Adam Reed continues to re-write American history, as he tells us that: “Madison essentially copied the Bill of Rights from the Virginia Declaration of Rights, which was drafted by Jefferson,” and “Jefferson's letter written in 1802 in response to the Danbury Baptist Association, set in writing Jefferson's reasoning for the Virginia Declaration, which served as a draft of the corresponding provisions of the Bill of Rights, including the First Amendment.” The claim here is that Jefferson wrote the Virginia Declaration, and that Madison “essentially copied” Jefferson’s writing.
As a matter of fact, the Virginia Declaration of Rights was written not by Jefferson, but by George Mason, with some minor, but important participation by James Madison. It is true that this document provided much of the inspiration for the Bill of Rights -- which, again, was written not by Jefferson, but by Madison, who was relying on the work he and Mason had done. Thus, Madison “essentially copied the Bill of Rights” not from Jefferson (or from Jefferson’s reasoning), but from Mason and himself! Further, Madison’s own amendment to the Virginia Declaration, “all men are equally entitled to the free exercise of religion, according to the dictates of conscience,” is clearly the source of the “free exercise” clause of the First Amendment -- not anything that Jefferson later wrote.
Also, ironically, not only was it not Jefferson who influenced Madison in regard to the writing of the Bill of Rights, but also it was Madison and Mason who influenced Jefferson in regard to writing of the Declaration of Independence. The Virginia Declaration, which was adopted by the Virginia Constitutional Convention on June 12, 1776, was drawn upon very shortly thereafter by Jefferson for the opening paragraphs of the Declaration of Independence.
Now, there is some truth to the claim that Jefferson influenced the content of the First Amendment to the Constitution, specifically in regard to the “establishment” clause. However, that role was not present in the 1776 Virginia Declaration (which Mason and Madison wrote), but in Jefferson’s 1777 draft of a bill promoting religious freedom for the state of Virginia. (Perhaps Adam confused this bill in his mind with the earlier Declaration of Rights.) Essentially, that bill proposed to disestablish the Anglican Church (an alternate proposal recognizing a number of other churches being rejected), and Jefferson and Madison promoted the bill for years before it was finally adopted by the Virginia legislature. It is regarded by some as the precursor to the religion clauses of the First Amendment, and it is here that Jefferson “set out his reasoning” in regard to the separation of church and state (though he did not use the phrase at this time). (I will not take up space here to present the text of this bill. It is on the Internet, for those who are interested in reading it, and it’s posted at http://www.religioustolerance.org/virg_bil.htm )
Sorry to be so pedantic about this historical matter, but I am shocked that someone of Adam Reed’s intelligence and scholarly ability would make such a series of errors and then not double-check them when challenged!
More importantly, and in closing, I just want to say: three cheers for James Madison, the Father of the Bill of Rights!
Best to all,
REB
(Edited by Roger Bissell on 7/10, 6:25pm)
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