The "Wall of Separation..." letter by Jefferson...(Rare Newspaper)

AURORA GENERAL ADVERTISER ^ | Monday February 1, 1802

[fight_truth_decay]

AURORA GENERAL ADVERTISER, Philadelphia, February 1, 1802 This issue contains on page 2 a contemporary newspaper printing of the famous Thomas Jefferson letter to the Danbury Baptist Association regarding the separation of church and state, reading in part:

"...believing with you that religion is a matter which lies soley between Man and his God, that he owes account to none other for his faith of his worship, that the legitimate powers of government reach actions only, and not opinions, I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should 'make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof', thus building a wall of separation between Church & State. Adhering to this expression of the supreme will of the nation in behalf of the rights of conscience, I shall see with sincere satisfaction the progress of those sentiments which tend to restore to man all his natural rights, convinced he has no natural right in opposition to his social duties..." with more.

The GENERAL ADVERTISER was a leading Jeffersonian newspaper in America & it seems likely the text of the letter was submitted by Jefferson himself. Indeed, Jefferson intended the letter (a reply to the Association's congratulations on his election) to be a political statement. After this and only one other known newspaper printing the text of the letter was not published until 1853 in a collected edition of Jefferson's writings. The phrase "wall of separation between Church & State" remains to this day a controversial statement and is among the more notable utterances of the 19th century.

The issue is complete in 4 pages, has a professional archival mend near the top of page 2, not close to the Jefferson letter, and is otherwise in very nice condition. An identical issue of this same newspaper recently sold in a New York auction gallery for $10,350.

$9,750.00

[fight_truth_decay]

Thought this might be of interest to some here; but what I found interesting is within this site of rare newspapers; one can read the reaction to important events in history-Revolutionary War, Civil War etc.

I thought a peruse of some of these newspapers (the above recently required) might hold some "feeling" of the time in which these historical events took place. Interesting papers for a parallel news read.

Old news, but still timely.

[fight_truth_decay]

http://www.rarenewspapers.com/ HOME INDEX LINK

[Mark Felton]

Don't ever let anyone tell you that jefferson was a deist, or atheist. He was a Christian Unitarian who prayed to God for divine intervention in daily life.

It should also be understood that Baptists led the charge for religious freedom and the Bill of Rights.

[Publius6961]

Why can't Free Republic, in the "unanimous" mode (per Jorge Louis Borges definition) acquire this old newspaper?

I'm in for $10.

We can make a fascimile for sale to enthusiasts and recover most of the investment.

[Whispering Smith]

Note that Jefferson did not contemplate "hate" crimes. Acts not opinions. I wonder if the ACLU will pursue that one very far?

[holdonnow]

Jefferson's letter is just that, a letter. He was not involved in the constitutional convention, and had nothing to do with the Bill of Rights -- being in France on both occasions. His letter was written 14 years after the Bill of Rights were adopted. And several of the states ratifying the Bill of Rights actually had official state religions. I am not obviously not arguing for a return to that, but the point is that if today's "separation of church and state" viewpoint existed back then, the Bill of Rights never would have been ratified by the states, including the states that had official religions. And a few days after writing this letter, Jefferson went to the House of Representatives for morning prayer, as he did frequently as president. But this is, nonetheless, a fascinating link.

[nosofar]

...that the legitimate powers of government reach actions only, and not opinions,...

Except 'hate crimes' of course. /sarc

[Mylo]

Jefferson denied the divinity of Christ and said that the notion of his virgin birth would some day be classified with the notion of Minerva coming from the brain of Zeus. Yeah, but other than THAT, he was a Christian.

[Jim W N]

Very timely, very relevant, and will probably be very misunderstood or misused. It's clear that the founding fathers includinbg Jefferson included Christianity and God in just about every political thing they did. The issue in their minds was never that church or relgion is a threat to the state but state was a clear threat to freedom of religious expression, hence the 1st Amendment. The liberals will always wrest the intended meaning of this.

[Mylo]

Nothing to do with the Bill of Rights?

"I disapproved from the first moment... the want of a bill of rights [in the new Constitution] to guard liberty against the legislative as well as the executive branches of the government." --Thomas Jefferson to Francis Hopkinson, 1789. ME 7:300
"I do not like... the omission of a bill of rights providing clearly and without the aid of sophisms for freedom of religion, freedom of the press, protection against standing armies, restriction against monopolies, the eternal and unremitting force of the habeas corpus laws, and trials by jury in all matters of fact triable by the laws of the land and not by the law of nations." --Thomas Jefferson to James Madison, 1787. ME 6:387

"A bill of rights is what the people are entitled to against every government on earth, general or particular; and what no just government should refuse, or rest on inferences." --Thomas Jefferson to James Madison, 1787. ME 6:388, Papers 12:440

"The general voice from north to south... calls for a bill of rights. It seems pretty generally understood that this should go to juries, habeas corpus, standing armies, printing, religion and monopolies. I conceive there may be difficulty in finding general modifications of these suited to the habits of all the States. But if such cannot be found, then it is better to establish trials by jury, the right of habeas corpus, freedom of the press, and freedom of religion, in all cases, and to abolish standing armies in time of peace, and monopolies in all cases, than not to do it in any. The few cases wherein these things may do evil cannot be weighed against the multitude wherein the want of them will do evil." --Thomas Jefferson to James Madison, 1788. ME 7:96

"It astonishes me to find... [that so many] of our countrymen... should be contented to live under a system which leaves to their governors the power of taking from them the trial by jury in civil cases, freedom of religion, freedom of the press, freedom of commerce, the habeas corpus laws, and of yoking them with a standing army. This is a degeneracy in the principles of liberty... which I [would not have expected for at least] four centuries." --Thomas Jefferson to William Stephens Smith, 1788. (*) FE 5:3

"I consider all the ill as established which may be established. I have a right to nothing which another has a right to take away." --Thomas Jefferson to Uriah Forrest, 1787. ME 6:388, Papers 12:477

"I hope, therefore, a bill of rights will be formed to guard the people against the federal government as they are already guarded against their State governments, in most instances." --Thomas Jefferson to James Madison, 1788. ME 7:98

[wizardoz]

hat the legitimate powers of government reach actions only, and not opinions,

Unless, of course, you commit a "hate" crime.

[golfboy]

And at the same time that the Liberal establishment celebrates Jefferson for his insight into building the "wall" of separation, they are removing his name from a school in Berkley because he owned slaves.

hypocrites.

[lepton]

bookmark bump

[gorush]

Some of my favorite quotes from Madison and Jefferson:

In 1794, when Congress appropriated $15,000 for relief of French refugees who fled from insurrection in San Domingo to Baltimore and Philadelphia, James Madison stood on the floor of the House to object saying, "I cannot undertake to lay my finger on that article of the Constitution which granted a right to Congress of expending, on objects of benevolence, the money of their constituents." -- James Madison, 4 Annals of congress 179 (1794)

James Madison, the Father of the Constitution, elaborated upon this limitation in a letter to James Robertson: With respect to the two words "general welfare," I have always regarded them as qualified by the detail of powers connected with them. To take them in a literal and unlimited sense would be a metamorphosis of the Constitution into a character which there is a host of proofs was not contemplated by its creators. If the words obtained so readily a place in the "Articles of Confederation," and received so little notice in their admission into the present Constitution, and retained for so long a time a silent place in both, the fairest explanation is, that the words, in the alternative of meaning nothing or meaning everything, had the former meaning taken for granted.

"Congress has not unlimited powers to provide for the general welfare, but only those specifically enumerated." --Thomas Jefferson

"To compel a man to furnish contributions of money for the propagation of opinions which he disbelieves and abhors, is sinful and tyrannical." --Thomas Jefferson: Statute of Religious Freedom, 1779

[wizardoz]

And at the same time that the Liberal establishment celebrates Jefferson for his insight into building the "wall" of separation, they are removing his name from a school in Berkley because he owned slaves.

Oh my.... that's a good thing to remember in future arguments with liberals (and there will be future arguments. I teach at LAUSD. I am surrounded by them.)

[D Rider]

Deism was considered by many founding fathers at one time or another. But even the most "enlightened" (I mean this in the European Enlightenment sense), such as Ben Franklin eventually rejected it. The tragedy is that most of us have been taught history by reading historians, not by reading those that the historians are writing about.

[Congressman Billybob]

You might be interested to know that the Madison Building of the Library of Congress has an extensive collection of colonial and revolutionary newspapers on microfilm. I've read about half that collection, and published excerpts from them in articles. Bottom line -- those newspapers were bold, brassy and opinionated. They were more like the tabloids today, than any other type of current newspapers.

Congressman Billybob

Latest column: "Say It Isn't So, Dickie Boy"

[D Rider]

"To compel a man to furnish contributions of money for the propagation of opinions which he disbelieves and abhors, is sinful and tyrannical." --Thomas Jefferson: Statute of Religious Freedom, 1779

That brings abortion to mind.

[Congressman Billybob]

Y'all are both half right. A copy of the new Constitution was sent to Jefferson in Paris. And, he did comment on it including the need for a Bill of Rights and for a restriction against deficit funding.

However, the writing of the Bill of Rights had nothing to do with Jefferson. The state ratifying conventions depended some 200 amendments as the price of ratifying the Constitution. All those requests were turned over to James Madison, newly elected Member of Congress from Virginia.

Madison boiled those down to 17 amendments which passed the House. The Senate then passed 12 of those, of which the States ratified 11. That is not an error. The Bill of Rights contains 11 Amendments, not 10. (See the history of the 27th Amendment, also known as the Madison Amendment.)

Congressman Billybob

Latest column: "Say It Isn't So, Dickie Boy"

[Mylo]

After reading his Autobiography I was left with the impression that he was a Deist. When and where did he reject it? Can you supply a quote in which he repudiates Deism. He was a lifelong skeptic of the supernatural so I somehow doubt he turned his back on this.