Thomas Jefferson and the Wall of Separation Between Church and State

by Dreisbach, Daniel L.

• ISBN13: 9780814719367
• ISBN10: 0814719368
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2003-10-01
• Publisher: New York University Press

Summary

No phrase in American letters has had a more profound influence on church-state law, policy, and discourse than Thomas Jefferson's "wall of separation between church and state," and few metaphors have provoked more passionate debate. Introduced in an 1802 letter to the Danbury, Connecticut Baptist Association, Jefferson's "wall" is accepted by many Americans as a concise description of the U.S. Constitution's church-state arrangement and conceived as a virtual rule of constitutional law.Despite the enormous influence of the "wall" metaphor, almost no scholarship has investigated the text of the Danbury letter, the context in which it was written, or Jefferson's understanding of his famous phrase.Thomas Jefferson and the Wall of Separation Between Church and Stateoffers an in-depth examination of the origins, controversial uses, and competing interpretations of this powerful metaphor in law and public policy.

Table of Contents

1 Introduction: The Creation of an American Metaphor	1	(8)
2 The President, a Mammoth Cheese, and the "Wall of Separation": Jeffersonian Politics and the New England Baptists	9	(16)
3 "Sowing Useful Truths and Principles": Thomas Jefferson and the Danbury Baptist Association	25	(30)
4 "What the Wall Separates": A Jurisdictional Interpretation of the "Wall of Separation"	55	(16)
5 Early References to a "Wall of Separation": Prefiguring the Jeffersonian Metaphor	71	(12)
6 Creating "Effectual Barriers": Alternative Metaphors in Defense of Religious Liberty	83	(12)
7 "Useful Truths and Principles ... Germinate and Become Rooted" in the American Mind: Jefferson's Metaphor Enters Political and Juridical Discourse	95	(12)
8 Conclusion: The Re-Creation of Church-State Law, Policy, and Discourse	107	(22)
Appendices: Documents from the Papers of Thomas Jefferson	129	(26)
1 Proclamation Appointing a Day of Fasting, Humiliation, and Prayer, May 1774	131	(1)
2 Address to the Inhabitants of the Parish of St. Anne, 1774	132	(1)
3 Bills Reported by the Committee of Revisors Appointed by the General Assembly of Virginia in 1776, 18 June 1779	133	(4)
4 Proclamation Appointing a Day of Publick and Solemn Thanksgiving and Prayer, November 1779	137	(3)
5 Draft of "The Kentucky Resolutions of 1798," November 1798 (excerpt)	140	(2)
6 Correspondence with the Danbury Baptist Association, 1801-1802	142	(7)
7 Correspondence with the Citizens of Chesire, Massachusetts, January 1802	149	(3)
8 Second Inaugural Address, 4 March 1805 (excerpts)	152	(1)
9 Letter from Jefferson to the Reverend Samuel Miller, 23 January 1808	153	(2)
Notes	155	(90)
Selected Bibliography	245	(26)
Acknowledgments	271	(2)
Index	273	(10)
About the Author	283