In part one I argued that Thomas Jefferson would likely support the display of the Ten Commandments on public property. I based my conclusion on the fact that Jefferson was a creationist. As a creationist, Jefferson believed that government as an institution had a moral responsibility to the Creator and that government was accountable to God. This view is clearly stated in the Declaration of Independence. In addition, I discussed how modern secularists read the Constitution. Modern secularists divorce the Constitution from the Declaration of Independence. Consequently, their understanding of the First Amendment and the separation of church and state differs considerably from the generation who wrote the Constitution. This month I conclude my article concerning Jefferson and the Ten Commandments.
There is more direct evidence than the Declaration of Independence to suggest that Thomas Jefferson would support the display of the Ten Commandments. This evidence concerns his activities in Virginia from 1776 to 1779. Based on what Jefferson did during this period, I think a reasonable person would be justified to conclude that he would support the display of the Ten Commandments on public property.
From 1776 to 1779, Jefferson was rewriting the laws of Virginia. He wanted Virginia law to be stripped of its colonial and monarchical qualities. He wanted the law to reflect republican principles. Jefferson was so committed to this effort that he turned down a mission to France in 1776 in order to do it.
Jefferson was rewriting the laws of Virginia as a member of the "Committee of Revisors." This committee was formed by the Virginia House and Senate late in 1776. Various men were approved to serve on the Committee of Revisors such as George Mason. However, for various reasons, the committee membership ended up with Thomas Jefferson, Edmund Pendleton and George Wythe. Jefferson was chairman.
The committee met for the first time in Fredericksburg in January 1777. On June 18, 1779, the committee concluded its work. The committee recommended 126 bills for the Virginia House and Senate to pass. Some of the bills had been submitted earlier for consideration. Without question, the most famous bill on the list of 126 bills was Bill No. 82. This was Jefferson’s historic "A Bill for Establishing Religious Freedom." The U.S. Supreme Court has said that they look to this bill to find the meaning of the First Amendment. However on this list of 126 bills, there was one bill that directly related to the Ten Commandments. This was Bill No. 84. Jefferson personally wrote Bills No. 82 and 84. Bill No. 84 was titled: "A Bill for Punishing Disturbers of Religious Worship and Sabbath Breakers." In this bill, Jefferson addressed three subjects. First, that no "officer, for any civil cause, shall arrest any minister of the gospel . . . while such minister shall be publicly preaching or performing religious worship in any church . . ." Second, ". . . if any person shall of purpose, maliciously, or contemptuously, disquiet or disturb any congregation assembled . . . or misuse any such minister being there . . . " that person shall remain in prison until the next court be held and if convicted be fined or imprisoned. Finally, "If any person on Sunday shall himself be found labouring at his own or any other trade or calling . . . except it be in the ordinary household offices of daily necessity . . . or charity, he shall forfeit the sum of ten shillings for every such offense . . . " This punishment was extended to masters who worked their slaves on Sunday as well. In this bill, Jefferson is proposing that the government of Virginia fine anyone who violated the Sabbath. The Sabbath of course concerns the Fourth Commandment in the Ten Commandments. The Sabbath honors God as the Creator. Logic and reason suggest that if someone would propose a state law to protect the Fourth Commandment, then it is unlikely he or she would oppose the display of the Fourth Commandment on public property. In my opinion, Bill No. 84 settles it. Jefferson would not oppose the display of the Ten Commandments on state public property. He would not consider it to be a violation of the separation of church and state.
What is not clear however, concerns the display of the Ten Commandments on federal property. Would Jefferson support the display of the Ten Commandments on U.S. Government property pursuant to an act of Congress? There can be no question that he would support a display on state property. (In the case of the Fourth Commandment at least, he even would impose a fine for a violation.) However, it is unclear what Jefferson would think of a display on U.S. Government property. We must remember that Jefferson was a committed federalist. He drew very sharp distinctions between federal matters and state matters. What is proper for one government to do may not be proper for another. For Jefferson, what might be ok for a state government might not be ok for Congress. Without question, Jefferson would apply the separation of church and state differently to the federal government than a state government. Today, most Americans consider the difference between the federal government and the state governments to be largely a matter of size. In Jefferson’s day, it went much deeper than that. The question of jurisdiction was a big one. In Jefferson’s day, religious issues were strictly a state matter. The states had total jurisdiction over religion pursuant to the Tenth Amendment to the Bill of Rights. Thus, a state was free to maintain or abolish a state church or religion. Thankfully, the states on their own initiative abolished state churches/religions by 1833. Massachusetts was the last hold out. In 1833, official Puritanism finally came to an end in Massachusetts. The states had total jurisdiction over religion until 1940. In 1940, the religion clauses in the First Amendment became binding on the states for the first time. This change was the result of a U.S. Supreme Court decision called Cantwell v. Connecticut, 310 U.S. 296 (1940.)
The arguments for a display of the Ten Commandments on federal property supported by Jefferson are as follows: 1) Jefferson as President regularly attended church services on U.S. Government property. 2) Jefferson as President gave federal tax money to missionaries to convert the Indians to Christianity. And 3) At one time Jefferson even proposed a scene from the Book of Exodus for the official seal of the United States Government. This is an impressive array of facts to suggest that Jefferson would support the display of the Ten Commandments on federal property. However, there is some evidence to suggest a different conclusion. Most important is the fact that Jefferson, unlike Washington and Adams, refused to declare a National Day of Thanksgiving to God. This is a significant fact. It was this event which led to his famous Danbury Baptist letter of 1802. It is in the Danbury Baptist letter that Jefferson linked the religion clauses in the First Amendment to the phrase "separation of church and state." The U.S. Supreme Court did not make the link, Jefferson did. The fact that Jefferson would not declare a Day of Thanksgiving cannot be quickly dismissed. We know that Jefferson as Governor and as a member of the Virginia legislature did support such proclamations. In fact, one of the 126 bills made such a proposal. Bill No. 85 is titled "A Bill for Appointing Days of Public Fasting and Thanksgiving." Jefferson did not personally write this bill but he did sign off on it. According to Jefferson, all members of the committee were on board for all 126 bills. This bill would impose a state fine for any minister who failed to heed the Day of Thanksgiving: "Every minister of the gospel shall on each day so to be appointed, attend and perform divine service and preach a sermon . . . on pain of forfeiting fifty pounds for every failure, not having a reasonable excuse." Would Jefferson support a display of the Ten Commandments on federal property? I don’t know the answer. However, I do know that Jefferson has been misrepresented by the U.S. Supreme Court and by groups like the ACLU. They apply the separation of church and state the same way to all levels of government, federal and state. Jefferson would never do that. By the way, Bills No. 82 and 84 were finally passed. Bill No. 85 did not make it. In the absence of Jefferson, Bill No. 84, the Sabbath law was finally passed by the Virginia legislature. James Madison, the sponsor, got it passed on November 27, 1786. Six months later, Madison was in Philadelphia attending the constitutional convention allegedly creating a "secular" government for the United States.
Note: For information in this article concerning the Committee of Revisors, I relied on Vol. 1 & 2 of "The Papers of Thomas Jefferson" edited by Julian P. Boyd. Princeton University Press, 1950. This is the most authoritative collection of Jefferson’s papers in existence.
Would Thomas Jefferson Display the Ten Commandments? Part 1
David W. New is an attorney and author in the Washington, D.C. area. He graduated from the Georgetown University Law Center in 1989. In 2002, he graduated from The National Litigation Academy sponsored by the Alliance Defense Fund. In January 2003, he received an honorary Doctor of Divinity degree from the Methodist Episcopal Church USA. David is the author of several publications supporting the original intent of the Constitution.
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