Church and State in America: The First Two Centuries

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Cambridge University Press, 2007 M11 12
This is an account of the ideas about and public policies relating to the relationship between government and religion from the settlement of Virginia in 1607 to the presidency of Andrew Jackson, 1829–37. This book describes the impact and the relationship of various events, legislative, and judicial actions, including the English Toleration Act of 1689, the First and Second Great Awakenings, the Constitution of the United States, the Bill of Rights, and Jefferson's Letter to the Danbury Baptists. Four principles were paramount in the American approach to government's relation to religion: the importance of religion to public welfare; the resulting desirability of government support of religion (within the limitations of political culture); liberty of conscience and voluntaryism; the requirement that religion be supported by free will offerings, not taxation. Hutson analyzes and describes the development and interplay of these principles, and considers the relevance of the concept of the separation of church and state during this period.

Dentro del libro

Contenido

To the American Revolution
47
The Confederation Period
95
The Constitution and Beyond
139
Bibliography
189
Derechos de autor

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Pasajes populares

Página 30 - All persons living in this province, who confess and acknowledge the One Almighty and Eternal God to be the Creator, Upholder, and Ruler of the world...
Página 134 - I have lived, Sir, a long time, and the longer I live, the more convincing proofs I see of this truth— that God governs in the affairs of men.
Página 144 - The civil rights of none shall be abridged on account of religious belief or worship, nor shall any national religion be established, nor shall the full and equal rights of conscience be in any manner, or on any pretext, infringed.
Página 135 - I live, the more convincing proofs I see of this truth, that God governs in the affairs of men. And if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without his notice, is it probable that an empire can rise without his aid ? — We have been assured, sir, in the sacred writings, that 'except the Lord build the house, they labour in vain that build it.
Página 32 - Is this a proof of the infallibility of establishments? Our sister States of Pennsylvania and New York, however, have long subsisted without any establishment at all. The experiment was new and doubtful when they made it. It has answered beyond conception. They flourish infinitely. Religion is well supported; of various kinds, indeed, but all good enough; all sufficient to preserve peace and order...
Página 22 - That our royal will and pleasure is, that no person within the said colony, at any time hereafter, shall be any wise molested, punished, disquieted, or called in question, for any differences in opinion in matters of religion...
Página 4 - Desires for the Furtherance of so noble a Work, which may, by the Providence of Almighty God, hereafter tend to the Glory of his Divine Majesty, in propagating of Christian Religion to such People, as yet live in Darkness and miserable Ignorance of the true Knowledge and Worship of God, and may in time bring the Infidels and Savages, living in those Parts, to human Civility, and to a settled and quiet Government...
Página 25 - New York has first a Chaplain belonging to the Fort of the Church of England ; Secondly, a Dutch Calvinist, thirdly a French Calvinist, fourthly a Dutch Lutheran — Here bee not many of the Church of England ; few Roman Catholicks ; abundance of Quakers preachers men & Women especially ; Singing Quakers, Ranting Quakers, Sabbatarians ; Antisabbatarians ; Some Anabaptists some Independents ; some Jews ; in short of all sorts of opinions there are some, and the most part of none at all...
Página 108 - That religion or the duty which we owe to our Creator, and the manner of discharging it, can be directed only by reason and conviction, not by force or violence ; and, therefore, all men are equally entitled to the free exercise of religion, according to the dictates of conscience ; and that it is the mutual duty of all to practice Christian forbearance, love and charity towards each other.

Acerca del autor (2007)

James H. Hutson has been Chief of the Manuscripts Division at the Library of Congress since 1982. He has previously held positions as Coordinator of the American Revolution Bicentennial Programs at the Library of Congress, and as lecturer at the College of William and Mary and Yale University. Among his many publications, Dr Hutson has written Religion and the Founding of the American Republic (6th printing, 2002); Forgotten Features of the Founding: The Recovery of Religious Themes in Early American History (2003); and The Founders on Religion (2005).

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