Leslie--


Given the full comment from Madison's Oct.  17, 1788 letter to Jefferson, it does seem likely that Dr. Ragosta's interpretation is correct:


In Virginia I have seen the bill of rights violated in every instance where it has been opposed to a popular current. Notwithstanding the explicit provision contained in that instrument for the rights of Conscience it is well known that a religious establishment wd. have taken place in that State, if the legislative majority had found as they expected, a majority of the people in favor of the measure;


So I am not sure I agree with you, that Madison drew the distinction between an actual violation, versus a proposed violation.  I am interested to read other's thoughts on this!

Many commentators--historians and political theorists--have assumed that Madison perceived the propose assessment in the mid-1780s for public support of "teachers of the Christian religion" as a violation of the Virginia Declaration of Rights.  I can dig out the references if anyone desires.


It is not obvious that Madison was correct to perceive the proposed law as a violation of Virginia rights.  In comparison to religious tests enacted elsewhere in the colonies, the proposed Virginia law was quite liberal and moderate.  It did not create an establishment for the Protestant Episcopal Church, but rather allowed tax-payers to designate their payment for the support of any Christian teacher.  So if the law (as Madison asserted in his letter, and numerous places elsewhere too) created a religious establishment, it was quite a broad one, in comparison to places like Connecticut or Massachusetts.


More broadly, standard republican theory asserted that republican governments endured only so long as citizens possessed the correct character.  Both Patrick Henry and George Washington--but a great many others too--equated "correct republican character" with Christian morality.  So, for example, George Washington argued in his Farewell Address that teaching Christian morality was essential if the republics created by the American Revolution were going to be durable over time.  If Henry and Washington were correct--and this was a commonplace in the 1780s and 1790s--then there were strong reasons of state to enact the kinds of laws that the Virginia legislature proposed in the mid-1780s.


Madison and Jefferson's successful effort to prevent enactment of this legislature--as Ragosta and Tom Buckley have explored so nicely--was all the more remarkable, given this consensus.


All best wishes,

Kevin


___________________________
Kevin R. Hardwick
Professor
Department of History, MSC 8001
James Madison University
Harrisonburg, Virginia 22807
________________________________
From: Leslie Katz <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Tuesday, February 19, 2019 12:36:09 PM
To: Discussion of research and writing about Virginia history; Hardwick, Kevin R - hardwikr; [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [VA-HIST] Madison on VA Declaration of Rights

Dear Kevin R Hardwick and Brent Tarter,

Thank you both for your replies to my query, each mentioning the Josiah
Philips matter. I found a full discussion of that matter in Daniel D.
Blinka, "Jefferson and Juries: The Problem of Law, Reason, and Politics
in the New Republic", 47 Am. J. Legal Hist. 35 (2005). That article was
very helpful to me when I was writing a paper on the introduction of
jury sentencing in Virginia (available via the hyperlink in my signature
panel below, if you should have any interest).

As I said in my earlier reply to John Ragosta, I imagine that Madison
wouldn't have regarded a proposed law that wasn't enacted as a violation
of the Declaration, but rather as an attempted violation.

As to the context of Madison's comment, I found here the entire letter
to Jefferson in which Madison made it:
https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__founders.archives.gov_documents_Madison_01-2D11-2D02-2D0218&d=DwID-g&c=eLbWYnpnzycBCgmb7vCI4uqNEB9RSjOdn_5nBEmmeq0&r=7vfW5CeANJ0VLfuivlArSQ&m=GZy6jHmQ7A-liv-ZmNqQsmstzFUfHjuIVX8BNXHNlNI&s=ZAbWpMKzgLM6EYMj1l4jBHmZB7srIY7YumF1wlTqD78&e=.

Thank you both again,

Leslie Katz




--

Leslie Katz

email: lesliek [at] mymts [dot] net

Please visit https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__ssrn.com_author-3D1164057&d=DwID-g&c=eLbWYnpnzycBCgmb7vCI4uqNEB9RSjOdn_5nBEmmeq0&r=7vfW5CeANJ0VLfuivlArSQ&m=GZy6jHmQ7A-liv-ZmNqQsmstzFUfHjuIVX8BNXHNlNI&s=Xu0upUxusFkn5DQVQbyzKBYhdWY3JCHc1WuM3ZDo47s&e= to find hyperlinks

to papers that I’ve written on literary and legal topics

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