by David Barton
114. Emil Steiner, “Do Pennsylvania Schools Prefer Pagans to Christians?” Washington Post, February 28, 2007, “Lawsuit Claims School Prevented Boy From Wearing Jesus Costume for Halloween,” FoxNews.com, February 22, 2007 (at: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,253578,00.html), E. D. T. v. Abington School District, No. 2:2007cv00679 (E.D. Pa., filed on Feb. 20, 2007).
115. The Constitutions of the Several Independent States of America (Boston: Norman and Bowen, 1785), pp. 178-179, from the Articles of Confederation.
116. Samuel Adams, The Life and Public Services of Samuel Adams, William V. Wells, editor (Boston: Little, Brown, and Co., 1865), Vol. III, p. 273, to Richard Henry Lee, August 24, 1789; see also Samuel Adams, The Writings of Samuel Adams, Harry Alonzo Cushing, editor (New York: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1904), Vol. IV, p. 334.
117. George Washington, The Writings of George Washington, Jared Sparks, editor (Boston: Ferdinand Andrews, 1838), Vol. XII, p. 4, Inaugural Speech on April 30, 1789; see also The Debates and Proceedings of the Congress of the United States (Washington: Gales and Seaton, 1834), Vol. I, pp. 28-29, April 30, 1789.
118. McCollum v. Board of Education, 333 U.S. 203, 218, n. 6 (1948).
119. Samuel T. Spear, Religion and the State (New York: Dodd, Mead & Co., 1876), p. 224.
120. Walz v. Tax Commission, 397 U.S. 664, 701, 703 (1970) (Douglas, J., dissenting).
121. Baer v. Kolmorgen, 181 N.Y.S.2d. 230, 237 (Sup. Ct. 1958).
122. Engel v. Vitale, 370 U.S. 421, 445-446 (1962) (Stewart, J., dissenting).
123. Wallace v. Jaffree, 472 U.S. 38, 92 (1985) (Rehnquist, J., dissenting).
124. Wallace v. Jaffree, 472 U.S. 38, 107 (1985) (Rehnquist, J., dissenting).
Chapter 2 Religion and the Constitution
1. See, for example, John Randolph Tucker, The Constitution of the United States (Chicago: Callaghan & Co., 1899), Vol. II, p. 667, § 326; see also House Report 154, March 27, 1854, House Judiciary Committee, p. 1.
2. See Noah Webster’s Sketches of American Policy (Hartford: Hudson and Goodwin, 1785). James Madison confirms Noah Webster’s call as the second, following Pelatiah Webster’s call (Pelatiah Webster, A Dissertation on the Political Union and Constitution of the Thirteen United States (Hartford: Hudson & Goodwin, 1783)); see also James Madison, The Papers of James Madison, Henry D. Gilpin, editor (Washington, DC: Langtree & O. Sullivan, 1840), Vol. II, pp. 706-708, Madison’s preface to his Notes on the Debates in the Convention.
3. Noah Webster, The Holy Bible … With Amendments of the Language (New Haven: Durrie & Peck, 1833), p. iii.
4. Thomas Jefferson, Memoir, Correspondence, and Miscellanies, From the Papers of Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Jefferson Randolph, editor (Boston: Gray and Bowen, 1830), Vol. IV, p. 373, to Judge William Johnson, June 12, 1823.
5. James Madison, The Writings of James Madison, Gaillard Hunt, editor (New York: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1910), Vol. IX, p. 191, to Henry Lee, June 25, 1824.
6. James Wilson, The Works of the Honourable James Wilson, Bird Wilson, editor (Philadelphia: Bronson and Chauncey, 1804), Vol. I, p. 14, “Lectures on Law Delivered in the College of Philadelphia; Introductory Lecture: Of the Study of the Law in the United States.”
7. Dictionary of American Biography, s.v. “Joseph Story.”
8. Joseph Story, Commentaries on the Constitution of the United States (Boston: Hilliard, Gray, and Co., 1833), Vol. III, p. 383, §400.
9. Kate Mason Rowland, The Life of George Mason (New York: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1892), Vol. I, p. 244.
10. The Debates and Proceedings in the Congress of the United States (Washington, DC: Gales and Seaton, 1834), Vol. I, p. 451, James Madison, June 8, 1789.
11. Debates and Proceedings (1834), Vol. I, pp. 757-759, August 15, 1789.
12. The Debates in the Several State Conventions on the Adoption of the Federal Constitution, Jonathan Elliot, editor (Washington, DC: Jonathan Elliot, 1836), Vol. IV, p. 199, Governor Samuel Johnston, July 30, 1788.
13. Elliot’s Debates, Vol. IV, pp. 191-192, Henry Abbot, July 30, 1788.
14. Story, Commentaries, Vol. III, p. 731, §1873.
15. Jefferson, Memoir, Vol. IV, pp. 103-104, to Samuel Miller, January 23, 1808.
16. The Constitutions of the Several Independent States of America (Boston: Norman and Bowen, 1785), p. 4, New Hampshire, 1783, Article 1, Section 6, “Bill of Rights.”
17. A Constitution or Frame of Government Agreed Upon By the Delegates of the People of the State of Massachusetts-Bay (Boston: Benjamin Edes & Sons, 1780), pp. 7-8, Article III, “Declaration of Rights.”
18. David Ramsay, The History of the American Revolution (Dublin: William Jones, 1795), Vol. I, p. 212.
19. John Adams, The Works of John Adams, Charles Frances Adams, editor (Boston: Charles C. Little and James Brown, 1851), Vol. III, p. 449, “Dissertation on the Canon and the Feudal Law.”
20. Story, Commentaries, Vol. III, pp. 706-707, §1841-1842, quoting Blackstone.
21. John Adams and John Bowdoin, An Address of the Convention for Framing A New Constitution of Government For the State of Massachusetts-Bay to their Constituents (Boston: White and Adams, 1780), p. 17.
22. Constitutions (1785), p. 138, North Carolina, 1776, Section 32.
23. The Constitutions of the Several States Composing the Union (Philadelphia: Hogan and Thompson, 1838), p. 202; 1835 amendments to the North Carolina Constitution of 1776, Article 4, Section 2.
24. John Adams, Address of the Convention, p. 17.
25. Constitutions (1785), p. 4, New Hampshire, 1783, Article 1, Section 6, “Bill of Rights.”
26. Constitutions (1785), p. 73, New Jersey, 1776, Section 19.
27. Constitutions (1785), p. 138, North Carolina, 1776, Section 34.
28. Constitutions (1838), p. 110, Connecticut, 1818, Article 7, Section 1.
29. Zephaniah Swift, The Correspondent (Windham: John Byrne, 1793), p. 138.
30. Kate Mason Rowland, The Life of Charles Carroll of Carrollton, 1737-1832, With His Correspondence and Public Papers (New York: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1898), Vol. II, p. 357-358, to John Stanford, October 9, 1827.
31. Joseph Story, A Familiar Exposition of the Constitution of the United States (New York: Harper & Brothers, 1854), p. 259-261, §441, 444; see also Story, Commentaries, Vol. III, p. 726, §1868.
32. Reports of Committees of the House of Representatives Made During the First Session of the Thirty-Third Congress (Washington, DC: A. O. P. Nicholson, 1854), pp. 1, 6, 8-9.
33. The Reports of Committees of the Senate of the United States for the Second Session of the Thirty-Second Congress, 1852-53 (Washington, DC: Robert Armstrong, 1853), pp. 1-4.
34. Story, Commentaries, Vol. III, p. 728, §1871.
35. Benjamin Rush, Essays, Literary, Moral and Philosophical (Philadelphia: Thomas &Samuel F. Bradford, 1798), p. 8, “Of the Mode of Education Proper in a Republic.”
36. John Adams, Works, Vol. X, pp. 45-46, to Thomas Jefferson, June 28, 1813.
37. Jefferson, Memoir, Vol. III, p. 509, “Syllabus of an Estimate of the Merits of the Doctrines of Jesus, Compared with Those of Others,” April 21, 1803.
38. Swift, Correspondent, p. 119.
39. Benjamin Franklin, Proposals Relating to the Education of Youth in Pennsylvania (Philadelphia: 1749), p. 22.
40. Story, Commentaries, Vol. III, p. 731, §1873.
41. Elliot’s Debates, Vol. IV, pp. 198-199, Governor Samuel Johnston, July 30, 1788.
42. Elliot’s Debates, Vol. IV, p. 208, Richard Dobbs Spaight, July 30, 1788.
43. Elliot’s Debates, Vol. IV, p.194, James Iredell, July 30, 1788.
44. Torcaso v. Watkins, 367 U.S. 488 (1961).
45. Leonard F. Manning, The Law of Church-State Relations in a Nutshell (St. Paul: West Publishing Co., 1981), p. 3.
46. The Constitutions of the Sixteen States (Boston: Manning and Loring, 1797), p. 282, Tennessee, 1796.
47. Constitutions (1797), pp. 274, 277, Tennessee, 1796, Article VII
I, Section II, Article XI, Section IV.
48. Elliot’s Debates, Vol. IV, p. 196, James Iredell, July 30, 1788.
49. Reports of the Proceedings and Debates of the Convention of 1821, Assembled for the Purpose of Amending The Constitution of the State of New York (Albany: E. and E. Hosford, 1821), p. 575, Rufus King, October 30, 1821.
50. George Washington, Address of George Washington, President of the United States … Preparatory to His Declination (Baltimore: Christopher Jackson, 1796), p. 23.
51. John Adams, Works (1851), Vol. IX, p. 229, “To the Officers of the First Brigade of the Third Division of the Militia of Massachusetts,” October 11, 1798.
52. Israel Ward Andrews, Manual of the Constitution of the United States (New York: Wilson, Hinkle & Co., 1874), p. 259.
53. The Constitutions of the United States of America With the Latest Amendments (Trenton: Moore and Lake, 1813), p. 293, Kentucky, 1799, Article VI, Section 7.
54. The Constitutions of All the United States (Lexington, KY: Thomas T. Skillman, 1817), p. 418, Indiana, 1816, Article XI, Section 4; see also Church of the Holy Trinity v. U. S., 143 U.S. 457, 468 (1892).
55. James Kent, Memoirs and Letters of James Kent, William Kent, editor (Boston: Little, Brown, and Co., 1898), p. 164.
56. Notes to pages 43-48 People v. Ruggles, 8 Johns. 290, 293 (1811).
57. Commonwealth v. Wolf, 3 Serg. & Rawle 48, 50 (Pa. 1817).
58. William Sullivan, The Political Class Book (Boston: Richardson, Lord, and Holbrook, 1831), p. 139, §392.
59. Reports of Committees of the House, p. 8.
60. Daniel Webster, Mr. Webster’s Speech in Defence of the Christian Ministry and in Favor of the Religious Instruction of the Young, Delivered in the Supreme Court of the United States, February 10, 1844, in the Case of Stephen Girard’s Will (Washington, DC: Gales and Seaton, 1844), pp. 43, 51.
61. Daniel Webster, Speech in Defence, p. 43.
62. Joseph Story, Life and Letters of Joseph Story, William W. Story, editor (Boston: Charles C. Little and James Brown, 1851), Vol. II, pp. 8-9.
63. Alexis de Tocqueville, The Republic of the United States of America and Its Political Institutions, Reviewed and Examined, Henry Reeves, translator (New York: A. S. Barnes & Co., 1851),Vol. I, p. 334, n., which references the New York Spectator from August 23, 1831.
64. Zephaniah Swift, A System of Laws of the State of Connecticut (Windham: John Byrne, 1796), Vol. II, p. 238.
65. James Coffield Mitchell, The Tennessee Justice’s Manual and Civil Officer’s Guide (Nashville: Mitchell and C. C. Norvell, 1834), pp. 457-458.
66. Mitchell, Justice’s Manual, pp. 457-458.
67. John Witherspoon, The Works of John Witherspoon (Edinburgh: J. Ogle, 1815), Vol. VII, pp. 139-140, 142, “Lectures on Moral Philosopy,” Lecture 16 on Oaths and Vows.
68. Dictionary of American Biography, s.v. “George Read.”
69. Dictionary of American Biography, s.v. “Richard Bassett.”
70. Constitutions (1785), pp. 99-100, Delaware, 1776, Article 22.
71. Dictionary of American Biography, s.v. “Nathaniel Gorham.”
72. Constitution … of Massachusetts-Bay, p. 44, Chapter VI, Article I.
73. United States Code Annotated (St. Paul: West Publishing Co., 1987), “The Organic Laws of the United States of America,” p. 1. This work lists America’s four fundamental laws as the Articles of Confederation, the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Northwest Ordinance.
74. Debates and Proceedings (1834), Vol. I, p. 685, July 21, 1789.
75. Debates and Proceedings (1834), Vol. I, p. 57, August 4, 1789.
76. Acts Passed at a Congress of the United States of America Begun and Held at the City of New-York, on Wednesday the Fourth of March, in the Year 1789 (Hartford: Hudson & Goodwin, 1791), p. 104, August 7, 1789.
77. Constitutions (1813), p. 364, “An Ordinance of the Territory of the United States Northwest of the River Ohio,” Article III.
78. Debates and Proceedings in the Congress of the United States (Washington, DC: Gales and Seaton, 1851), p. 1350, 7th Congress, 1st Session; see also The Public Statutes at Large of the United States of America (Boston: Little, Brown & Co., 1854), Vol. II, p. 174, April 30, 1802.
79. Constitutions (1813), p. 334, Ohio, 1802, Article 8, Section 3.
80. Acts Passed at a Congress … in the Year 1789, pp. 178-179, May 26, 1790.
81. Debates and Proceedings (1854), 14th Congress, 2nd Session, p. 1283, March 1, 1817; see also, The Public Statutes at Large of the United States of America (Boston: Little, Brown & Co., 1854), Vol. III, p. 349, March 1, 1817.
82. The Constitutions of All the United States According to the Latest Amendments (Lexington, KY: Thomas T. Skillman, 1817), p. 389, Mississippi, 1817, Article 9, Section 16.
83. Laws of Arkansas Territory, Compiled and Arranged … Under the Direction and Superintendance of John Pope, Esq., Governor of the Territory of Arkansas (Little Rock: J. Steele, 1835), p. 31, “Organic Law. Chapter I, Section 14.”
84. House of Representatives, Mis. Doc. No. 44, 35th Congress, 2nd Session, February 2, 1859, pp. 3-4, Kansas Constitution, Article 1, Section 7.
85. M. B. C. True, A Manual of the History and Civil Government of the State of Nebraska (Omaha: Gibson, Miller, & Richardson, 1885), p. 34, Nebraska, 1875, Article 1, Section 4.
86. States which currently have this provision include The Constitution of North Carolina (Raleigh: Rufus L. Edmisten, 1989), p. 42, Article 9, Section 1; Constitution of the State of Nebraska (Lincoln: Allen J. Beermann, Secretary of State, 1992), pp. 1-2, Article 1, Section 4; Page’s Ohio Revised Code Annotated (Cincinnati: Anderson Publishing Co., 1994), p. 24, Article 1, Section 7.
87. Wallace v. Jaffree, 472 U.S. 38, 113, (1984) (Rehnquist, J., dissenting).
Chapter 3 The Misleading Metaphor
1. Wallace v. Jaffree, 472 U.S. 38, 92 (1984) (Rehnquist, J., dissenting).
2. See, for example, John Eidsmoe, Christianity and the Constitution (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House, 1987), p. 353, where that of all the clergy who attended the various State ratifying conventions for the federal Constitution, the only denomination from which the majority of its representatives voted against the ratification of the Constitution was the Baptists. Eidsmoe compiled the figures from a dissertation by James Hutchinson Smylie, American Clergymen and the Constitution of the United States of America (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1954).
3. See, for example, Thomas Jefferson, Writings of Thomas Jefferson, Albert Ellery Bergh, editor (Washington, DC: The Thomas Jefferson Memorial Association, 1904), Vol. XVI, pp. 317-318, to the Baltimore Baptist Association, October 17, 1808; pp. 319-320, to the Ketocton Baptist Association, October 18, 1808; pp. 362-363, to the Baptist Church of Buck Mountain in Albemarle, April 13, 1809; pp. 320-321, to the General Meeting of Correspondence of the Six Baptist Associations Represented at Chesterfield, Virginia, November 21, 1808; &c.
4. Letter of October 7, 1801, from Danbury (CT) Baptist Association to Thomas Jefferson, from the Thomas Jefferson Papers Manuscript Division, Library of Congress, Washington, DC.
5. Letter of October 7, 1801, from Danbury Baptist Association to Thomas Jefferson.
6. Thomas Jefferson, “Kentucky Legislature: In the House of Representatives, November 10, 1798,” in The Works of Thomas Jefferson, Paul Leicester Ford, editor (New York: G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 1904) Vol. VIII, p. 458A; see also Thomas Jefferson, The Papers of Thomas Jefferson, Barbara B. Oberg, editor (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2003), Vol. 30, pp. 536-537, “Jefferson’s Draft of the Kentucky Resolutions of 1798,” p. 544, “Jefferson’s Fair Copy,” p. 551, “Resolutions Adopted by the Kentucky General Assembly.”
7. Annals of the Congress of the United States (Washington, DC: Gales and Seaton, 1852), p. 78, 8th Congress, 2nd Session, March 4, 1805; see also James D. Richardson, A Compilation of the Messages and Papers of the Presidents, 1789-1897 (Published by Authority of Congress, 1899)
, Vol. I, p. 379, March 4, 1805.
8. Jefferson, Writings, Vol. XVI, p. 325, to the Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church, December 9, 1808.
9. Thomas Jefferson, Memoir, Correspondence, and Miscellanies, From the Papers of Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Jefferson Randolph, editor (Boston: Gray and Bowen, 1830), Vol. IV, pp. 103-104, to Samuel Miller, January 23, 1808.
10. Jefferson, Writings, Vol. VIII, p. 112-113, to Noah Webster, December 4, 1790.
11. Jefferson, Memoir, Vol. III, p. 441, to Benjamin Rush, September 23, 1800.
12. Jefferson, Writings, Vol. XVI, pp. 281-282, to the Danbury Baptist Association, January 1, 1802.
13. Richard Hooker, The Works of Richard Hooker (Oxford: University Press, 1845), Vol. I, p. 207.
14. Thomas Jefferson, Notes on the State of Virginia (Philadelphia: Matthew Carey, 1794), Query XVIII, p. 237.
15. Reynolds v. United States, 98 U.S. 145, 164 (1878).
16. Reynolds at 163.
17. Commonwealth v. Nesbit, 34 Pa. 398 (1859).
18. Lindenmuller v. People, 33 Barb 548 (N.Y. 1861).
19. Jefferson, Memoir, Vol. IV, p. 104, to Samuel Miller, January 23, 1808.
Chapter 4 The Judicial Evidence
1. Church of the Holy Trinity v. United States, 143 U.S. 457, 458 (1892).
2. Holy Trinity at 465, 471.
3. Holy Trinity at 465-468.
4. Holy Trinity at 470-471.
5. Holy Trinity at 470-471.
6. Holy Trinity at 470.
7. Updegraph v. Commonwealth, 11 Serg. & Rawle 394 (Pa. 1824).
8. Numerous early American lawyers, legal scholars, and politicians cited Blackstone’s work as a key legal source. For example, Blackstone is invoked as an authority in the writings of James Kent, James Wilson, Fisher Ames, Joseph Story, John Adams, Henry Laurens, Thomas Jefferson, John Marshall, James Madison, James Otis, et al.