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Thomas Jefferson, Religious Freedom, and the Supreme Court

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 July 2009

Edwin S. Gaustad
Edwin S. Gaustad
Affiliation:
Edwin S. Gaustad is professor emeritus of history at the University of California, Riverside.
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Extract

Most American scholars are reasonably well aware of the contributions of Thomas Jefferson (and his younger colleague, James Madison) to the establishment of the legal framework for religious freedom in the United States. Perhaps many are less aware of Jefferson's “second life” in the Supreme Court's several encounters with Jefferson and with the religion clauses of the First Amendment. This article will, first, review briefly Jefferson's lifelong commitment to religious liberty, which he regarded as the foundation of all liberties. Second, attention will be given to Supreme Court decisions in this troubled arena, with some comment on Jefferson's continued relevance—to use a tame and tired word—within the contemporary American scene.

Type
Articles
Information
Church History , Volume 67 , Issue 4 , December 1998 , pp. 682 - 694
Copyright
Copyright © American Society of Church History 1998

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References

An earlier version of this paper was presented to the Americian Historical Association, Seattle, Washington, 10 January 1998.

1. The bibliographical resources here are so rich that only a few examples must suffice. The fascinating letters exchanged between Madison and Jefferson can be found in Smith, James Morton, ed., The Correspondence between Jefferson and Madison, 3 vols. (New York: Norton, 1995).Google ScholarFor more focused treatments, see Alley, Robert S., James Madison on Religious Liberty (Buffalo: Prometheus, 1985);Google ScholarGaustad, Edwin S., Sworn on the Altar of God: A Religious Biography of Thomas Jefferson (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Eerdmans, 1996);Google Scholarand Miller, William Lee, The First Liberty: Religion and the American Republic (New York: Knopf, 1986).Google ScholarFor wide-ranging bibliographical assistance, see Wilson, John F., ed., Church and State in America, 2 vols. (Westport: Greenwood, 1986, 1987).Google Scholar

2. This can be conveniently found in Peterson, Merrill, Jefferson: Writings (New York: Library of America, 1984), 105–122; quotation from 122.Google Scholar

3. Maier, Pauline, American Scripture: Making the Declaration of Independence (New York: Knopf, 1997).Google Scholar

4. Peterson, Merrill D. and Vaughan, Robert C., eds., The Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom: Its Evolution and Consequences in American History (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1988). The modifications, some of which represented a stylistic improvement, aimed chiefly at toning down Jefferson's extravagant embrace of rationalism.Google Scholar

5. See Buckley, Thomas E., S. J., Church and State in Revolutionary Virginia, 1776–1787 (Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1977).Google Scholar

6. The text of Madison's “Memorial” has been repeatedly reprinted, including often by the Supreme Court itself. For text and context, see Alley, Madison on Religious Liberty.

7. For text and context, see Peterson and Vaughan, Virginia Statute.

8. Smith, , Correspondence, 1: 458–59.Google Scholar

9. Smith, , Correspondence, 1: 512–13. The sixteen words relating to religion in the First Amendment are these: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.” The Court regularly distinguishes between (and capitalizes) the Establishment Clause and the Free Exercise Clause.Google Scholar

10. Most of Jefferson's correspondence pertaining to his own religious views may be found in the extraordinarily valuable volume edited by Adams, Dickinson W., with introduction by Sheridan, Eugene R., Jefferson's Extracts from the Gospels (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1983). The first volume in the second series of the Papers of Thomas Jefferson, this book also contains the best exposition of the “Jefferson Bible.” Quotations are from 324 and 345 (hereafter, Extracts).Google Scholar

11. Peterson, , Jefferson: Writings, 510Google Scholar (the letter is dated 1 January 1802). In the final version of his letter, he omitted, on the advice of his attorney general, his explanation for proclaiming no fasts or feasts.

12. Adams, , Extracts, 375, 401, 402.Google Scholar

13. Cappon, Lester J., The Adams-Jefferson Letters (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1959), 2: 474.Google Scholar

14. Cappon, , Adams-Jefferson Letters, 2: 512.Google Scholar

15. Adams, , Extracts, 393.Google Scholar

16. See his final letter, written to the mayor of Washington, D.C., 26 June 1826, and the commentary of Douglass Adair thereon in Colbourn, Trevor, ed., Fame and the Founding Fathers (New York: Norton, 1974).Google Scholar

17. Decisions of the Supreme Court are found in any governmental depository library under the title of U.S. Supreme Court Reports. For the briefs of selected major cases, see Landmark Briefs and Arguments of the Supreme Court of the United States, an ongoing series issued by University Publications of America, Bethesda, Maryland. For convenient reference, see Miller, Robert T. and Flowers, Ronald B., Toward Benevolent Neutrality: Church, State, and the Supreme Court, 5th ed. (Waco, Tex.: Baylor University Press, 1996). Reynolds v. United States, 98 U.S. 145 (1879); quotations, 164, 165.Google Scholar

18. West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette, 319 U.S. 624 (1943); quotation, 646.

19. Sherbert v. Verner, 374 U.S. 398 (1963).

20. Sherbert v. Verner, 410; the case alluded to here, Everson v. Board of Education, is discussed below.

21. Sherbert v. Verner, 404.

22. Employment Division of Oregon v. Smith, 494 U.S. 872 (1990); quotations, 888, 890

23. Employment Division of Oregon v. Smith, 891, 901, 902.

24. Employment Division of Oregon v. Smith, 908–909.

25. For valuable analysis, see Laycock, Douglas and Thomas, Oliver S., “Interpreting the Religious Freedom Restoration Act,” Texas Law Review 73 (1994).Google ScholarAlso see the symposium on “The First Amendment after Boerne,” Nexus: A Journal of Opinion 2 (1997);Google Scholarand Eisgruber, Christopher L. and Sager, Lawrence G., “Congressional Power and Religious Liberty after City of Boerne v. Flores,” in Supreme Court Review 1997.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

26. See especially his valuable compendium, The Believer and the Powers that Are: Cases, History, and Other Data Bearing on the Relation of Religion and Government (New York: Macmillan, 1987).Google Scholar

27. City of Boerne v. P. F. Flores, 117 Sup. Ct. 2157 (1997); quotation, 12.

28. Boerne v. Flores, 15, 16.

29. Everson v. Board of Education, 330 U.S. 1 (1947); quotation, 18.

30. Everson v. Board of Education, 19, 34.

31. McCollum v. Board of Education, 333 U.S. 203 (1948); quotation, 231.

32. McCollum v. Board of Education, 247.

33. Abingdon v. Schempp, 374 U.S. 203 (1963); quotation, 309.

34. Board of Education v. Allen, 392 U.S. 236 (1968); quotations, 251, 254

35. Wallace v. Jaffree, 472 U.S. 38 (1985); quotation, 53.

36. Wallace v. Jaffree; quotations, 92, 99, 107,113.

37. New York Times, 25 March 1997.

38. Adams, , Extracts, 320.Google Scholar

39. Adams, , Extracts, 320.Google Scholar

40. Goldman v. Weinberger, 475 U.S. 503 (1986); quotation, 523.