On the evils of state religion upheld by law

This text is a political tract against state-supported religion and appeared in full in Elias Smith’s revival religious newspaper, the Herald of Gospel Liberty on August 5, 1814.

The disestablishment of official state religion started in Virginia in the 1770s. Under the leadership of Baptists and Presbyterians, the movement for the separation of church and state gained momentum in other states in the late 1770s through the 1790s. Virginia passed a statute in 1785 that was the model for the first amendment of the U.S. Constitution. The issue was still live during the administrations of Thomas Jefferson (1801-9) and James Madison (1809-17). Protestant church services were held in the House of Representatives in Washington, and both presidents attended them. According to Richard Morris, by “attending church services on public property, Jefferson and Madison consciously and deliberately were offering symbolic support to religion as a prop for republican government” (114, 550). Massachusetts did not disestablish state religion until 1833.