The First Freedoms: Church and State in America to the Passage of the First Amendment

by Thomas J. Curry

Overview

From the founding of Virginia to the passage of the Bill of Rights, the role of the First Amendment's religion clauses has never been clearly defined. A thorough examination of America's developing ideas on religious liberty, The First Freedoms presents a bold new interpretation of the Church-State context of colonial and revolutionary America.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780198020684
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	02/29/2000
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
File size:	409 KB

About the Author

Archdiocese of Los Angeles

Table of Contents

1.	The New England Way in Church and State to 1691	1
2.	Church and State in Seventeenth-Century Virginia and Maryland	29
3.	Church and State in the Restoration Colonies	54
4.	Liberty of Conscience in Eighteenth-Century Colonial America	78
5.	Establishment of Religion in Colonial America	105
6.	Religion and Government in Revolutionary America Part I: The Southern States	134
7.	Religion and Government in Revolutionary America Part II: The Middle States and New England	159
8.	"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof...,"	193
	Notes	223
	Index	269

Editorial Reviews

"Carefully rooted in the historical setting....Not only historians but also judges and lawyers should consult this book."—American Historical Review

"A balanced and insightful survey."—North Carolina Historical Review

"The writing is clear; the arguments are carefully crafted; the conclusions are judiciously stated. There are flashes of humor throughout....This is a superb and important book that deserves a wide audience."—The William and Mary Quarterly

"Will be immensely useful as a summary of how religious institutions and governments interacted throughout the century and a half of colonial experience."—Reviews in American History

"[An] excellent new book."—Church & State

"An excellent, comprehensive book, rooted in the relevant primary and secondary literature....The definitive guide to church and state in colonial America."—America

"A magnificent history of church-state relations in America prior to the ratification of the Bill of Rights."—Harvard Review

"Given the current importance of the religious issue in the U.S., this study should prove enlightening."—CHOICE

"A good synthetic survey of the developments in the colonial period leading up to the ratification of the first amendment...[Curry] has brought the entire story together for easy access by students of American history and religion."—Religious Studies Review

"This is a useful book for scholars of church-state relations in the colonial period and for those trying to evaluate and respond to the "intentionalist" views of the First Amendment currently advocated by the Right Wing."—Church History

"Excellent. [Its] new, creative approach [is] much appreciated!"—Kathy J. Pulley, Southwest Missouri State University

From the Publisher