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The Father of the First Amendment: James Madison’s Influence on Religious Liberty
Robert Merle
HIUS 530: American Christian Heritage
Summer 2025 Subterm D
Kemp Burpeau
August 10, 2025
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Introduction
On March 4, 1809, before both chambers of Congress, James Madison delivered a seven-
paragraph inaugural address to the nation before assuming the office of President of the United
States. Standing at 5'4, Madison was small in stature even for the era, and what he lacked in
height was compensated for through knowledge, political savvy, and a determined belief in a
republican form of government. “Little Jemmy,” as he was affectionately referred to by his
contemporaries, was elected as the 4th president of the United States as the culmination of his
over four decades in American politics.
Madison’s impressive career began as a delegate to the Virginia Constitutional
Convention, member of the Continental Congress, delegate to the Constitutional Convention,
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives, Secretary of State, all before his eventual
ascension to the Oval Office. With an illustrious career in American politics, Madison is
remembered for a multitude of accomplishments throughout the founding era and early republic.
One such lasting impact Madison had upon the nation was his fundamental view of religious
freedom as a key pillar in the new republic. James Madison viewed religious freedom as a
guaranteed natural right rooted in individual conscience and believed that government must
remain entirely separate from religion to protect that freedom. His commitment to these
principles was stated in numerous published documents, but also directly influenced the drafting
of the First Amendment. Madison ensured that the U.S. Constitution would safeguard both the
free exercise of religion and the prohibition of religious establishment.
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Youth and the College of New Jersey
James Madison was born on 16 March 1751, in King George's County, Virginia. His
parents were visiting his maternal grandmother's plantation before returning to their plantation,
later referred to as Montpelier in Orange County, Virginia.1 James Madison Sr in 1751 owned
over 2,800 acres, making him the wealthiest landowner in the county and allowing for the young
eldest son to receive a great education throughout his childhood and teenage years.2 Madison was
born into the Virginia plantation gentry who sat utop the social hierarchy of the colonies'
inhabitants. Similar to the childhood of his fellow founders Thomas Jefferson and James Monroe,
Madison was to be schooled and educated to eventually take positions in government and
politics. The hope was that slim, built, and small Madison would receive a well-rounded
education and be able to play a role in Virginia’s politics while also overseeing his family
plantation.
Due to the family’s wealth, the young James Madison received schooling within the home
throughout his childhood. Around the age of seventeen or eighteen, Madison had to make the key
decision of which educational institution he would choose to continue his schooling. It is through
his decision to choose the College of New Jersey(later changed to Princeton) over that of
William and Mary that the early formation of Madison’s religious views and beliefs began to
coalesce. Raised in an Anglican household and choosing a Presbyterian institution was against
the norm of the Virginia plantation class. Jeff Broadwater writes, “In fact, Princeton’s biases,
both religious and political, may have been part of the institution’s appeal. A Scottish divine,
1 Jeff Broadwater, “Religion and Revolution,” in James Madison: A Son of Virginia and a Founder of the Nation
(Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2012), 1–
28,
https://doi.org/10.5149/9780807869918_broadwater.4. 2
Broadwater, “Religion and Revolution,” 1–28.
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John Witherspoon, had become president of Princeton in 1768 and quickly established a
reputation as a champion of evangelical Christianity and religious toleration. Contemporary
critics accused Witherspoon of turning the college into “a seminary of sedition.”A modern
historian has called it “a kind of West Point for dissenting Presbyterianism.” Madison must have
known what he was getting into, and presumably it was what he wanted.”2
It is here at Princeton that the young James Madison’s views on government and religion
were developed. Entering at age eighteen, Madison arrived with a strong prior educational
background, allowing him to skip his freshman year and go on to eventually complete a four-
year curriculum in only two years through his driven work ethic. 3 At Princeton, Madison took
courses in Latin, Greek, mathematics, ethics, philosophy, and natural science. The rigorous
curriculum also exposed the young Virginian to the works of the great Enlightenment thinkers
such as Montesquieu, Locke, and Hume.4 The diversified curriculum and Princeton's location
provided a unique educational setting for its students to develop their own beliefs. The school
was located in the small town of Princeton, away from “any corruption” from outside sources
that the young men could be exposed to if they were in a larger city. It was in this cloistered
environment that, under the tutelage of John Witherspoon, Princeton allowed for Madison and
his peers to expand their views through discourse and debate that would have been forbidden at
other institutions.
“Though college education in the eighteenth century was every where prescribed and
authoritarian by modern standards, the stated goal at Princeton was remarkably liberal: "In the
2 Broadwater, “Religion and Revolution,” 4
3 Ralph Ketcham, “James Madison at Princeton,” The Princeton University Library Chronicle 28, no. 1 (1966): 24–54,
https://doi.org/10.2307/26409692.
4 Joseph Loconte, “Faith and the Founding: The Influence of Religion on the Politics of James Madison,” Journal of
Church and State 45, no. 4 (2003): 699–715, http://www.jstor.org/stable/23920935.
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instruction of the youth, care is taken to cherish a spirit of liberty, and free enquiry; and not only
to permit, but even encourage their right of private judgment, without presuming to dictate with
an air of infallibility, or demanding an implicit assent to the decisions of the preceptor."5 Madison
and many of his classmates would go on to become fervent revolutionaries in the years to come,
motivated by their belief in republicanism, enlightened thought, and morality. It was from 1769
to 1771 at Princeton that Madison developed his belief in religious toleration. The college saw
students from all over the colonies and from different denominations attend the institution.67
Witherspoon’s liberal views on toleration and students' individualism fostered this foundational
belief in James Madison. After leaving the college and returning home to Virginia, Madison
would put his views on government and religion into practice.
Memorial and Remonstrance Against Religious Assessments(1784) and the Virginia Statute
for Religious Freedom (1785)
After graduating and returning home to Virginia, Madison would begin his career in state
and then national politics that would define the rest of his life. Serving as a delegate to the
Virginia Convention in 1776 to help craft the state's first constitution and then later as a member
of the Continental Congress from 1780-1783, he was closely integrated in the crafting of
government institutions and principles at both the state and national levels.8 The young politican
saw the failures and inabilities of the Constituional Convention to govern the nation effectively
under the insufficient Articles of Confederation and would push for him to advocate for a much
5 Ketcham, “James Madison at Princeton,”
6 Ralph Ketcham, James Madison and Religious Liberty (Washington, DC: The Heritage Foundation, March 16,
7 ), accessed July 7, 2025, https://www.heritage.org/political-process/report/james-madison-and-religious-liberty.
8 A. E. Dick Howard, “James Madison and the Constitution,” The Wilson Quarterly 9, no. 3 (1985): 80–91,
http://www.jstor.org/stable/40256894.
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stronger national government that would be unveiled in the later Constitutional Convention in
1787. 9
It is between the years of his role in the Continental Congress and the Constitutional
Convention that Madison’s views on religious freedom and toleration are exposed for the first
time. In 1784, Patrick Henry, the linchpin in Virginia state politics, proposed a general tax called
the Bill Establishing a Provision for Teachers of the Christian Religion.10 Similar laws and taxes
had been established in parts of New England, which would allow citizens to choose which
churches and ministers would receive the funds, or it may be regulated by the state government.11
Patrick Henry and other state leaders grew worried about the growing disassociation with
members of the colony and its Anglican church, and believed such funds would enable the
church to once again cultivate the state population into active participation. James Madison
became a vocal opponent of the bill and challenged his senior partner and colleague, Patrick
Henry, in its justification.12 Madison would pen his key arguments against the bill in what
became known as the Memorial and Remonstrance Against Religious Assessments, published in
1785.13 His arguments against the bill were structured into fifteen major arguments and a
denunciation of the bill's passing. Madison’s first main argument carries the powerful message
that would become the bedrock for the later 1st Amendment. Madison states,
“Because we hold it for a fundamental and undeniable truth, “that Religion or the
duty which we owe to our Creator and the manner of discharging it, can be
9 Jay Cost, James Madison: America's First Politician (New York: Basic Books, 2021).
10 Thomas Lindsay, “James Madison on Religion and Politics: Rhetoric and Reality,” The American Political Science
Review 85, no. 4 (1991): 1321–37, https://doi.org/10.2307/1963948.
11 Donald L. Drakeman, “Religion and the Republic: James Madison and the First Amendment,” Journal of Church
and State 25, no. 3 (1983): 427–45, http://www.jstor.org/stable/23916570.
12 James Madison, Memorial and Remonstrance Against Religious Assessments, June 20, 1785, in The Papers of
James Madison, ed. William T. Hutchinson et al., vol. 8 (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1973)
13 Madison, Memorial and Remonstrance Against Religious Assessments
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directed only by reason and conviction, not by force or violence.” [Virginia
Declaration of Rights, art. 16] The Religion then of every man must be left to the
conviction and conscience of every man; and it is the right of every man to exercise
it as these may dictate. This right is in its nature an unalienable right. It is
unalienable, because the opinions of men, depending only on the evidence
contemplated by their own minds cannot follow the dictates of other men: It is
unalienable also, because what is here a right towards men, is a duty towards the
Creator. It is the duty of every man to render to the Creator such homage and such
only as he believes to be acceptable to him. This duty is precedent, both in order of
time and in degree of obligation, to the claims of Civil Society. Before any man can
be considered as a member of Civil Society, he must be considered as a subject of
the Governour of the Universe: And if a member of Civil Society, who enters into
any subordinate Association, must always do it with a reservation of his duty to the
General Authority; much more must every man who becomes a member of any
particular Civil Society, do it with a saving of his allegiance to the Universal
Sovereign. We maintain therefore that in matters of Religion, no mans right is
abridged by the institution of Civil Society and that Religion is wholly exempt from
its cognizance. True it is, that no other rule exists, by which any question which
may divide a Society, can be ultimately determined, but the will of the majority; but
it is also true that the majority may trespass on the rights of the minority.”14
The belief that religion is a matter between the individual and God and not a matter of the state is
Madison's first and longest point he argues for. Some of the key themes he states in the other 14
are: religion cannot be compelled by force, government interference corrupts religion, religious
diversity is inevitable, state-supported religion divides society, religion thrives best when free
from state control, and religious freedom is a safeguard from tyranny.15 These lasting and core
principles expose Madison’s foundational views on government and religion, but also would
become lasting American principles. Through his well-worded and logical rebuttal to the bill, his
Remonstrance gained support across Virginia and garnered attention from others around the
colonies. Through his lobbying, political acumen, and logical debate, Madison was able to see
that the bill did not pass.16
14 James Madison, Memorial and Remonstrance Against Religious Assessments, June 20, 1785, Bill of Rights
Institute, accessed July 7, 2025, https://billofrightsinstitute.org/primary-sources/memorial-and-remonstrance
15 Ketcham, James Madison and Religious Liberty
16 Lindsay, “James Madison on Religion and Politics: Rhetoric and Reality,”
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James Madison’s Remonstrance stands as a key moment in his political career, but also in
the development of religious freedom within the United States. His well-written and logical
argument found a home among the revolutionary generation that welcomed his egalitarian and
enlightened views on the balance between government and religion. Following his successful
defeat of Patrick Henry’s bill in the Virginia legislature, Madison would play a crucial role in the
passage of Thomas Jefferson’s Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom. The bill that Jefferson had
written was initially proposed in 1779, and it was not brought before the legislature until 1786.
By this time, Jefferson was serving as Minister to France and was kept informed on the bill's
progress by his close friend and colleague, James Madison.17 Despite not being the bill's author,
Madison would go on to do much of the heavy lifting and the lobbying for the bill's passage. The
statute guaranteed the separation of church and state within Virginia, freedom and choice of
religion without fear of persecution, and removed the Anglican church as the official church of
the state. 18Virginia’s declaration served as the first of its kind within the United States. Its
guarantees were promised three years before the eventual Establishment Clause that would be
added to the U.S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights.19209 “The bill passed in January 1786 with
only minor amendments. Madison reported his victory to Jefferson almost immediately: “I flatter
myself [that we] have in this country extinguished for ever the ambitious hope of making laws
for the human mind.” Jefferson ranked the bill among his greatest accomplishments, and
historians have usually described it as an almost unprecedented blow for religious liberty.”21
17 Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom, Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello, accessed August 10, 2025,
https://www.monticello.org/research-education/thomas-jefferson-encyclopedia/virginia-statute-religious-freedom
/.
18 Vincent Phillip Muñoz, “James Madison’s Principle of Religious Liberty,” American Political Science Review 97, no.
19 (2003): 17–32, https://doi.org/10.2307/3118218.
20 Muñoz, “James Madison’s Principle of Religious Liberty,”
21 Broadwater, “Religion and Revolution,” 25
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Madison, now age 36, was a seasoned state and national delegate across some of the most crucial
years of the revolutionary era. His intellect, oration, and written arguments had become honed
and improved through his prior stints in government, and now, infused with his own beliefs on
government and religion, he could push and craft a future for the nation that he wholeheartedly
believed in.22 A fervent nationalist at heart, Madison’s contributions to the discussion and
protection of religion in Virginia would have tremendous consequences for the nation going
forward. His vision for a national government that balanced republicanism and enlightened ideals
would drive Madison throughout the Constitutional Convention. Through his collaboration with
other framers, he was also able to establish key religious principles that he had advocated for first
in Virginia and then subsequently on the national stage. It was through these efforts that James
Madison would earn the title of “Father of the Constitution”.
The Constitutional Convention and the Bill of Rights
During the Constitutional Convention and subsequent role in the House of
Representatives, Madison would play a critical role in the crafting, debate, and first legislation in
the newly formed government. Disagreements arose throughout the convention over a multitude
of issues spanning representation, separation of powers, checks and balances, slavery, and a
diverse range of other issues. Upon its final draft and subsequent sending to the states for
ratification, there were opponents to the government clamoring against its adoption. Referred to
as Anti-Federalists, this group of individuals features the likes of Patrick Henry, George Mason,
Richard Henry Lee, and Samuel Adams, who fervently believed that individual rights would be
violated without a Bill of Rights. 23
22 Broadwater, “Religion and Revolution,” 26
23 Howard, “James Madison and the Constitution,”
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Madison initially opposed the adoption of a Bill of Rights, believing that it was not
necessary and, under the defining principles of the Constitution, individual rights would be
protected. However, Madison over time changed his mindset to lobby, advocate, and eventually
spearhead the addition of the Bill of Rights as a member of Congress. The addition of the Bill of
Rights would help further create unity among the nation and remove the main motive of
opposition to the Constitution's ratification and implementation.24 Madison became the champion
of their addition. In his notes on the proceedings, Madison stated in his initial draft of the 1st
amendment as,
“That in article 1st, section 9, between clauses 3 and 4, be inserted these clauses,
to wit, The civil rights of none shall be abridged on account of religious belief or
worship, nor shall any national religion be established, nor shall the full and
equal rights of conscience be in any manner, or on any pretext infringed. The
people shall not be deprived or abridged of their right to speak, to write, or to
publish their sentiments; and the freedom of the press, as one of the great bulwarks
of liberty, shall be inviolable. The people shall not be restrained from peaceably
assembling and consulting for their common good; nor from applying to the
legislature by petitions, or remonstrances for redress of their grievances.”25
The establishment of freedom of religion, press, assembly, and petition to the government was all
enshrined in the 1st Amendment. Although the final wording of the amendment would undergo
some changes and be defined as more limited than that of Madison’s initial drafting of the free
religion clause. Madison's draft received changes from other members of the congressional
committees, and in his writings, he expressed his desire to have had clearly stated the prevention
of religious persecution being stated in the clause. Despite that wording being stricken from the
final amendment, which reads as,
24 Howard, “James Madison and the Constitution,”
25 James Madison, “Amendments to the Constitution,” [8 June] 1789, in The Papers of James Madison, vol. 12, 2
March 1789–20 January 1790 and supplement 24 October 1775–24 January 1789, ed. Charles F. Hobson and
Robert A. Rutland (Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1979), 196–210, accessed July 7, 2025,
https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Madison/01-12-02-0126.
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“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free
exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people
peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”26 The clause
explicitly states the right to freedom of religion, the separation of church and state, and any
government interference with religion.
These momentous words have created a key principle that has become a focal point of
American society and structure. Madison did not alone undergo this undertaking, but it is
difficult to understate how pivotal a role he played in the 1st amendment’s creation. The
enshrinement of the right to religious freedom and toleration became another accomplishment in
the distinguished career of James Madison. His moral and personal balance of government and
religion would continue to guide him as he went on to serve the new republic in various
capacities. As a member of the House of Representatives, Secretary of State, and then ultimately
as President of the United States, Madison’s influence on the new nation’s religious freedom
would only continue to be defined.
Presidency and Later Writings
James Madison would serve as Secretary of State under Thomas Jefferson before
becoming the 4th President of the United States in 1809. His two terms in office saw the United
States declare war on Great Britain in 1812, which led to a myriad of military defeats and
setbacks and the destruction of Washington, D.C., before eventual American victory. Despite the
turbulence of events during Madison’s tenure as president, on his leaving office in 1816, he
26 Bill of Rights, National Archives, accessed August 10, 2025, https://www.archives.gov/founding-docs/bill-of-
rights-transcript.
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helped usher in a period of domestic peace and prosperity commonly referred to as the “Era of
Good Feelings”.
As President, Madison twice vetoed bills that he thought violated the establishment
clauses of the First Amendment.27 In one case, Congress had passed "An Act incorporating the
Protestant Episcopal Church in the town of Alexandria, in the District of Columbia."28 President
Madison vetoed the act, believing that the church’s finances would now be at the hands of
government regulation. Only one week later, Madison would go on to veto another church-
related bill that emerged from Congress as well. The bill, "An act for the relief of . . . the Baptist
Church at Salem Meeting House, in the Mississippi Territory," stated that government-owned
property be allocated for the the creation of a Baptist Church in the state.29 The President stated
that the bill "comprises a principle and precedent for the appropriation of funds of the United
States for the use and support of religious societies, contrary to the article of the Constitution.”30
Despite these actions during his tenure in office, Madison would also commit acts that
went against his strict interpretation of views on the separation of church and state. For example,
he recommended the appointment of the first congressional chaplain, national days of prayer
during the War of 1812, and often evoked religious beliefs in his public statements and
speeches.31 After leaving the White House, Madison wrote what became referred to as his
“Detached Memoranda” in 1820. In this retrospective writing, the founding father looked back
upon the strengths and weaknesses of the U.S. Constitution and the challenges that have arisen in
the new republic in the thirty years since its inception. 31
27 Drakeman, “Religion and the Republic: James Madison and the First Amendment,”
28 Ibid
29 Ibid
30 Ibid
31 Ibid
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Within his writings, he also shares his views on his actions taken as president and key
principles that the government needs to protect and uphold. He viewed some of his
proclamations and actions as president as violating his own belief in the separation of church and
state, and his use of religion within public declarations during a time of war was to try and
promote unity during a time of great hardships for the nation. Writing from a perspective to
possibly justify and enhance his reputation in his later years of life, Madison, in many of his later
writings, emerges as the senior statesman and “sage” on many government debates and issues in
the early republic era.32
In 1822, Madison openly discussed in great detail his personal views on religious
freedom and the necessity of no government interference in a letter to Edward Livingstone.
Madison states, "I observe with particular pleasure the view you have taken of the immunity of
Religion from Civil Jurisdiction, in every case where it does not trespass on private rights or the
public peace. This has always been a favorite point with me..."33 and goes on to further write,
"...it was not with my approbation, that the deviation from it took place in Congress when they
appointed Chaplains to be paid from the national Treasury. It would have been a much better
proof... if the members had contributed for the purpose, a pittance from their own pockets." 34
31 Muñoz, “James Madison’s Principle of Religious Liberty,”
32 Cost, James Madison: America's First Politician
33 James Madison, From James Madison to Edward Livingston, 10 July 1822, in The Papers of James Madison,
Retirement Series, vol. 2, 1 February 1820 – 26 February 1823, ed. David B. Mattern, J. C. A. Stagg, Mary Parke
Johnson, and Anne Mandeville Colony (Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2013), 542–545, accessed July 7,
2025, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Madison/04-02-02-0471.
34 Ibid
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Later in the letter, he discusses his views on executive proclamations of religious
observances, "There has been another deviation from the strict principle, in the Executive
Proclamations of fasts and festivals... I was always careful to make the Proclamations absolutely
indiscriminate, and merely recommendatory; or rather mere designations of a day... according to
their own faith & forms."32 Furthermore, his belief as stated in his Memorial and Remonstrance
that government interference upon religion would, "...the tendency to such a Coalition [between
government and religion], and such its corrupting influence on both the parties, that the danger
can not be too carefully guarded against."33 Ultimately, he believes that the separation will lead
to, "...every new example will succeed, as every past one has done, in shewing that Religion &
Govt. will both exist in greater purity, the less they are mixed together."
Conclusion
James Madison would pass away on June 28, 1836, at age 85, at his home in Montpelier,
Virginia. As one of the last of the surviving founding fathers, Madison’s wisdom and leadership
were called upon several times throughout the 1820s and 1830s on issues dealing with
constitutionality and even the nullification crisis during Andrew Jackson’s presidency.34 James
Madison’s role in the founding of the nation places him in the pantheon of his contemporaries,
such as Washington, Jefferson, Adams, and Franklin. Madison’s unique brand of republican
government would help drive the formation of one of the key fundamental rights in the United
States. It was the early formation of his beliefs at Princeton and the defense and pronouncements
of these in his Memorial and Remonstrance and support for the Virginia Statute of Religious
Freedom that would see his views become permanently established in the Bill of Rights. In the
32 Madison, From James Madison to Edward Livingston
33 Ibid
34 Cost, James Madison: America's First Politician
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years following its creation, Madison worked diligently to protect and defend the separation of
church and state and religious toleration and freedom. In working with numerous key founding
fathers and statesmen of the era, the establishment of the 1st amendment is a lasting achievement
in an illustrious career. To best summarize the sometimes hard-to-read Madison, it is a line from
his Remonstrance in 1785. “The Religion then of every man must be left to the conviction and
conscience of every man.”35 that best states his views on religion and government. Driven by a
strong sense of duty, nationalist identity, and morality, it was Madison’s belief in individual
freedoms and liberty that helped establish such a monumental and pivotal American value and
right.
35 James Madison, Memorial and Remonstrance Against Religious Assessments, June 20, 1785, Bill of Rights
Institute, accessed July 7, 2025, https://billofrightsinstitute.org/primary-sources/memorial-and-remonstrance.
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