Original Intent: The Courts, the Constitution, and Religion

by David Barton

  6. Thomas Jefferson, The Writings of Thomas Jefferson, Albert E. Bergh, editor (Washington, DC: Thomas Jefferson Memorial Association, 1904), Vol. XVI, p. 19, to Augustus B. Woodward, March 24, 1824.

  7. E. Edwards Beardsley, Life and Times of William Samuel Johnson (Boston: Houghton, Mifflin and Co., 1886), pp. 141-142.

  8. Samuel Adams, The Writings of Samuel Adams, Harry Alonzo Cushing, editor (New York: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1908), Vol. IV, p. 401, to the Legislature of Massachusetts, January 27, 1797.

  9. Samuel Adams, Writings, Vol. IV, p. 371, to the Legislature of Massachusetts, January 16, 1795.

  10. Samuel Adams, The Life and Public Services of Samuel Adams, William V. Wells, editor (Boston: Little, Brown, and Co., 1865), Vol. III, p. 327, to the Legislature of Massachusetts, January 17, 1794.

  11. George Washington, Address of George Washington, President of the United States … Preparatory to His Declination (Baltimore: Christopher Jackson, 1796), pp. 22-23.

  12. Jared Sparks, The Life of Gouverneur Morris (Boston: Gray and Bowen, 1832), Vol. III, p. 483, “Notes on the Form of a Constitution for France.”

  13. Benjamin Rush, Essays, Literary, Moral and Philosophical (Philadelphia: Thomas and Samuel F. Bradford, 1798), p. 8, “On the Mode of Education Proper in a Republic.”

  14. Benjamin Rush, Letters of Benjamin Rush, L. H. Butterfield, editor (Princeton: American Philosophical Society, 1951), Vol. I, p. 294, to John Armstrong, March 19, 1783; see also James Henry Morgan, Dickinson College: The History of One Hundred and Fifty Years 1783-1933 (Carlisle, PA: Dickinson College, 1933), p. 11.

  15. Noah Webster, A Collection of Papers on Political, Literary, and Moral Subjects (New York: Webster and Clark, 1843), p. 291, “Reply to a Letter of David McClure on the Subject of the Proper Course of Study in the Girard College, Philadelphia,” October 25, 1836.

  16. Daniel Webster, The Works of Daniel Webster (Boston: Little, Brown & Co., 1853), Vol. II, pp. 107-108, remarks to the ladies of Richmond, October 5, 1840.

  17. Vidal v. Girard’s Executors, 43 U.S. 127, 200 (1844).

  18. The Speeches of the Different Governors to the Legislature of the State of New York, Commencing with Those of George Clinton and Continued Down to the Present Time (Albany: J. B. Van Steenbergh, 1825), p. 108, Daniel Tompkins, January 30, 1810.

  19. McCollum v. Board of Education, 333 U.S. 203, 234-235 (1948) ( Jackson, J., concurring).

  20. McCollum at 237.

  21. Zorach v. Clauson, 343 U.S. 306 (1952).

  22. Engel v. Vitale, 370 U.S. 421, 422 (1962).

  23. Engel at 423.

  24. State Board of Education v. Board of Education of Netcong, 262 A. 2d 21, 30 (N.J. 1970).

  25. Engel at 430, 425 (1962).

  26. Notice, for example, that the courts invoked Engel when striking down adult-led graduation invocations and benedictions in Lee v. Weisman, 505 U.S. 577 (1992); when striking down student-led invocations and benedictions in Harris v. Joint School District, 41 F.3d 447, (9th Cir. 1994); when striking down voluntary silent prayer in Wallace v. Jaffree 472 U.S. 38 (1985); when striking down student team-prayer before athletic events in Doe v. Duncanville Independent School District, 994 F.2d 160, (5th Cir. 1993); when striking down equal-access invocations before football games in Jager v. Douglas, 862 F.2d 824 (11th Cir. 1989); and in virtually every other prayer case of any description.

  27. Engel at 431.

  28. George Washington, The Writings of George Washington, Jared Sparks, editor (Boston: Ferdinand Andrews, 1838), Vol. XII, pp. 166-167, to the Synod of the Dutch Reformed Church in North America, October 1789.

  29. John Adams, The Works of John Adams, Second President of the United States, Charles Francis Adams, editor (Boston: Little, Brown, and Co., 1854), Vol. IX, p. 636, to Benjamin Rush, August 28, 1811.

  30. Independent Chronicle (Boston), February 22, 1787, Fisher Ames writing as Camillus; see also Fisher Ames, The Works of Fisher Ames, Seth Ames, editor (Indianapolis: Liberty Classics, 1983), Vol. I, p. 67.

  31. A Constitution or Frame of Government Agreed Upon By the Delegates of the People of the State of Massachusetts (Boston: Benjamin Edes & Sons, 1780), p. 7, “Declaration of Rights,” Article III.

  32. United States Oracle (Portsmouth, NH), May 24, 1800; see also The Documentary History of the Supreme Court of the United States, 1789-1800, Maeva Marcus, editor (New York: Columbia University Press, 1988), Vol. III, p. 436.

  33. Jefferson, Writings (1904), Vol. XVI, p. 291, to John Thomas, November 18, 1801.

  34. Noah Webster, History of the United States (New Haven: Durrie & Peck, 1832), p. 339, ¶53.

  35. William W. Campbell, The Life and Writings of DeWitt Clinton (New York: Baker and Scribner, 1849), p. 307, address before the American Bible Society, May 8, 1823.

  36. Benjamin Rush, Letters of Benjamin Rush, L. H. Butterfield, editor (Princeton, NJ: American Philosophical Society, 1951), Vol. I, p. 475, to Elias Boudinot, July 9, 1788.

  37. John Witherspoon, The Works of the Rev. John Witherspoon (Philadelphia: William W. Woodard, 1802), Vol. III, p. 46, “The Dominion of Providence Over the Passions of Men,” May 17, 1776.

  38. Engel v. Vitale, 370 U.S. 421, 436 (1962).

  39. Engel at 449-450 (Stewart, J., dissenting).

  40. Abington v. Schempp, 374 U.S. 203, 220-221 (1963).

  41. Abington at 220-221.

  42. Lawrence A. Cremin, 1963 Yearbook, World Book Encylopedia, p. 38.

  43. Richard L. Worsnop, “Supreme Court: Legal Storm Center,” Editorial Research Reports, September 28, 1966, pp. 707-708.

  44. See generally, Hearings Before the Subcommittee on Constitutional Amendments of the Committee on the Judiciary, United States Senate, Eighty-Ninth Congress, Second Session on Senate Joint Resolution 148. Relating to Prayer in Public Schools (Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1966), August 1-8, 1966.

  45. Engel v. Vitale, 370 U.S. 421, 431, n. 13 (1962).

  46. Hearings, pp. 687-714, charts demonstrating results of survey regarding religious practices in schools.

  47. Abington at 203, 213.

  48. Engel at 445 (Stewart, J., dissenting).

  49. Abington at 211, n. 4, 207.

  50. Abington at 207.

  51. Schempp v. School District of Abington, 177 Fed. Supp. 398, 400 (1959).

  52. Schempp at 401.

  53. Abington at 312-313, (Stewart, J., dissenting).

  54. Rush, Letters, Vol. 1, p. 521, to Jeremy Belknap, July 13, 1789.

  55. Benjamin Rush, Essays, pp. 94, 100, “A Defence of the Use of the Bible as a School Book.”

  56. Fisher Ames, Works of Fisher Ames (Boston: T. B. Wait & Co., 1809), pp. 134-135.

  57. John Adams, Works, Vol. II, pp. 6-7, diary entry for February 22, 1756.

  58. John Adams, Works, Vol. X, p. 85, to Thomas Jefferson, December 25, 1813.

  59. Joseph Story, A Familiar Exposition of the Constitution of the United States (New York: Harper and Brothers, 1854), p. 259, §446.

  60. John Quincy Adams, Letters of John Quincy Adams to His Son on the Bible and Its Teachings (Auburn: James M. Alden, 1850), p. 34.

  61. Collections of the New York Historical Society for the Year 1821 (New York: E. Bliss and E. White, 1821), Vol. III, p. 30, “An Inaugural Discourse Delivered Before the New York Historical Society by the Honorable Gouverneur Morris,” September 4, 1816.

  62. William Wirt, Sketches of the Life and Character of Patrick Henry (Philadelphia: James Webster, 1818), p. 402; see also George Morgan, Patrick Henry (Philadelphia & London: J. B. Lippincott Co., 1929), p. 403.

  63. Daniel Webster, Address Delivered at Bunker Hill, June 17, 1843, on the Completion of the Monument (Boston: T. R. Marvin, 1843), p. 31; see also W. P. Strickland, History of the American Bible Society from its Organization to the Present Time (New York: Harper and Brothers, 1849), p. 18.

  64. John Jay, John Jay: The Winning of the Peace. Unpublished Papers 1780-1784, Richard B. Morris, editor (New York: Harper
& Row Publishers, 1980), Vol. II, p. 709, to Peter Augustus Jay, April 8, 1784.

  65. Noah Webster, The Holy Bible … With Amendments of the Language (New Haven: Durrie & Peck, 1833), p. v.

  66. Bernard C. Steiner, One Hundred and Ten Years of Bible Society Work in Maryland (Baltimore: Maryland Bible Society, 1921), p. 14.

  67. Abington v. Schempp, 374 U.S. 203, 217 (1963), quoting Everson v. Board of Education, 330 U.S. 1, 31-32 (1947).

  68. Washington, Address … Preparatory to His Declination, pp. 22-23.

  69. Moses Coit Tyler, Patrick Henry (New York: Houghton Mifflin Co., 1897), p. 365, to Archibald Blair, January 8, 1799.

  70. Joseph Story, Life and Letters of Joseph Story, William W. Story, editor (Boston: Charles C. Little and James Brown, 1851), Vol. II, p. 8.

  71. Story, Life and Letters, Vol. I, p. 92.

  72. James Madison, The Papers of James Madison, Henry D. Gilpin, editor (Washington, DC: Langtree & O’Sullivan, 1840), Vol. II, p. 985, June 28, 1787.

  73. John Quincy Adams, An Oration Delivered Before the Inhabitants of the Town of Newburyport at Their Request on the Sixty-First Anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, July 4, 1837 (Newburyport: Charles Whipple, 1837), pp. 5-6.

  74. 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: Printed by Gales and Seaton, 1844), p. 41.

  75. John Witherspoon, The Works of John Witherspoon (Edinburgh: J. Ogle, 1815), Vol. V, p. 272, “The Absolute Necessity of Salvation Through Christ,” January 2, 1758.

  76. James Madison, A Memorial and Remonstrance Presented to the General Assembly of the State of Virginia at their Session in 1785 in Consequence of a Bill Brought into that Assembly for the Establishment of Religion (Massachusetts: Isaiah Thomas, 1786), p. 4.

  77. John Adams, Works, Vol. II, p. 31, diary entry for August 22, 1756.

  78. Rush, Letters, Vol. II, pp. 820-821, to Thomas Jefferson, August 22, 1800.

  79. Noah Webster, History, p. 300, ¶578.

  80. Speeches of the … Governors … of New York, p. 47, John Jay, January 6, 1796.

  81. Speeches of the … Governors … of New York, p. 136, Daniel Tompkins, November 5, 1816.

  82. Walz v. Tax Commission, 397 U.S. 664, 672 (1970).

  83. Walz at 680 (Brennan, J., concurring).

  84. Walz at 716, (Douglas, J., dissenting).

  85. Rush, Letters, Vol. I, p. 474, to Elias Boudinot, July 9, 1788.

  86. Washington, Writings (1838), Vol. XII, p. 186, to the Hebrew Congregation of the City of Savannah, May 1790.

  87. John Adams, Works, Vol. IX, pp. 609-610, to F. A. Vanderkemp, February 16, 1809.

  88. The Holy Bible (Trenton: Isaac Collins, 1791), introduction by John Witherspoon.

  89. From the will of Elias Boudinot available from the New Jersey State Archives. Or see, for example, excerpts in George Adams Boyd, Elias Boudinot: Patriot and Statesman (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1952), p. 261.

  90. Rush, Essays, p. 8, “On the Mode of Education Proper in a Republic.”

  91. Joseph Story, Commentaries on the Constitution of the United States (Boston: Hilliard, Gray, and Co., 1833), Vol. III, p. 728, §1871.

  92. Washington, Writings (1932), Vol. XV, p. 55, speech to the Delaware Indian Chiefs, May 12, 1779.

  93. Samuel Adams and John Adams, Four Letters: Being an Interesting Correspondence Between Those Eminently Distinguished Characters, John Adams, Late President of the United States; and Samuel Adams, Late Governor of Massachusetts. On the Important Subject of Government (Boston: Adams and Rhoades, 1802), pp. 9-10.

  94. Bernard C. Steiner, The Life and Correspondence of James McHenry (Cleveland: The Burrows Brothers, 1907), p. 475, from Charles Carroll, November 4, 1800.

  95. Jared Sparks, Lives of William Pinkney, William Ellery, and Cotton Mather (New York: Harper and Brothers, 1860), from The Library of American Biography, Vol. VI, pp. 138-139.

  96. Benjamin Franklin, Proposals Relating to the Education of Youth in Pennsylvania (Philadelphia: 1749), p. 22.

  97. John Jay, The Correspondence and Public Papers of John Jay, Henry P. Johnston, editor (New York: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1893), Vol. IV, p. 52, to Lindley Murray, August 22, 1794.

  98. Witherspoon, Works (1815), Vol. VIII, pp. 33, 38, “On the Truth of the Christian Religion,” Lecture IV.

  99. K. Alan Snyder, Defining Noah Webster: Mind and Morals in the Early Republic (New York: University Press of America, 1990), p. 253, to James Madison, October 16, 1829.

  100. John Quincy Adams, Address Delivered at the Request of the Committee of Arrangements for Celebrating the Anniversary of Independence at the City of Washington on the Fourth of July 1821, Upon the Occasion of Reading the Declaration of Independence (Cambridge, MA: Hilliard and Metcalf, 1821), p. 28.

  101. John Quincy Adams, An Oration … July 4, 1837, p. 18.

  102. Elias Boudinot, The Life, Public Services, Addresses, and Letters of Elias Boudinot, J. J. Boudinot, editor (Boston: Houghton, Mifflin and Co., 1896), Vol. I, p. 19, speech in the First Provincial Congress of New Jersey.

  103. Campbell, DeWitt Clinton, p. 307, address before the American Bible Society, May 8, 1823.

  104. B. F. Morris, The Christian Life and Character of the Civil Institutions of the United States (Philadelphia: George W. Childs, 1864), p. 323.

  105. Walz v. Tax Commission, 397 U.S. 664, 681 (1970) (Brennan, J., concurring).

  106. Walz at 702-703 (Douglas, J., dissenting).

  107. Stone v. Graham, 449 U.S. 39 (1980).

  108. Stone at 41.

  109. Lynch v. Donnelly, 465 U.S. 668, 677 (1984).

  110. County of Allegheny v. ACLU, 492 U.S. 573, 652 (1989) (Stevens, J., concurring).

  111. Stone at 43, 45 (Rehnquist, J., dissenting).

  112. Stone at 42.

  113. Stone at 42.

  114. John Adams, A Defence of the Constitution of Government of the United States of America (Philadelphia: William Young, 1797), Vol. III, p. 217, “The Right Constitution of a Commonwealth Examined,” Letter VI.

  115. John Quincy Adams, Letters … to His Son, p. 61.

  116. John Quincy Adams, Letters … to His Son, pp. 70-71.

  117. William Findley, Observations on “The Two Sons of Oil” (Pittsburgh: Patterson &Hopkins, 1812), pp. 22-23.

  118. Noah Webster, Collection of Papers, pp. 291-292, “Reply to a Letter of David McClure on the Subject of the Proper Course of Study in the Girard College, Philadelphia,” October 25, 1836.

  119. Campbell, DeWitt Clinton, pp. 307, 305.

  120. Witherspoon, Works (1815), Vol. IV, p. 95, “Seasonable Advice to Young Persons,” February 21, 1762.

  121. Steiner, Bible Society Work in Maryland, p. 14.

  122. Robert Winthrop, Addresses and Speeches on Various Occasions (Boston: Little, Brown &Co., 1852), p. 172, address to the Massachusetts Bible Society, May 28, 1849.

  123. John Quincy Adams, Letters … to His Son, p. 62.

  124. Daniel Webster, Works, Vol. I, p. 42, discourse delivered December 22, 1820.

  125. David Ramsay, An Oration Delivered in St. Michael’s Church Before the Inhabitants of Charleston, South Carolina, on the Fourth of July 1794 (Charleston: W. P. Young, 1794), p. 19.

  126. Washington, Address … Preparatory to His Declination, p. 23.

  127. Charles C. Jones, Biographical Sketches of the Delegates from Georgia to the Continental Congress (Boston and New York: Houghton, Mifflin and Co., 1891), pp. 6-7.

  128. Samuel Adams, Writings, Vol. IV, p. 225, to Thomas Wells, November 22, 1780.

  129. Noah Webster, History, p. 339, ¶53.

  130. Stone v. Graham, 449 U.S. 39, 45-46 (1980) (Rehnquist, J., dissenting).

  131. Wallace v. Jaffree, 472 U.S. 38, 48, n. 30 (1984).

  132. Wallace at 43, 44, n. 22.


  133. Wallace at 41-42.

  134. Wallace at 86-87, (Burger, C. J., dissenting).

  135. Constitutions (1813), p. 364, “An Ordinance of the Territory of the United States Northwest of the River Ohio,” Article III.

  136. Independent Chronicle (Boston), November 2, 1780, last page; see also Abram English Brown, John Hancock, His Book (Boston: Lee and Shepard Publishers, 1898), p. 269.

  137. Jones, Biographical Sketches, pp. 6-7.

  138. Story, Familiar Exposition, p. 260, §442.

  139. Witherspoon, Works (1815), Vol. VII, pp. 118-119, “Jurisprudence,” Lecture XIV.

  140. Witherspoon, Works (1815), Vol. IV, p. 265, “Sermon Delivered at Public Thanksgiving After Peace.”

  141. Henry Laurens, The Papers of Henry Laurens, George C. Rogers, Jr., and David R. Chesnutt, editors (Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 1980), Vol. XI, p. 200, to Oliver Hart and Elharan Winchester, March 30, 1776.

  142. The Connecticut Courant (Hartford), June 7, 1802, p. 3, from “A report of the Committee … to the General Assembly of the State of Connecticut” by Oliver Ellsworth.

  143. Speeches of the … Governors … of New York, p. 66, John Jay, November 4, 1800.

  144. Wallace v. Jaffree, 472 U.S. 38, 85, 89 (1984) (Burger, C. J., dissenting).

  145. Wallace at 106-107, 112 (Rehnquist, J., dissenting).

  146. Wallace at 113-114 (Rehnquist, J., dissenting).

  147. Lynch v. Donnelly, 465 U.S. 668, 669-670 (1984).

  148. County of Allegheny v. ACLU, 106 L. Ed. 2d 472, 475 (1989).

  149. County of Allegheny v. ACLU, 492 U.S. 573, 667 (1989) (Kennedy, J., concurring in part and dissenting in part).

  150. Allegheny at 664 (Kennedy, J., concurring in part and dissenting in part).

  151. Allegheny at 674-676, 678 (Kennedy, J., concurring in part and dissenting in part).

  152. Allegheny at 574.

  153. James Otis, The Rights of the British Colonies Asserted and Proved (London: J. Williams and J. Almon, 1766), pp. 11, 98.