Madison, Jefferson, and the Separation of Church & State

Source:  Isebrand.com

I’m going to list page references in the book that you can use to help you in answering this question.  They go all the way back to chapter four:

pp 110-112 The congress under the Articles of Confederation include a couple of components that deal with this issue.  The first is at the top of the page and talks about moral education.  The second is a quote from the first article of the Northwest Ordinance.  It is important to note that this part of the Ordinance was modeled after the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom which was authored and introduced into the Virginia assembly by Thomas Jefferson.

Also in this passage you can see an excerpt of Madison’s Memorial and Remonstrance which was a response to a religious bill introduced by Patrick Henry.

p 121 On this page there is a quote from Article VI of the Constitution of the United States (this is not the Bill of Rights, but the actual Constitution itself). 

pp 129-130 This passage talks about Madison’s election to the VA ratification congress.  The Baptist pastor, Leland, mentioned here is the same pastor of the ‘mammoth cheese’ when Jefferson is elected president!  In this passage Bennett really tries to explain Madison’s belief about religious liberty. 

p 142 The first amendment of the Constitution (the Bill of Rights) written by Madison includes a reference to freedom of religion.

Now we are up to Chapter 6.

p 179 Here is John Leland again of the mammoth cheese. You need to consider what happened after he arrived to see Jefferson and pay attention to the foot notes in your text.  (You should always read your foot notes!!)

pp 179-180 The Danbury Baptists ask President Jefferson to declare a national day of fasting and prayer.  Consider Jefferson’s response and pay attention to the last sentence of the second paragraph.

Pp 180-181 What was Jefferson’s response to the Federalist’s attacks on Jefferson’s beliefs?  This is the quote from the letter to Dr. Bejamin Rush.

After you have considered all of this evidence and summarized it, ask yourself what kind of case Bennett is making and laying out regarding Jefferson’s intentions when he speaks and acts in favor of a separation between Church & State.  I think Bennett is expressing a particular point of view here and I’m asking you to consider if he is making a fair case, one that you can agree with or trust.