James Madison's Memorial and Remonstrance
Background and Introduction
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There is a lot of disagreement and debate in America over the meaning and value of the separation of church and state. Some hold it to be inviolate while others deny that it does or should exist. In the arguments over Jefferson's metaphor of a "wall of separation," however, the concerns of James Madison, who wrote the First Amendment, tend to be lost.
Presented here, along with some introductory background material, is Madison's Memorial and Remonstrance - his most decisive and important explanation of his feelings on religious freedom. His Remonstrance is particularly relevant in today's generally pro-voucher climate, because it was aimed precisely at the collecting of taxes for the purposes of underwriting teachers of "Christian education." Madison, as shall be seen, was against even one cent being collected for such purposes.
James Madison was born March 16, 1751, the first of ten children born to a slave-owning family in Orange County, Virginia. In a remarkable coincidence, Montpelier - the family estate on which he was raised - was only about 30 miles (a day's travel at the time) from Monticello, Thomas Jefferson's estate. Zachary Taylor, Madison's much younger second cousin, was also born in Orange County, but his family moved west while he was still an infant. Taylor later became a hero of the War with Mexico and the twelfth President of the United States.
James Madison had a long history of working for religious freedom and tolerance. Along with George Mason, he wrote the religious clause in Virginia's Declaration of Rights of 1776.
These two changed it from a mere statement of the principle of tolerance to the first official legislative pronouncement that freedom of conscience and religion are inherent rights of the individual. At this same time he also worked to have the Declaration of Independence condemn the existing Virginia establishment alongside the other injustices which the colonies suffered, but the forces supporting religious establishment were too powerful.
Later, as a member of the General Assembly in 1779, he labored to push through Jefferson's historic Bill for Establishing Religious Freedom; and after Jefferson left for diplomatic duties in Europe in 1784, Madison became the bill's prime sponsor. Enactment failed every year it was introduced, from June 1779 until it was finally adopted in January, 1786. During this time his efforts to secure religious freedom continued in other ways, one of the most prominent being his battles with Patrick Henry.
The climax of these efforts in general and the differences between Madison and Henry in particular came in the struggle of 1784-1785 over the Assessment Bill. This bill of Henry's was nothing more nor less than a tax for the support of religion.
At first, it singled out a particular sect for preference and so incurred both hostility and opposition from various religious groups; later it was broadened to include all Christian sects, with the result that some ended their opposition - at least temporarily. In its final form, the bill allowed each taxpayer to designate which church should receive his share of the tax. In the absence of such a choice, the legislature was authorized to apply it "pious uses."
Henry's speeches supporting this bill have been lost, but Madison's notes from legislative sessions give evidence as to what he must have said. Henry apparently felt that the measure was necessary to forestall an alleged decay of civility, morality and piety in the state, and he described a bleak future if the measure failed. It is surely no coincidence that these are the same reasons used today by people seeking government support for religious organizations.
Madison never wavered in his opposition to this measure, fighting against it both when it was aimed at helping just one sect as well as when it was aimed at helping all. Because support for the bill was very strong, Madison and his followers moved to have a vote deferred; and before the Assembly reconvened, he had written and distributed his historic Memorial and Remonstrance . First, however, he managed to have Henry elected governor, where he could no longer work in support of his bill.
This is Madison's most exhaustive explanation of what he considered religious liberty to be. It is a general attack upon all forms of 'establishment' of religion - not just those which are selective, but also those which are general and 'nondiscriminatory.'
This is also the most concise and the most articulate statement of the views of the First Amendment's author concerning what is 'an establishment of religion.' Here most of all we can see that he had in mind much more than simply creating national churches, something which some ideologies of the Religious Right would have us believe.
Helping to create a storm of popular protest, the Remonstrance played a key role in killing the Assessment Bill . Support for the bill varied among different religious groups. Quakers and Mennonites were immediately skeptical, which is not surprising since Virginia had recently considered a special tax on them because they were exempt from serving in the militia.
Presbyterian ministers and leaders initially supported the bill, but the laity came out strongly against it, especially after the publication of the Remonstrance. Baptists came out immediately against the bill, stating clearly their support for a full separation of church and state.
Of course, Madison's was not the only effort to kill the bill: there was also a popular uprising against it, with numerous petitions and over 10,000 signatures submitted to the legislature before the vote. Some were based on religious principles while others were explicit in their secularism, even going so far as to reject the idea that religion is at all necessary for public morality.
With the defeat of the measure, the way was cleared for the passage of Jefferson's Bill for Establishing Religious Freedom. Madison promptly drove it through in January of 1786, seven years after it was first introduced. This dual victory substantially ended the fight over establishments, settling the issue against them. It was in the very next year that Madison became a member of the Constitutional Convention, working to secure religious liberty for the entire nation.
Madison believed firmly that, under the Constitution, 'there is not a shadow of right in the general government to intermeddle with religion' and that 'this subject is, for the honor of America, perfectly free and unshackled. The Government has no jurisdiction over it. . . .' Despite this, he promised that he would work to see a Bill of Rights added to the Constitution - one which would specifically guarantee religious freedom. Virginia and other states ratified the Constitution partially on the strength of such promises.
It is worth noting that at no point is he more unrelenting than in his opposition to state support or aid to religion by taxation. Not even 'three pence' contribution was thus to be exacted from any citizen for such a purpose. Madison and his compatriots made no exceptions or abridgments to the complete separation they created.
Their objection was not to small tithes (taxes to go to churches) - instead, it was to any tithes whatsoever: "If it were lawful to impose a small tax for religion the admission would pave the way for oppressive levies." Not the amount but 'the principle of assessment' itself was wrong. For Madison, his struggle was as much to prevent 'the interference of law in religion' as to restrain religious intervention in political matters. He recognized that these were two sides of the same coin.
Thus, it should be clear that the battles and debates over religious liberty in Virginia are vital to understanding the nature of our tradition of religious freedom. Madison's life and ideas are a unifying force through both, and it is through his words that we can learn more about what why religious liberty was important at the time - and also why it is important today.
Even as early as 1878, in Reynolds v. Virginia, the Supreme Court had recognized the importance of this piece to understanding the First Amendment. Numerous Court decisions have since cited it, used it, and even quoted it in its entirety.
In this field the authors of our freedom would not tolerate 'the first experiment on our liberties' or 'wait till usurped power had strengthened itself by exercise, and entangled the question in precedents.' Why should we?
For more information on James Madison's religious beliefs and struggle for religious liberties in the United States, read James Madison on Religious Liberty, edited by Robert S. Alley. This is an extensive collection of essays on many facets of Madison's ideas and political work.
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