1809-1817
orn into a prosperous slave-owning family in Virginia in 1751, Madison was baptized in the Anglican Church. As a young man, he studied under a Presbyterian schoolmaster before enrolling at the College of New Jersey (later Princeton University), known for its orthodox teachings and as a training ground for Presbyterian clergy. He stayed on in Princeton after graduation to study with the president of the college, John Witherspoon, who combined Presbyterian orthodoxy with a belief in the power of human reason, and was later the only clergyman to sign the Declaration of Independence.
Upon his return to Virginia, Madison witnessed the growing tensions between the established church, his Anglican Church, and the members of dissenting faiths arriving in the colony. He was outraged to discover that a number of Baptist ministers had been thrown into jail for preaching without licenses and committed himself to fighting for liberty of conscience, which he equated with religious liberty: "That diabolical, hell-conceived principle of persecution rages among some; and to their eternal infamy, the clergy can furnish their quota of imps for such business. This vexes me the worst of anything whatever. There are at this time in the adjacent country not less than five or six well-meaning men in close jail for publishing their religious sentiments, which in the main are very orthodox. I have neither patience to hear, talk, or think of anything relative to this matter; for I have squabbled and scolded, abused and ridiculed, so long about it to little purpose, that I am without common patience. So I must beg you to pity me, and pray for liberty of conscience to all."
In 1777, Thomas Jefferson drafted a Bill for Establishing Religious Freedom, which sought to guarantee freedoms of conscience and to separate the exercise of religious freedom from the power of the state. For the next 10 years, Virginia struggled to define the relationship of church and state. Madison led the fight, making his case in a brilliant argument for liberty titled Memorial and Remonstrance against Religious Assessments, which was circulated anonymously throughout the colony in 1785 as he prepared to reintroduce Jefferson's bill. In 1786, Jefferson's bill finally passed.
The so-called "Virginia experience" served as a model for the nation. When the Founding Fathers met in Philadelphia in 1787, Madison served as the architect of the Constitution. Following Virginia's model, the Constitution gave the federal government no authority over religion, creating a free marketplace.
The original draft of the Constitution did not contain any written guarantee of religious liberty; Madison thought it was unnecessary and unwise. Any attempt to list certain rights risked leaving other rights unprotected. In addition, there were so many sects and denominations competing for allegiance, it seemed improbable that any one of them could dominate the rest. But Jefferson disagreed, and he encouraged Madison to change his mind. Unwilling to let the anti-Federalists undo the Constitution and eager to get himself elected to Congress, Madison supported an amendment.
Madison divulged less about his personal faith than predecessors like John Adams and Thomas Jefferson. As president he wrote, "The letters and communications addressed to me on religious subjects have been so numerous, and of characters so various, that it has been an established rule to decline all correspondence on them." Historians have questioned whether Madison was an intellectual who was interested in the policy implications of religious liberty or a private man with a religious belief that he did not feel the need to defend or grapple with in a diary -- or perhaps something in between.
orn into a prosperous slave-owning family in Virginia in 1751, Madison was baptized in the Anglican Church. As a young man, he studied under a Presbyterian schoolmaster before enrolling at the College of New Jersey (later Princeton University), known for its orthodox teachings and as a training ground for Presbyterian clergy. He stayed on in Princeton after graduation to study with the president of the college, John Witherspoon, who combined Presbyterian orthodoxy with a belief in the power of human reason, and was later the only clergyman to sign the Declaration of Independence.
Upon his return to Virginia, Madison witnessed the growing tensions between the established church, his Anglican Church, and the members of dissenting faiths arriving in the colony. He was outraged to discover that a number of Baptist ministers had been thrown into jail for preaching without licenses and committed himself to fighting for liberty of conscience, which he equated with religious liberty: "That diabolical, hell-conceived principle of persecution rages among some; and to their eternal infamy, the clergy can furnish their quota of imps for such business. This vexes me the worst of anything whatever. There are at this time in the adjacent country not less than five or six well-meaning men in close jail for publishing their religious sentiments, which in the main are very orthodox. I have neither patience to hear, talk, or think of anything relative to this matter; for I have squabbled and scolded, abused and ridiculed, so long about it to little purpose, that I am without common patience. So I must beg you to pity me, and pray for liberty of conscience to all."
In 1777, Thomas Jefferson drafted a Bill for Establishing Religious Freedom, which sought to guarantee freedoms of conscience and to separate the exercise of religious freedom from the power of the state. For the next 10 years, Virginia struggled to define the relationship of church and state. Madison led the fight, making his case in a brilliant argument for liberty titled Memorial and Remonstrance against Religious Assessments, which was circulated anonymously throughout the colony in 1785 as he prepared to reintroduce Jefferson's bill. In 1786, Jefferson's bill finally passed.
The so-called "Virginia experience" served as a model for the nation. When the Founding Fathers met in Philadelphia in 1787, Madison served as the architect of the Constitution. Following Virginia's model, the Constitution gave the federal government no authority over religion, creating a free marketplace.
The original draft of the Constitution did not contain any written guarantee of religious liberty; Madison thought it was unnecessary and unwise. Any attempt to list certain rights risked leaving other rights unprotected. In addition, there were so many sects and denominations competing for allegiance, it seemed improbable that any one of them could dominate the rest. But Jefferson disagreed, and he encouraged Madison to change his mind. Unwilling to let the anti-Federalists undo the Constitution and eager to get himself elected to Congress, Madison supported an amendment.
Madison divulged less about his personal faith than predecessors like John Adams and Thomas Jefferson. As president he wrote, "The letters and communications addressed to me on religious subjects have been so numerous, and of characters so various, that it has been an established rule to decline all correspondence on them." Historians have questioned whether Madison was an intellectual who was interested in the policy implications of religious liberty or a private man with a religious belief that he did not feel the need to defend or grapple with in a diary -- or perhaps something in between.
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