18th Century Virginia Case Analysis

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In 18th century Virginia, religion was a big topic and widely discussed. People argued, fought, and even died over the discussion. Going to church was also a big deal in this society. Every citizen was required to attend a service at least once a week and were punishable by law if they did not. In addition to this law, it is necessary to mention that the Church of England was the dominate church in colonial Virginia. The religion associated with the Church of England was the Anglican faith. With this being the case, many individuals in Virginia were Anglican Christian. This fact would soon cause conflict within the community because of the number of different religions molding in the society. Anglicans tried their best to stop these …show more content…
“In 1784, Patrick Henry sponsored a bill for a general religious assessment” (Henry assessment bill, 1784). The implications of the bill in discussion would cause problems for the right to free religion because it would fund the teaching of the Anglican faith in schools. This would be the case even if the student wasn’t a part of the religion. Due to the election of Patrick Henry as state governor, the bill decision was postponed until the fall of 1785. With this, the public had a chance to firmly oppose it. Back in 1776, the public had also petitioned for free religion. As petitioners rallied for their cause, they stated facts that were true of the current Commonwealth of Virginia. In this, they spoke of human rights in regards to Equal liberty among men. One point they argued was that “Equal Liberty! That invaluable Blessing; which though it be the Birth right of every good man of the State, has been what your Petitioners have been Deprived of, in that through taxation their property hath been wrested from them and given to those from whom they have received no equivalent” (Ten-thousand name" petition). By this, the petitioners are noting that even though they are forced to live by the rules of the society, they are still being deprived of their birth rights to free religion. The petition was commonly called the “Ten-thousand name" petition and was the first of this magnitude. This particular petition was most likely signed mainly by Baptist. This second time around, with Henry’s bill in consideration, more religious decenters followed this past example and “In all, {the} anti-assessment petitions drew about 11,000 signatures” and the bill was never passed. “The most famous example of this opposition was a “Memorial and Remonstrance against Religious Assessments,” which was (secretly) drafted by James Madison” (Henry assessment bill, 1784). That secret draft

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