03 Aug Madison’s different arguments for disestablishment.
Order Instructions
Assignment 6d: Madison Response
Please address each question label as you go
Objective: Summarize Madison’s argument for disestablishment.
Mindset: Acknowledge Madison’s different arguments for disestablishment.
Instructions
The historical background of the Madison document was Thomas Jefferson’s draft of “The Virginia Statue for Religious Freedom” which proposed to disestablish the Anglican Church in Virginia. The issue stalled due to the outbreak of the American Revolution but it remerged in 1784 when Virginia drafted a new state constitution. Opinions were widely divided over church-state relations. Patrick Henry in his “A Bill Establishing a Provision for Teachers of the Christian Religion” of 1784 proposed allowing citizens to earmark which denomination their tax money supported, rather than showing preference to the Anglican Church.
James Madison, in response, favored total disestablishment, and argued that churches were better served by getting government out of their affairs. His response, the “Memorial and Remonstrance Against Religious Assessments” (1785) was a fifteen-point argument that became a milestone in church-state literature.
Read James Madison, Memorial and Remonstrance Against Religious Assessments (1785). (Links to an external site.)https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Madison/01-08-02-0163
Write a 1-2 page double-spaced response that answers the following:
What was the immediate context of Madison’s document?
Why does Madison claim about how well Christianity thrived before Constantine?
What does Madison see as the negative long-term results of its official status in the Roman Empire?
What are his general views about magistrates ruling on religious matters?
Why does he argue that voluntary measures produce better long-term results?
It is not necessary to apply a formatting style for this assignment except when using a source to support your
