James Madison: Father of the Constitution
James Madison, besides being the fourth president of the United States, was best known for drafting and editing the United States Constitution and the Bill of Rights. While these documents addressed the freedom of religion that was granted to the U.S. citizens, they also clarified that no religion would be favored over the other. Many in the US at the time wanted to use taxes to support churches and church property, but it was decided against because they wanted to form a land of freedom of religion and therefore could not favor one religion over the other. They also didn't want their politics to be influenced by the church above others.
"Memorial and Remonstrance Against Religious Assessments" by James Madison
James Madison often warned against legal endorsement of Christianity in the new nation. "Who does not see that the same authority which can establish Christianity, in exclusion of all other Religions," he wrote in his Memorial and Remonstrance Against Religious Assessments in 1785, "may establish with the same ease any particular sect of Christians, in exclusion of all other Sects?" The constitution purposely excludes the mention of God for this reason.
Bibliography
---article, James Madison. Bill of Rights. Code of Federal Regulations, vol. , 1810.
americanhistory.si.edu, americanhistory.si.edu/
religion-in-early-america/freedom.
Epps, Garrett. "Constitutional Myth #4: The Constitution Doesn't Separate Church
and State." The Atlantic [Boston, Massachusetts], 15 June 2011. The
Atlantic, www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2011/06/
constitutional-myth-4-the-constitution-doesnt-separate-church-and-state/240481/.
Accessed 23 Oct. 2017.
1Vanderlyn, John. James Madison. 1816. Wikimedia Commons, commons.wikimedia.org/
wiki/File:James_Madison.jpg. Accessed 9 Jan. 2018.
Thorne, Jonathan. U.S. Constitution. 14 May 2007. flickr, www.flickr.com/photos/
thorne-enterprises/498309798/in/photostream/. Accessed 9 Jan. 2018.
---article, James Madison. Bill of Rights. Code of Federal Regulations, vol. , 1810.
americanhistory.si.edu, americanhistory.si.edu/
religion-in-early-america/freedom.
Epps, Garrett. "Constitutional Myth #4: The Constitution Doesn't Separate Church
and State." The Atlantic [Boston, Massachusetts], 15 June 2011. The
Atlantic, www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2011/06/
constitutional-myth-4-the-constitution-doesnt-separate-church-and-state/240481/.
Accessed 23 Oct. 2017.
1Vanderlyn, John. James Madison. 1816. Wikimedia Commons, commons.wikimedia.org/
wiki/File:James_Madison.jpg. Accessed 9 Jan. 2018.
Thorne, Jonathan. U.S. Constitution. 14 May 2007. flickr, www.flickr.com/photos/
thorne-enterprises/498309798/in/photostream/. Accessed 9 Jan. 2018.