Separation of Church and StateIn a powerful challenge to conventional wisdom, Philip Hamburger argues that the separation of church and state has no historical foundation in the First Amendment. The detailed evidence assembled here shows that eighteenth-century Americans almost never invoked this principle. Although Thomas Jefferson and others retrospectively claimed that the First Amendment separated church and state, separation became part of American constitutional law only much later. Hamburger shows that separation became a constitutional freedom largely through fear and prejudice. Jefferson supported separation out of hostility to the Federalist clergy of New England. Nativist Protestants (ranging from nineteenth-century Know Nothings to twentieth-century members of the K.K.K.) adopted the principle of separation to restrict the role of Catholics in public life. Gradually, these Protestants were joined by theologically liberal, anti-Christian secularists, who hoped that separation would limit Christianity and all other distinct religions. Eventually, a wide range of men and women called for separation. Almost all of these Americans feared ecclesiastical authority, particularly that of the Catholic Church, and, in response to their fears, they increasingly perceived religious liberty to require a separation of church from state. American religious liberty was thus redefined and even transformed. In the process, the First Amendment was often used as an instrument of intolerance and discrimination. |
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Contents
| 1 | |
I LATE EIGHTEENTHCENTURY RELIGIOUS LIBERTY | 19 |
II EARLY NINETEENTHCENTURY REPUBLICANISM | 109 |
III MIDNINETEENTHCENTURY AMERICANISM | 191 |
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Common terms and phrases
Abbot adopted advocates American American Secular Union anti-Catholic argued authority Baptist Association believe Bible Bill of Rights Bishop Boston Catholic Church Catholicism Centennial Congress century Christian civil government clergy clergymen clerical Committee Congregational Congress of Liberals Connecticut connection conscience Court creeds Danbury Baptist Dawson declared demand denominations dissenters distinct ecclesiastical England establishment Everson example fears federal Federalist Francis Ellingwood Abbot Freethought gious History Hugo Black Ibid individual institutions Jews John Leland Justice Ku Klux Klan legislation Letter Madison Masons ment ministers moral National Liberal League nativist numbers opinion organization political preaching Presbyterian principle of separation Protestant public schools quoted reli religion and government religious liberty Republicans Roger Williams sect sectarian sepa separation between church separation of church society sought Southern Baptist Southern Baptist Convention spiritual Supreme t]he theological Thomas Jefferson tion U.S. Bill U.S. Constitution union of church United Virginia wall of separation wrote York
Bibliographic information
| Title | Separation of Church and State |
| Author | Philip HAMBURGER |
| Edition | revised |
| Publisher | Harvard University Press, 2009 |
| ISBN | 0674038185, 9780674038189 |
| Length | 528 pages |
| Subjects | › › History / United States / General Law / Constitutional Religion / Religion, Politics & State |
| Export Citation | BiBTeX EndNote RefMan |