Freedom of Religion, the First Amendment, and the Supreme Court: How the Court Flunked History »

In colonial America, everyone knew the meaning of the terms "establishment" and "established church ": an official, monopolistic governmental religion. The colonists also well knew the various negative attributes associated with the "established church," especially compelled financial support and attendance. Though some states had disestablished their churches before the American Revolution, every colonial state, except Pennsylvania and Rhode Island, had an established church at one time.

Those who had suffered most, especially the Baptists of Virginia, demanded protection from a state-run religion in the form of a Bill of Rights. Virginia refused to ratify the Constitution unless this amendment was added, and in 1789, it became the First Amendment, stating, "Congress shall make no law respecting the establishment of religion, nor prohibit the free exercise thereof. "

In 1801, the Baptists of Danbury wrote Thomas Jefferson for additional aid. The established church of Connecticut did not allow them to hold office and denied them other rights. Jefferson wrote the famous "Wall of Separation" letter in which he described "a wall of separation between church and state." The Baptists were satisfied with this explanation, understanding the amendment to serve as a wall around the government, granting complete religious freedom to them.

In contrast to the original intent of the First Amendment, as clarified by Thomas Jefferson, the United States Supreme Court, especially in the past sixty years, has been busy erecting walls around the churches and giving unfettered freedom to the government.

Adamson explains in detail how the Court flunked history and confused the true meaningof the Establishment Clause, how they seized on a phrase not even in the Constitution, and how the justices have gradually built freedom of religion into a restraint of religious liberty. The Bill of Rights was a guarantee of freedom to the citizen. The court is busy building restraints to that freedom.

Preface: How Clear the Lens of Historical Reality     10
The Historical Purpose and Meaning of the First Amendment's Establishment Clause     13
Religion and Government in the 1700s: The "Establishment"     19
"Establish" and "Establishment": Etymological History and Meaning     21
The Two Dominant "Establishments" in the States: The Anglicans (Or Church of England) and the Congregationalists (Or Puritans)     26
The States' Pre-Constitution Declarations of Rights     29
Virginia's June 1776 Declaration of Rights     30
Jefferson's June 1779 Bill for Establishing Religious Freedom     35
Madison's June 1785 Memorial and Remonstrance against Religious Assessments     37
Virginia's January 1786 Act for Establishing Religious Freedom     42
Pre-Establishment Clause (viz., Pre-1789) State Constitutions and Declarations of Rights     44
Virginia's 1776 Declaration of Rights and 1786 Act for Establishing Religious Freedom     47
New Jersey's 1776 Constitution     48
Delaware's 1776 Constitution and Separate Declaration of Rights     48
Pennsylvania's 1776 Constitution (Incorporating a Declaration of Rights)     49
Maryland's 1776 Declaration of Rights     49
North Carolina's 1776 Constitution (Incorporating a Declaration of Rights)     50
New York's 1777 Constitution     50
Georgia's 1777 and 1789 Constitutions     51
South Carolina's 1778 Constitution     51
Massachusetts's 1780 Constitution (Incorporating a Declaration of Rights)     51
New Hampshire's 1784 Constitution (Incorporating a Declaration of Rights)     52
Vermont's 1777 and 1786 Constitutions (Incorporating Declarations of Rights)     52
Summary of Religion-Specific Provisions in State Constitutions as of 1789     53
The States' Demands for a "Bill of Rights" as Part of the Constitution     56
The Debate over Timing and the "Massachusetts Compromise"     56
The States' Proposed Religion-Specific Constitutional Amendments     65
Madison's Change of Heart: Pre-Congress Support for a Constitutional Bill of Rights     67
The First Congress's Consideration of a Bill of Rights: May to September 1789     72
House of Representatives Proceedings: May 1789 to August 1789     75
May 4, 1789     75
May 25, 1789     76
June 8, 1789     76
July 21, 1789     82
July 28, 1789     83
August 3, 1789     86
August 13, 1789     86
August 14, 1789     87
August 15, 1789      87
August 17, 1789     91
August 18, 1789     91
August 19, 1789     91
August 20, 1789     92
August 21, 1789     93
August 22, 1789     94
August 24, 1789     94
Senate Proceedings: August 1789 and September 1789     94
August 25, 1789     96
September 2, 1789     96
September 3, 1789     96
September 4, 1789     98
September 7, 1789     98
September 8, 1789     99
September 9, 1789     99
House of Representatives and Senate Proceedings: September 10, 1789, to September 28, 1789     100
September 10, 1789 (House of Representatives)     100
September 19, 1789 (House of Representatives)     101
September 21, 1789 (House of Representatives and Senate)     101
September 23, 1789 (House of Representatives)     102
September 24, 1789 (House of Representatives and Senate)     102
September 25, 1789 (Senate)     105
September 26, 1789 (Senate)     105
September 28, 1789 (House of Representatives)     106
Soon Thereafter     106
Why the Term "National" Disappeared from Madison's Original Proposal      108
Constitutional Convention Proceedings of May 29, 1787     110
Constitutional Convention Proceedings of May 30, 1787     113
Constitutional Convention Proceedings of May 31, 1787     113
Constitutional Convention Proceedings of June 1, 1787     114
Constitutional Convention Proceedings of June 4, 1787     114
Constitutional Convention Proceedings of June 5, 1787     115
Constitutional Convention Proceedings of June 7, 1787     115
Constitutional Convention Proceedings of June 11, 1787     115
Constitutional Convention Proceedings of June 12, 1787     116
Constitutional Convention Proceedings of June 19, 1787     116
Constitutional Convention Proceedings of June 20, 1787     118
The Meaning of "Meaning": Words Mean Today, and Tomorrow, What They Meant When Written     123
The Author's Own Understanding: Congress's Contemporaneous Acts in 1789     136
Congress's 1789 Appointment of Taxpayer-Funded Chaplains     139
Congress's 1789 Judiciary Act     141
Congress's 1789 Renewal of the Northwest Territory Ordinance     142
Congress's 1789 Resolution for a Thanksgiving Proclamation     146
The Author's Own Understanding: Congress's Subsequent Acts     149
Inscription on All United States Coins and Currency: "In God We Trust"     149
The Pledge of Allegiance and Reaffirmation: "One Nation under God"     150
The United States' National Motto: "In God We Trust"     155
"The Star-Spangled Banner" as National Anthem-with "In God Is Our Trust"     156
National Day of Prayer     156
A Meaning Consistent with the States' Own Constitutions and Laws in 1789     157
A Meaning Consistent with Amendments Proposed by the Ratifying States     159
A Meaning Consistent with Madison's Passions     161
Irony of Ironies: The Supreme Court Extends the Establishment Clause's Disablement to the States     168
The First Amendment, as Written by Congress     168
The First Amendment, as Rewritten by the Supreme Court     169
Jefferson's Metaphorical "Wall of Separation": A Wall of Colloquial Concoction     174
The Danbury Baptists' Letter to Jefferson     176
Jefferson's Celebrated Reply     178
Context, Context, Context     180
Jefferson's Primary Purpose: Political Abstruseness     180
Jefferson Could Only Have Meant a National "Church"     186
Jefferson Built His "Wall" between "Actions" and "Opinions"     189
Jefferson Did Not Confine His Letter Only to the "Establishment Clause"      190
"Separation" as Meaning What, Exactly?     191
Both the Danbury Baptists' Letter and Jefferson's Celebrated Reply Viewed the "Church" as an Institution, Not a Concept     193
The Offhand Musings of the Uninvolved Never Yield "Meaning"     193
The Supreme Court Flunks First Amendment History and Sends Religion, God, and Christmas Underground     199
Some Essential Background: How the Supreme Court Rendered Itself the Only Voice of Constitutional Meaning     201
President Adams's "Midnight" Judges     202
The Disgruntled Mr. Marbury     204
Up Next: One of the Nation's Earliest Laws and a Lesson in Context     204
The Constitution Always Controls-But Only If Pertinent     205
The 1789 Judiciary Act: A Legendary Work Written by No Ordinary Congress     206
Justice Marshall's Grand Plan     208
The Marbury Decision     210
Marbury's Legacy     212
Reynolds v. United States     218
Why the Supreme Court Found Jefferson's "Wall" Pertinent at All-and the Reason Had Nothing to Do with the Establishment Clause     219
Jefferson Had No Involvement Whatsoever with the First Amendment     221
Jefferson Likewise Had No Involvement with Patrick Henry's Famous 1784 "Establishment" Tax Proposal     223
The Personal Opinions of the Uninvolved Contribute Nothing to "Meaning"     225
Everson v. Board of Education     225
The Reynolds Opinion's Gaffes Revisited in Everson     227
Fabricating Reality and Rewriting History: "It Is So Because We Say It Is"     229
Erecting the Folklore "Wall" as Part of Americana     231
Conspicuous by Absence: The Records of the 1789 Congress     232
Just Who Did This?     233
The Consequences of a Rewritten History: The Everson Aftermath     237
Notes     243
Bibliography     399
Index     410