Religion In 19th Century America

A consistent theme in American history has been an evolving understanding of freedom and liberty. In the 19th century, this meant freedom for enslaved Africans; in the 20th century, women and minorities were liberated from their state of political impotence by securing the right to vote; and in the 21st century, LGBT people have succeeded in challenging long-standing cultural norms associated with privacy and religion. When going much further back in history and assessing the changing nature of religion’s role in America over time, parallels of growth and evolution become apparent as well. The country’s ability to accommodate multiple religions while maintaining political and societal stability is one of the great achievements of the American …show more content…
Unlike Franklin and Winthrop, whose views were either very pro-religion to ambivalent towards religion, Jefferson was far less optimistic about religion and actively sought to marginalize its role in society. Like Franklin, Jefferson was a Deist in his personal beliefs, but unlike Franklin he was very cagey on discussing his religious beliefs to the public. Another commonality between Franklin and Jefferson was Jefferson’s deeply Enlightenment view on life. His commitment to the scientific method permeated every aspect of his life, and for better or worse he applied this mathematical thinking to questions of religion. Jefferson is most famous for drafting the Bill of Rights, which offers a fierce defense of the free exercise of religion while simultaneously drawing prominent lines between religion and the state. While the Bill of Rights is certainly one of Jefferson’s most widely known works on religion, his other famous document pertaining to religion is the Statute of Virginia for Religious Freedom. In many ways this statute was the precursor for the Bill of Rights – the latter did borrow heavily from the former – and goes to great lengths to demonstrate the inherent problems with allowing religion to run government and vice versa. The most famous segment from the document makes a point to say that religious belief is no reason for conflict in a tolerant society:

“The rights of conscience we never submitted, we could not submit. We are answerable for them to our God. The legitimate powers of government extend to such acts only as are injurious to others. But it does me no injury for my neighbor to say there are twenty gods, or no god. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg. ... Reason and free enquiry are the only effectual agents against error.” (Statute of Virginia Religious