supra note 61, at 57 (noting that Washington was a "deeply spiritual man" who sometimes disdained "important facets of Christianity").
214. Some early writings about Washington, such as (Parson) M.L. WEEMS, THE LIFE OF GEORGE WASHINGTON (1800), depicted Washington as a pious Christian, but such works have long been discredited as nineteenth-century evangelical propaganda.
215. See HOLMES, supra note 34, at 68-69
216. ; STEINER, supra note 128, at 21-33 (debunking popular myths about Washington's supposed religious beliefs and practices).
217. See ALLEN, supra note 38, at xiii; FRANK GRIZZARD, THE WAYS OF PROVIDENCE: RELIGION AND GEORGE WASHINGTON 4-5 (2005);
218. HENRIQUES, supra note 127, at 173-75;
219. HOLMES, supra note 34, at 65;
220. AMBERT, supra note 10, at 282;
221. AY, supra note 15, at 72.
222. See BOLLER, supra note 128, at 94;
223. JAY FLIEGELMAN, PRODIGALS AND PILGRIMS: THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION AGAINST PATRIARCHAL AUTHORITY, 1750-1800, at 212 (1982);
224. HENRIQUES, supra note 127, at 183;
225. HOLMES, supra note 34, at 67-68;
226. WEST, supra note 124, at 37;
227. WOOD, supra note 48, at 34-35, 41, 60.
228. WALTERS, supra note 33, at 125.
229. THOMAS PAINE, THE AGE OF REASON: PART ONE (1794), reprinted in 8 THOMAS PAINE READER, supra note 18, at 399.
230. THOMAS PAINE, OF THE RELIGION OF DEISM COMPARED WITH THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION, AND THE SUPERIORITY OF THE FORMER OVER THE LATTER, in 4 THE WRITINGS OF THOMAS PAINE 322 (Moncure Daniel Conway ed., 1896).
231. Id.
232. THOMAS PAINE, THE AGE OF REASON: PART SECOND (1795), reprinted in 8 THE LIFE AND WORKS OF THOMAS PAINE 103, 268 (William M. Van der Weyde ed., 1925).
233. THOMAS PAINE, THE AGE OF REASON: PART FIRST (1794), reprinted in 8 THE LIFE AND WORKS OF THOMAS PAINE, supra note 145, at 3,14.
234. MAY, supra note 15, at 174.
235. PAINE, supra note 145, at 136.
236. PAINE, supra note 146, at 94;
237. see also WALTERS, supra note 33. at 128-31.
238. PAINE, supra note 146, at 12.
239. WOOD, supra note 48, at 207;
240. see also JOHN KEANE, TOM PAINE: A POLITICAL LIFE, at xiv-xiii (1995).
241. MAY, supra note 15, at 124.
242. HOLMES, supra note 34, at 42;
243. see also LAMBERT, supra note 10, at 175.
244. WALTERS, supra note 33, at 9.
245. Letter From Ezra Stiles to Thomas Clap (Aug. 6, 1759), in AMERICAN PHILOSOPHY 217 (I. Woodbridge Riley ed., Dodd, Mead & Co. 1907).
246. WALTERS, supra note 33, at 8-9.
247. Id. at 86-89.
248. TIMOTHY DWIGHT, TRIUMPH OF INFIDELITY 23-24 (1788), quoted in WALTERS, supra note 33, at 92, 93;
249. HARLES A. JELLISON, ETHAN ALLEN: FRONTIER REBEL 311, 331 (1969);
250. see also AHLSTROM, supra note 16, at 266-367;
251. ALLEN, supra note 38, at 159;
252. HOLMES, supra note 34, at 44-49;
253. MAY, supra note 15, at 123;
254. WALTERS, supra note 33, at 84-114.
255. Among the members of the Revolutionary generation who did not entertain deist beliefs and might properly be described as traditional Christians were Samuel Adams, Patrick Henry, and John Jay.
256. See ALLEN, supra note 38, at 102;
257. HOLMES, supra note 34, at 143-60. Jay, for example, who along with Madison and Hamilton was one of the authors of the Federalist Papers and later served as the first Chief Justice of the United States, believed that laws enforcing the Sabbath are necessary to civil society because the Sabbath is a divine institution sanctioned by the Bible.
258. See Letter From John Jay to Edward Livingston (July 28, 1822), in 4 THE CORRESPONDENCE AND PUBLIC PAPERS OF JOHN JAY 464, 465 (Henry P. Johnston ed., G.P. Putnam's Sons 1890-1893). Similarly, although Jay supported religious tolerance and the right of conscience, he secured passage of a clause in the New York State Constitution providing that "the liberty of conscience... shall not be construed to encourage licentiousness."
259. JOHN JAY: THE MAKING OF A REVOLUTIONARY, UNPUBLISHED PAPERS, 1745-1780, at 392 (Richard B. Morris ed., 1975);
260. see also WEST, supra note 124, at 53-55.
261. Of course, this is not to say that the Framers in any way intended to establish the United States as an antireligious or anti-Christian nation.
262. THE FEDERALIST NO. 55 (James Madison). For example, the precursor to the Declaration of Independence, the Virginia Declaration of Rights, which was drafted by George Mason and adopted hy the Virginia Constitutional Convention on June 12, 1776, provided in Section XV: "That no free government, or the blessings of liberty, can be preserved to any people but by a firm adherence to justice, moderation, temperance, frugality, and virtue, and by frequent recurrence to fundamental principles."
263. THE VIRGINIA DECLARATION OF RIGHTS, reprinted in THE SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE, supra note 100, at 29.
264. ALLEN, supra note 38, at 179;
265. see also kRAMNICK & MOORE, supra note 13, at 47-54.
266. Phillips Payson, Election Sermon of 1778, in 1 AMERICAN POLITICAL WRITING DURING THE FOUNDING ERA, 1760-1805, at 523, 529 (Charles S. Hyneman & Donald S. Lutz eds., Liberty Press 1983).
267. 164- John Witherspoon, The Dominion of Providence Over the Passions of Man (May 17, 1776), in 3 THE WORKS OF THE REVEREND JOHN WITHERSPOON 41 (1802), quoted in FOUNDERS ON RELIGION, supra note 88, at 148.
268. Letter From Benjamin Rush to Noah Webster (July 20, 1798), in 2 LETTERS OF BENJAMIN RUSH 798, 799 (Lymna H. Butterfield ed., Princeton Univ. Press 1951).
269. Id.
270. Id.
271. Id.
272. Id.
273. Letter From John Adams to Benjamin Rush (Aug. 28, 1811), in FOUNDERS ON RELIGION, supra note 88, at 191.
274. Letter From John Adams to Zabdiel Adams (June 21, 1776), in 9 THE WORKS OF JOHN ADAMS, supra note 113, at 401;
275. see also Letter From John Adams to Benjamin Rush (Aug. 28, 1811), in OLD FAMILY LETTERS 352, 354 (Alexander Biddle ed., j.B. Lippincolt Co. 1892);
276. Letter From John Adams to Abigail Adams (1775), quoted in EDWIN S. GAUSTAD, A. RELIGIOUS HISTORY OF AMERICA 127 (1966);
277. John Adams, To the Officers of the First Brigade of the Third Division of the Militia of Massachusetts (October 11, 1798), in OUR SACRED HONOR 369, 370 (William j. Bennett ed., 1997). The Massachusetts Declaration of Rights, drafted by John Adams in 1780, stated that "the happiness of a people and the good order and preservation of civil government essentially depend upon piety, religion, and morality."
278. THE SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE, supra note 100, at 33.
279. Alexander Hamilton, The Stand, No. 3 (April 7, 1798), in 21 THE PAPERS OF ALEXANDER HAMILTON 405 (Harold C. Syrett ed., 1973).
280. Letter From Benjamin Franklin to - (Dec. 13, 1757), in7 THE PAPERS OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, supra note 58, at 293, 294-95.
281. Letter From Thomas Jefferson to Thomas Law (June 13, 1814), in JEFFERSON'S EXTRACTS FROM THE GOSPELS, supra note 76, at 355, 355-56 (stating that atheists can be moral people).
282. Thomas Jefferson, Notes on the State of Virginia, in THOMAS JEFFERSON;
283. WRITINGS, supra note 65, at 289 ("gift" of the Creator).
284. KRAMNICK & MOORE, supra note 13, at 24.
285. Id.
286. MEACHAM, supra note 61, at 23.
287. Id.
288. Id.
289. ALLEN, supra note 38, at 181.
290. Id.
291. Id.
292. See id.; see also id. at 143;
293. WALTERS, supra note 33, at 287;
294. WEST, supra note 124, at 1;
295. WOOD, supra note 48, at 231. On the demise of deism, see AHLSTROM, supra note 16, at 367;
296. HOLMES, supra note 34, at 49;
297. WALTERS, supra note 33, at 271-73.
298. WOOD, supra note 48, at 115-17.
299. Id. at 116.
300. Id. at 116-17.