The First Amendment
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it would have chosen to establish the Episcopal Church, related to the
Church of England. For Episcopalians constituted the most numerous
and influential Christian denomination in the United States. Had the
Episcopal Church been so established nationally, the Congregational
Church would have been disestablished in Massachusetts and Connecticut. Therefore, Fisher Ames and his Massachusetts constituents in 1789
were eager for a constitutional amendment that would not permit Congress to establish any national church or disestablish any State church.
The motive of James Madison for advocating the Establishment Clause
of the First Amendment was somewhat different. Madison believed that
for the Federal government to establish one church—the Episcopal
Church, say—would vex the numerous Congregationalist, Presbyterian,
Baptist, Methodist, Quaker, and other religious denominations. After all,
it seemed hard enough to hold the United States together in those first
months of the Constitution without stirring up religious controversies.
So Madison, who was generally in favor of religious toleration, strongly
advocated an Establishment Clause on the ground that it would avert
disunity in the Republic.
In short, the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment was not intended as a declaration of governmental hostility toward religion, or
even of governmental neutrality in the debate between believers and
non-believers. It was simply a device for keeping religious passions out
of American politics. The phrase ‘‘or prohibiting the free exercise thereof’’
was meant to keep the Congress from ever meddling in the disputes
among religious bodies or interfering with the mode of worship.
During the nineteenth century, at least, State governments would have
been free to establish State churches, had they desired to do so. The Establishment Clause restrained only Congress—not State legislatures. But
the States were no more interested in establishing a particular church
than was Congress, and the two New England States where Congregationalism was established eventually gave up their establishments—
Connecticut in 1818, Massachusetts in 1833.
The remainder of the First Amendment is a guarantee of reasonable
freedom of speech, publication, assembly, and petition. A key word in
this declaration that the Congress must not abridge these freedoms is the