Topic: Religion
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Lutheran Church
This print shows Old Lutheran Church, a German congregation in Philadelphia. The large building with its distinctive architecture was begun in 1769 to serve the city’s growing numbers of German-speaking...
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Massachusetts Constitution
The 1780 Massachusetts constitution allowed religious toleration, but it also mandated tax-funded religious instruction by teachers who were Protestant. Unlike Jefferson and his colleagues in Virginia, Massachusetts leaders assumed that...
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Memorial and Remonstrance Against Religious Assessments
James Madison opposed Patrick Henry’s 1784 bill for tax-supported religion in Virginia. In this pamphlet refuting Henry’s arguments, Madison described religious liberty as a natural right. For Madison, that meant...Media › audio
Notes on the State of Virginia Query 17 (Audio)
This is a dramatic reading of Query 17, Religion, from Thomas Jefferson’s only book-length publication, Notes on the State of Virginia. Jefferson wrote the work during the early 1780s in...
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Quebec Act
The Quebec Act of 1774 was a law passed by Parliament that established the structure of government for Canadian territory acquired by Britain as a result of the French and...
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St. Paul’s Church
This drawing by the American architect Robert Mills depicts St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Lower Manhattan. British generals worshipped here when they occupied New York City during the War for...
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Synagogue in Charleston
This print shows the Beth Elohim synagogue in Charleston, South Carolina. Although Jews were living in Charleston as early as 1695, they had no formally organized congregation until the 1740s....
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The Age of Reason
In his book The Age of Reason, Thomas Paine argued that churches, like governments, oppressed people and took their property and their rights. In 1776, many Americans agreed with Paine’s...
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The Federal Edifice, from the Massachusetts Centinel
This image is a political cartoon published during the debate over the ratification of the U.S. Constitution. It reflects the fact that by August 1788 eleven of the 13 states...
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