Chief Architect of Constitution's views on Religion - What did James Madison say? by Bill Federer
James Madison's defense of religious freedom began when he stood with his father outside a
jail in the village of Orange and heard
Baptists preach from their cell windows. What was their crime?
They were unlicensed - preaching religious opinions not approved by the government. 
Madison wrote about the fate of Baptist ministers to William Bradford, JANUARY 24, 17
74: "There are at this time in the adjacent
Culpeper County not less than 5 or 6 well meaning men in
jail for publishing their religious sentiments which in the main are very orthodox."
On October 31, 1785,
James Madison introduced in the Virginia Legislature a
Bill for Punishing Disturbers of Religious Worship, passed 1789.
James Madison assisted
George Mason in his drafting of
Article 16 of the
Virginia Declaration of Rights, ratified June 12, 1776: "That
Religion, or the duty which we owe to our CREATOR, and the manner of
discharging it, can be directed only by reason and conviction, not by
force or violence; and therefore, all men are equally entitled to the free exercise of religion, according to the dictates of conscience, and that
it is the mutual duty of all to practice Christian forbearance, love, and charity, towards each other."
The phrase
"Christian forbearance" is in contrast to other ideologies, including apartheid, atheistic communism, state-enforced secularism or sharia Islam.
James Madison wrote in
Religious Freedom-A Memorial and Remonstrance, June 20, 1785: "It is the duty of every man to render to the Creator such homage, and such only, as he believes to be acceptable to Him...Much
more must every man who becomes a member of any particular civil
society, do it with a saving of his allegiance to the Universal
Sovereign.
We maintain therefore that in matters of Religion, no
man's right is abridged by the institution of civil society, and that
Religion is wholly exempt from its cognizance..."
"Whilst
we assert for ourselves a freedom to embrace, to profess, and to
observe the Religion which we believe to be of divine origin, we cannot
deny an equal freedom to those whose minds have not yet yielded to the
evidence which has convinced us. If this freedom be abused, it is
an offense against God, not against man: To God, therefore, not to man,
must an account of it be rendered...'The equal right of every
citizen to the free exercise of his religion according to the dictates
of his conscience' is held by the same tenure with all our other
rights."
James Madison sought
George Mason's advice, as he commented to Jefferson in 1783: "I took
Colonel Mason
in my way and had an evening's conversation with him...on the article
of convention for revising our form of government, he was sound and ripe
and I think would not decline participation in such a work."
Another Virginia delegate to the Constitutional Convention,
Edmund Randolph, wrote of the plans for the new government: "those proposed by
George Mason swallowed up all the rest."
Though
George Mason
was a delegate to the Constitutional Convention, he refused to sign the
U.S. Constitution because it did not put enough limits on the new
Federal Government, stating: "There is no declaration of rights,
and the laws of the general government being paramount to the laws and
constitution of the several states, the declarations of rights in the
separate states are no security."
George Mason proposed a list of Amendments to handcuff the government's power, giving rise to his title
'Father of the Bill of Rights.' 
George Mason's suggested wording of what would be the First Amendment was: "That
Religion or the Duty which we owe to our Creator, and the manner of
discharging it, can be directed only by Reason and Conviction, not by
Force or violence, and therefore 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 of Christians ought to be favored or established by Law in preference to others."
George Mason's role was acknowledged by Jefferson, April 3, 1825: "The fact is unquestionable, that the Bill of Rights, and the Constitution of Virginia, were drawn originally by
George Mason, one of our greatest men, and of the first order of greatness."
With inspiration from George Mason,
James Madison introduced his wording for the First Amendment, June 7, 1789: "The
Civil Rights of none shall be abridged on account of religious belief
or worship, nor shall any national religion be established, nor shall
the full and equal rights of conscience be in any manner, nor on any
pretext infringed."
James Madison entered in his journal, June 12, 1788: "There
is not a shadow of right in the general government to inter-meddle with
religion... The subject is, for the honor of America, perfectly free
and unshackled. The government has no jurisdiction over it."
James Madison stated in his First Inaugural Address, March 4, 1809: "To
avoid the slightest interference with the rights of conscience or the
function of religion, so wisely exempted from civil jurisdiction."
In
proclaiming the U.S. should take possession of the land east of the
Mississippi River and south of the Mississippi Territory extending to
Perdido River,
President Madison wrote, October 27, 1810: "The
good people inhabiting the same are...under full assurance that they
will be protected in the enjoyment of their liberty, property, and
religion."
When the War of 1812 began with Britain,
James Madison proclaimed a National Day of Public Humiliation and Prayer, July 9, 1812: "I... recommend
the third Thursday of August... for... rendering the Sovereign of the
Universe...public homage...that He would inspire all...with a reverence
for the unerring precept of our holy religion, to do to others as they
would require that others should do to them."
After the British burned the U.S. Capitol,
James Madison proclaimed a National Day of Fasting, November 16, 1814: "I...recommend...a
day on which all may have an opportunity of voluntarily
offering...their humble adoration to the Great Sovereign of the
Universe, of confessing their sins and transgressions, and of
strengthening their vows of repentance."
When the War of 1812 ended,
James Madison proclaimed a National Day of Thanksgiving, March 4, 1815: "To
the same Divine Author of Every Good and Perfect Gift we are indebted
for all those privileges and advantages, religious as well as civil...
I
now recommend...the people of every religious denomination...unite
their hearts and their voices in a freewill offering to their Heavenly
Benefactor of their homage...and of their songs of praise."
James Madison ended his 7th Annual Message, December 5, 1815: "...to
the goodness of a superintending Providence, to which we are
indebted...to cherish institutions which guarantee their safety and
their liberties, civil and religious."
James Madison wrote to Edward Everett, 1823: "That there has been an increase of religious instruction since the revolution can admit of no question.
The
English Church was originally the established religion... Of other
sects there were but few adherents, except the Presbyterians who
predominated on the west side of the Blue Mountains. A little time
previous to the Revolutionary struggle, the Baptists sprang up, and made
very rapid progress."
Madison continued: "Among
the early acts of the Republican Legislature, were those abolishing the
Religious establishment, and putting all sects at full liberty and on a
perfect level.
At present the population is divided, with small
exceptions, among the Protestant Episcopalians, the Presbyterians, the
Baptists and the Methodists... I conjecture the Presbyterians and
Baptists to form each about a third, and the two other sects together of
which the Methodists are much the smallest, to make up the remaining
third...Among the other sects, Meeting Houses have multiplied
and continue to multiply... Religious instruction is now diffused
throughout the Community by Preachers of every sect with almost equal
zeal..."
"The
qualifications of the Preachers, too among the new sects where there is
the greatest deficiency, are understood to be improving. On a
general comparison of the present and former times, the balance is
certainly and vastly on the side of the present, as to the number of
religious teachers the zeal which actuates them, the purity of their
lives and the attendance of the people on their instructions."
James Madison wrote to Frederick Beasley, November 20, 1825:
"The
belief in a God All Powerful wise and good, is so essential to the
moral order of the World and to the happiness of man, that arguments
which enforce it cannot be drawn from too many sources."
Bishop William Meade, whose father had been an aide-de-camp to George Washington's aides during the Revolution, wrote in
Old Churches, Ministers and Families of Virginia (Philadelphia: J.B. Lippincott Co., 1857, Vol. II, p. 99-100):
"
Madison
on the subject of religion...was never known to declare any hostility
to it. He always treated it with respect, attended public worship in his
neighborhood, invited ministers of religion to his house, had family
prayers on such occasions."
James Madison
had Presbyterian ministers preach at his Montpelier estate, such as
Samuel Stanhope Smith and Nathaniel Irwin, of whom he wrote: "Praise is in every man's mouth here for an excellent discourse he this day preached to us."
Madison reportedly met with Baptist preacher
John Leland in
Orange County, Virginia. Leland considered running for Congress, but
when Madison promised to introduce an amendment protecting religious
liberty, Leland persuaded Baptists to support him.
John Leland wrote in Rights of Conscience Inalienable, 1791:
"Every
man must give account of himself to God, and therefore every man ought
to be at liberty to serve God in a way that he can best reconcile to his
conscience.
If government can answer for individuals at the day
of judgment, let men be controlled by it in religious matters;
otherwise, let men be free."
Presbyterian Rev. James Waddell preached in Charlottesville, Virginia, as attorney William Wirt wrote in 1795:
"Every
heart in the assembly trembled in unison. His peculiar phrases that
force of description that the original scene appeared to be, at that
moment, acting before our eyes...
The effect was inconceivable. The whole house resounded with the mingled groans, and sobs, and shrieks of the congregation."
When
Rev. James Waddell spoke at St. Thomas Anglican Church
James Madison wrote praising his sermons:
"He has spoiled me for all other preaching."
St. Thomas Anglican Church was built with help from
Colonel James Taylor II, the great-grandfather of
President James Madison and President Zachary Taylor.
In a National Proclamation of Public Humiliation and Prayer, July 23, 1813,
James Madison explained:
"If
the public homage of a people can ever be worthy of the favorable
regard of the Holy and Omniscient Being to whom it is addressed, it must
be...guided only by their free choice, by the impulse of their hearts
and the dictates of their consciences...proving that religion, that gift of Heaven for the good of man, is freed from all coercive edicts."
