Religion and Politics in the Early Republic: Jasper Adams and the Church-State Debate

By Daniel L. Dreisbach

Book Overview

The church-state debate currently alive in our courts and legislatures is strikingly similar to that of the 1830s. A secular drift in American culture and the role of religion in a pluralistic society were concerns that dominated the controversy then, as now. In Religion and Politics in the Early Republic , Daniel L. Dreisbach compellingly argues that the issues in our current debate were framed in earlier centuries by documents crucial to an understanding of church-state relations, the First Amendment, and our present concern with the constitutional role of religion in American public life. Reflection on this national discussion of more than 150 years ago casts light on both past and future relations between church and state in America. In an 1833 sermon, "The Relation of Christianity to Civil Government in the United States," the Reverend Jasper Adams of Charleston, South Carolina, an eminent educator and moral philosopher, offered valuable insight into the social and political forces that shaped church-state relations in his time. Adams argued that the Christian religion is indis-pensable to social order and national prosperity. Although he opposed the establishment of a state church, he believed that a Christian ethic should inform all civil, legal, and political institutions. Adams's remarkably prescient discourse anticipated the emergence of a dominant secular culture and its inevitable conflict with the formerly ascendant religious establishment. His treatise was the first major work from the embattled religious traditionalists controverting Thomas Jefferson's vision of a secular polity and strict church-state separation. Eager to confirm his analysis, Adams sent copies of the sermon to scores of leading intellectuals and public figures of his day. In this volume, Dreisbach brings together for the first time Adams's sermon, a critical review of the treatise, and transcripts of previously unpublished letters written in response to it by James Madison, John Marshall, Joseph Story, and J.S. Richardson. These letters provide a rare glimpse into the minds of several influential statesmen and jurists who were central in shaping the republic and its institutions. The Story and Madison letters are among their authors1 final and most perceptive pronouncements on church-state relations. The documents that Dreisbach has assembled in this edition provide a vivid portrait of early nineteenth-century thought on the constitutional role of religion in public life. Our ongoing national discussion of this topic is illuminated by the debate encapsulated in these pages.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0813108802
• ISBN13: 9780813108803
• Release Date: February 1996
• Publisher: University Press of Kentucky
• Length: 240 Pages
• Weight: 0.90 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 6.0" x 8.9"
• Grade Range: Postsecondary and higher

Customer Reviews

Another Dreisbach masterpiece.

This is the second of Dreisbach's books which I have read, the first being REAL THREAT AND MERE SHADOW, with which he won my admiration. The research Dreisbach puts into his work is second to no one and this book follows in that vain. With this book, Dreisbach further promotes the proof that the United States were founded upon Christian principles. With this installment, Dreisbach gives a microscopic examination of a sermon given by Reverend Jasper Adams at St. Michael's Church in Charleston, S.C. on 13 February 1833. The sermon was subsequently published in its entirety and widely distributed. Reverend Adams sent out numerous copies to prominent statesmen and other prominent figures urging their review of its content. Some notables who responded to the request were Mr. Justice Joseph Story, former president and constitutional architect James Madison, and Chief Supreme Court Justice John Marshall. Adams' sermon was aptly named "The Relation of Christianity to Civil Government in the United States." Following an extraordinarily informative introduction, PART ONE of the book examines the sermon itself, followed by Rev. Adams' notes on the sermon. PART TWO examines some of the notable responses which it produced. The book is completed with an Epilog and Four Appendix that give the reader a great deal of information on the life of Rev. Adams, as well as a remarkable Bibliography. As with the other work I have read from this author, Dreisbach's research is beyond reproach and he makes an impregnable and irrefutable case for the role that Christianity has played in the establishment of the United States as a nation. I highly recommend this book and anxiously await the opportunity to read Dreisbach's other books. Monty Rainey www.juntosociety.com