First Freedom: The Fight for Religious Liberty Page #9

---

on centuries of tradition

in looking

to their leader for guidance

on religious matters,

but George Washington

was extremely careful

in that regard.

He was deeply aware

of his responsibility

to bring people together.

He did not want religion

to be a divisive force

in any way.

To use language of Jesus

and Jesus Christ often

could be seen as divisive

and unneeded.

If you appeared to speak in one

form of religious language,

you're going to alienate

people who spoke

another religious language,

and Washington knew well

that he had to rise

above that fray.

We can credit him

with laying the groundwork

for religious freedom

by leaving his own

position neutral.

Mitchell:
In 1790,

when George Washington

was in the second year

of his presidency,

he received a letter

from the Jewish congregation

yeshuat Israel of Newport,

Rhode Island.

In reply, he wrote

a memorable response

about religion in America.

Man as Washington:

For happily the government

of the United States,

which gives to bigotry

no sanction,

to persecution no assistance,

requires only that they who live

under its protection

should demean themselves

as good citizens.

Mitchell:
People still come

together at the synagogue

in Newport every August,

the anniversary

of Washington's letter.

The reading of the letter is

a very special occasion

because the words are

among the most important

in terms of American history.

"May the children

of the stock of Abraham,

who dwell in this land"...

Man as Washington:

Continue to merit

and enjoy the goodwill

of the other inhabitants,

while everyone shall sit

in safety

under his own vine and fig tree,

and there shall be none

to make him afraid.

Mitchell:
"There shall be

none to make him afraid."

The president's biblical

reference was a poetic

and powerful assurance,

but Washington wasn't

going to be president forever.

Everybody knew that religion

would ultimately come

to affect politics,

and the question was

if the wrong group or groups

got power

with the federal government,

wouldn't they try to

establish their church

as the national church?

Couldn't some group just lop on

to the federal government

and say, "ok.

The presbyterian church

is going to be

the national church,"

or, "the congregational church

is going to be

the national church"?

And so there was a fear

about the religion question

if it wasn't handled.

Mitchell:
What rights did

small religious groups

have in a new nation,

and what about individuals?

Perhaps a more

power-hungry president

than Washington would want

to tell the people

what they could say

or where they could pray?

Critics of the new constitution

clamored for changes,

the changes

that had been promised

during the struggle

for ratification

two years earlier.

I beg to differ

with you, Mr. Madison.

The people of Virginia

insist there be a list

of assured

individual liberties.

Holland:
Patrick Henry,

George Mason,

these prominent anti-federalists

are the ones that

really put the heat

on James Madison and others

to say, "if you're

going to have our support,

"if we're going

to move forward,

"we really need to have

a bill of rights

as part of this,"

and one of the things that

is preeminent there

is a commitment

to religious liberty.

Mitchell:
Baptists, too,

were strong supporters

of religious freedom

for a very good reason.

Church:
The baptists'

experience had been,

"unless it is made explicit,

we are going to be burned,

"government

will turn against us,

"the established parties

will persecute us,

will tax us for the support of

other religious institutions,"

namely their own.

Bushman:
Madison opposed

a bill of rights on principle.

Mitchell:
For James Madison,

a list of certain

individual rights implied

that there couldn't be

other rights.

Whatever you didn't list

could be denied.

And changing the constitution

might be like

opening up pandora's box--

all kinds of bad laws

would follow.

Church:
Madison was forced

by his baptist constituents

to deal with what he called,

"this nauseating business

of amendments."

Mitchell:
If it had to be done,

it would be better

if Madison

just did it himself.

He took the lead in writing

the bill of rights,

10 amendments that guaranteed

what we now see

as the basic rights

of Americans.

The very

first amendment began...

Congress shall make

no law respecting

an establishment of religion

or prohibiting

the free exercise thereof.

George:
That, I think,

is rightly interpreted

as meaning that the founders

wanted to make sure

that the institution

of the church

and the institution of the state

were separate institutions.

Meacham:
The first

amendment has two parts.

It bans the idea,

it bans the possibility

of an established church,

and it argues that everyone

should have the free

exercise of religion.

Wood:
The first amendment

applied at the outset

only to the federal government

so that we have to keep

in mind that

that first amendment was saying

the federal government

cannot interfere

with certain rights,

but the states were still

free to put limits

on religious freedom and speech.

Mitchell:
The first amendment

was a milestone

in world history.

For the first time,

a national government promised

to stay out of religion.

Roberts:
The declaration

of independence,

the constitution,

the bill of rights,

our charters of freedom,

they're our glue.

They are what make us a country,

and once we have that

pulling us together,

then we have the freedom

and the ability

to be diverse

in all kinds of other ways.

Meacham:
It is not

simply the freedom

to choose whether to be

a mormon or an episcopalian

or catholic or a Muslim.

It is the liberty

of those not to believe.

"I am going to pursue

my own destiny, my own code,

"my own vision

without being pressured by

or buffeted by larger forces."

The first real

life test for religious freedom

took place

in the election of 1800

between John Adams

and Thomas Jefferson.

Mitchell:
Adams was running

for a second term

against Jefferson,

his long-time friend

and by now

his political opposite.

Together they'd done much

of the work to create

the declaration

of independence,

but Adams had beaten Jefferson

in the last election.

Then as president,

he moved to suppress criticism

of his government.

He had made the government

a force in religious matters

to great discontent.

Church:
Adams declared

a fast day,

a national day of fasting.

It was written

in very Christian language.

Adams himself believed

that the support of the church

was necessary if government

were going to stand.

The fast Eve,

there were riots in the streets.

That fast day led

the sectarian christians,

the baptists, the methodists,

and also Jews and others

to be very wary of Adams

as a religious president

who would impose

his religious views upon them.

Mitchell:
Jefferson,

Rate this script:0.0 / 0 votes