Christianity in the Early Republic, 1800-1848

Constitution Monument by Dell Upton.

Christianity in the Early Republic

This blog post examines the role of Christianity during our nation’s Early Republic. According to the First Amendment to the United States Constitution: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof…."[1] Thomas Jefferson, in his letter to the Danbury Baptist Association, dated January1, 1802 devised the phrase “a wall of separation between church and state.”[2] These words do not imply or necessitate that the Founding Fathers and their successors were not faithful practitioners of the Christian faith. Please note, most primary sources are found in Liberty University's database Sabin Americana: History of the Americas, 1500-1926.

            The constitutional principle of separating church from state did not preclude the nation’s earliest generations from invoking scripture. For instance, John Quincy Adams, in a letter to Samuel T. Deford stated: “The principle of perpetual Union, inculcated by the Declaration of Independence… with the progress and final consummation of the ancient prophesies and gospel promises of the Christian Faith.”[3] Previously, the residents of Newburyport, Massachusetts, among them Mr. Deford as chairman of the local Committee of Arrangements, invited Adams to deliver an address on the sixty-first anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. His speech featured several references to scripture and the Christian faith. The purpose of the declaration, according to Adams, was two-fold: unite the thirteen separate colonies into a single populace and “to assume, in the name of this one People, of the thirteen United Colonies, among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station, to which the Laws of Nature, and of Nature’s God, entitled them.”[4]

            Whilst the United States Constitution inculcated the principle of separating state from church, the document also contained the infamous three-fifths clause: 

“Representatives and direct Taxes shall be apportioned among the several States which may be included within this Union, according to their respective Numbers, which shall be determined by adding to the whole Number of free Persons, including those bound to Service for a Term of Years, and excluding Indians not taxed, three-fifths of all other Persons.”[5]

 

Here, prominent abolitionists invoked Christianity directly into political discourse. An excellent example appears in the work of Robert Walsh. In a treatise titled Free remarks on the spirit of the federal Constitution, he noted how “THE leaders of the Revolution frequently referred in their public papers, to the maxims of the New Testament respecting the equality of mankind… and the bonds of brotherhood declared to involve the whole human race.”[6] He also noted how defenders of bondage used scripture to validate the existence of American slavery; nevertheless, according to Walsh, “The abridgment of this evil is among the most remarkable triumphs of Christianity….”[7]

 

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[1] United States. Constitution of the United States of America. Nathaniel L. Dayton, n.d. Sabin Americana: History of the Americas, 1500-1926 

[2] The Papers of Thomas Jefferson Digital Edition, ed. James P. McClure and J. Jefferson Looney. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, Rotunda, 2008–2021. 

 

[3] Adams, John Quincy. An oration delivered before the inhabitants of the town of Newburyport, at their request, on the sixty-first anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, July 4th, 1837. Newburyport [Mass.]: Printed by Morss and Brewster, [1837]. Sabin Americana: History of the Americas, 1500-1926.

 

[4] Ibid.

 

[5] United States. Constitution of the United States of America. Nathaniel L. Dayton, n.d. Sabin Americana: History of the Americas, 1500-1926. Article I, Section 2, Clause 3

 

[6] Walsh, Robert, and Philadelphian. Free remarks on the spirit of the federal Constitution, the practice of the federal government, and the obligations of the Union, respecting the exclusion of slavery from the territories and new states ... Philadelphia: Published by A. Finley, 1819. Sabin Americana: History of the Americas, 1500-1926

 

[7] Ibid.