Letter to the Danbury Baptist Association by Thomas Jefferson

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Letter to the Danbury Baptist Association by Thomas Jefferson

Daily Essay 2013, Tony Williams 2. The Constitution, 3. The Amendments, 4. The Classics that Inspired the Constitution, 13. Guest Constitutional Scholar Essayists, 17. Topics, Bill of Rights, Constitutional Amendment I, Constitutional Amendment I, Declaration of Independence, Declaration of Independence, Farewell Address by George Washington, Letter to Danbury Baptist Association by Thomas Jefferson, The Constitution of the United States of America, Tony Williams

Guest Essayist: Tony Williams, Program Director, Washington-Jefferson-Madison Institute

On January 1, 1802, President Thomas Jefferson received a thirteen-foot mammoth cheese weighing some 1,200 pounds. It was delivered by dissenting Baptist minister and long-time advocate of religious liberty, Reverend John Leland, who then preached a sermon to the president and members of Congress at the Capitol two days later. Jefferson took the opportunity to compose a letter to the Danbury Baptists on the relationship between government and religion that would shape the course of twentieth-century jurisprudence. Read more

March 22, 2013/5 Comments/by Janine Turner

Letter to the Danbury Baptist Association by Thomas Jefferson – Reprinted from The U.S. Constitution, A Reader, Published by Hillsdale College

Classics that Inspired the Constitution, Daily Reading 2013, Letter to Danbury Baptist Association by Thomas Jefferson, The Original Documents 4. The Classics that Inspired the Constitution, Letter to Danbury Baptist Association by Thomas Jefferson

The Danbury Baptist Association, aware of Jefferson’s earlier role in overturning the Anglican establishment in Virginia, expressed hope that as president he might help liberate them from the religious constraints in Connecticut. Jefferson’s response, in which he employs the famous “wall of separation between church and state” metaphor, is not a demand for the separation of religion and politics; rather, it addresses the principle of federalism. As president, Jefferson is unable to interfere in this state issue. Likewise, Congress is prohibited from doing so by the First Amendment’s religion clauses. The citizens of Connecticut must remedy their situation by amending their state constitution and statutes–as eventually they did. Read more

March 22, 2013/2 Comments/by Janine Turner