Jefferson’s Wall of Separation between Church and State | Tech Reddy

There is no more controversial phrase in the history of the United States than Thomas Jefferson’s “wall of separation between church and state.” It first appeared in a letter written by Jefferson in 1802, while he was president of the United States, and began to appear in Supreme Court opinions in the 19th century.

Jefferson’s metaphorical wall of separation between church and state is routinely scorned by religious conservatives to this day. Many Christian nationalists want to abolish it. Some members of the current US Supreme Court seem determined to strike it down as well. Let’s look at where the phrase comes from and what Thomas Jefferson meant.

Religion established in early Connecticut

Our story begins in Connecticut. In the early days of the United States, many states had established religions. In Connecticut, this was the Congregational church. Congregationalism was originally Puritanism, and the Puritans were the first settlers in the territory that would become Connecticut. The charter that established the Colony of Connecticut, issued by King Charles II in 1662, stated that Connecticut would continue to be a Puritan colony. This piece of history is explained in more detail here.

Anyone living in Connecticut who was not a Puritan/Congregationalist could be fined, banished, imprisoned or confined to the stocks. In the early 1700s, the colony somewhat liberalized its laws and gave Christians of other denominations, or “dissenters,” permission to live in Connecticut without punishment. However, the “dissidents” had to register with the city clerk, and were still required to pay taxes to support the Puritan/Congregational churches. Jewish congregations were not allowed to incorporate in Connecticut until 1843.

After independence, the Congregational church remained the established church of the state of Connecticut. And this brings us to a letter written to President Thomas Jefferson by some Baptists in Danbury, Connecticut.

Danbury Baptists write to President Jefferson

You can read the entire letter on this National Archives webpage. The letter is from the Danbury Baptist Association, which consisted of twenty-six Baptist churches, mostly in western Connecticut. The letter is dated “after October 17, 1801.” The National Archives note says: “At its October 1800 meeting, the association began a petition drive to redress the grievances of the dissenting minority against the Congregationalist majority in the region.”

The Baptists wanted to rally other “dissident” denominations to demand the repeal of all Connecticut laws supporting established religion. In a meeting of 1801, it was resolved to write to the newly inaugurated – March 4, 1801 – President Jefferson, to get his approval for his cause. They knew that President Jefferson opposed the establishment of religion and that he wrote the bill that had destabilized the Anglican Church in Virginia.

Here is part of the letter, complete with the original spelling.

Our Sentiments are uniformly on the side of Religious Liberty – That Religion is at all times and places a Matter between God and Individuals – That no one shall suffer in Name, Person or Effects by reason of his Religious Opinions – That the legitimate power of The civil government extends no more than to punish the man who works ill to his neighbor: But Sir, our constitution of government is not specific. Our ancient charter, together with the Laws made in coincidence with it, were adopted as the Basis of our government, At the time of our revolution; and such had been our Laws & customs, & such are still; that religion is considered as the first object of the Legislation; & therefore what religious privileges we enjoy (as a minor part of the State) we enjoy as favors granted, and not as inalienable rights: and these favors we receive at the expense of such degrading recognitions that are inconsistent with the rights of the free men

President Jefferson’s Reply to the Danbury Baptists

Jefferson’s response, dated January 1, 1802, can also be read online at the National Archives website. Here is the paragraph that Americans are still discussing (emphasis added) –

Believing with you that religion is a matter that lies only between man and his God, that he must account to no one for his faith or his worship, that the legitimate powers of government reach only to actions, and not opinions, I regard with sovereign reverence that act of all the American people who have declared that their legislature shall “make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof,” thereby erecting a wall of separation between Church and State. Adhering to this expression of the supreme will of the nation in the name of the rights of conscience, I see with sincere satisfaction the progress of those sentiments which tend to restore to man all his natural rights, convinced that he has not a natural right as opposed to their social duties.

Whether Jefferson’s letter had much effect, I do not know, but Connecticut disestablished the Congregational church in 1818.

What does Jefferson and Madison mean

In this letter, Jefferson was clearly using the wall of separation between church and state as a metaphor to explain the establishment and free exercise clauses of the First Amendment to the Constitution – “Congress shall make no law that respects an establishment of religion, or prohibits the free exercise thereof.” “Establishment of religion” is explained in more detail in the previous post, Thomas Jefferson v.

James Madison was the author of the First Amendment, and he and Jefferson had a well-documented history of supporting each other’s work on matters of religious freedom. (See also James Madison and Religious Liberty.) If you claim to be an “originalist,” dedicated to interpreting the Constitution to mean what the men who wrote it, you have to accept that the establishment clause means what Madison and Jefferson said it meant. . But this is something that many conservatives, both religious and political, in the United States have refused to do for these many years.

Madison and Jefferson believed that neither government nor society should be allowed to coerce people to hold religious beliefs or engage in religious practices. And this protection of individual liberty, in Jefferson’s words, extends to “Jew and Gentile, Christian and Mahometan, Hindu and Infidel of every denomination.” We might have preferred that Jefferson hadn’t used the word “infidel,” but here we go.

True First Amendment Originalism

In short, from their writing it is clear that by “establishment of religion” Madison and Jefferson did not simply refer to the designation of an official state religion, but any action taken by the government that could coerce citizens into sectarian religious acts or penalize citizens for their beliefs. Originally, this ban only applied to the federal government. But then the Fourteenth Amendment, ratified in 1868, provided that “No State shall make or enforce any law abridging the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States.” Courts have determined that this, in effect, makes the First Amendment (and other amendments) applicable to state and local governments as well.

The Wall of Separation and the Supreme Court

The “wall of separation between church and state” first appeared in a Supreme Court opinion in Reynolds v. United States (1879). In that case, the Court ruled that members of the Church of Latter-day Saints were not exempt from polygamy laws because of their religious beliefs. In the majority opinion, Chief Justice Morrison Waite also cited Jefferson’s Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom and James Madison’s “Memorial and Remonstrance against Religious Assessments.” The Chief Justice argued that it was not a violation of “free exercise” to require the Saints to obey laws that everyone else obeys.

The opinion of Judge Hugo Black in Everson v. Board of Education (1947) was the first to apply the establishment clause of the First Amendment to the states. In this case, a New Jersey taxpayer objects to tax money being used to help pay for busing for parochial school students. Justice Black referred to Jefferson’s 1802 letter, saying, “The First Amendment has erected a wall between church and state. That wall must be kept high and impregnable. We cannot approve of the slightest violation.” However, “New Jersey did not infringe here.” The majority argued that transportation from schools was a benefit to students and their parents, not to a church.

This was a 5-4 decision, and only the first of many that made fine distinctions about exactly where the wall stood. See also When the Supreme Court of the United States did not ban school prayer and the problem with reading the Bible in public schools of the United States.

Conservatives don’t like them either

The argument you hear, over and over and over, etc., from religious conservatives is that the words “wall of separation between church and state” do not appear in the States Constitution united Therefore, there is no such wall.

However, again, Jefferson used the phrase as a metaphor to explain the establishment and free exercise clauses of the First Amendment, which is definitely in the Constitution. It is very common for judges to refer to the writings of the founders when discussing constitutional issues, to clarify what the founders meant. And, again, if we are to be “original,” these clauses mean what Madison and Jefferson said they meant. And Jefferson said they would erect a wall of separation between church and state.