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This book follows the campaign to disestablish religion in Virginia from 1776 to 1786, when Thomas Jefferson s bill to establish religious freedom was passed. This volume seeks to tell the story of Jefferson and James Madison s collaboration with Virginia s religious dissenters; in doing so, Neill works to understand why religion was disestablished in Virginia. Neill argues that despite their religious differences these unlikely allies shared a basic understanding of what religious freedom meant and how best to secure it: by severing the ties between church and state.
List of contents
Chapter 1 Revolution: From Toleration to Religious Freedom.- Chapter 2 James Madison: The Making of a Religious Freedom Fighter.- Chapter 3 The Virginia Declaration of Rights: The Opening Salvo in the Struggle for Religious Freedom, 1776.- Chapter 4 Stalemate, 1779: Religious Establishment or Religious Freedom?.- Chapter 5 The Revisal of Laws: Thomas Jefferson and the Bill for Establishing Religious Freedom.- Chapter 6 The General Assessment Returns: The Dissenters Mobilize 1783-1785.- Chapter 7 Mobilizing in Defense of Religious Freedom: The Allies Make Their Case, 1785.- Chapter 8 Establishing Religious Freedom: The Showdown in the General Assembly, 1785.- Chapter 9 Separating Church and State: The Theory of Religious Freedom that United Virginia s Enlightened Statesmen with Religious Dissenters.
About the author
Debra Neill is a lecturer at the College of Integrative Sciences and Arts at Arizona State University Polytechnic Campus, USA. She received her PhD in History from Arizona State University and has published in Virginia Magazine of History and Biography and Journal of Southern History.
Summary
This book follows the campaign to disestablish religion in Virginia from 1776 to 1786, when Thomas Jefferson’s bill to establish religious freedom was passed. This volume seeks to tell the story of Jefferson and James Madison’s collaboration with Virginia’s religious dissenters; in doing so, Neill works to understand why religion was disestablished in Virginia. Neill argues that despite their religious differences these unlikely allies shared a basic understanding of what religious freedom meant and how best to secure it: by severing the ties between church and state.
