2. The Political Crisis and Its Significance for the Proclamation of Religious Freedom of Conscience. The First Sounds of Freedom. The Revolution in the Views of Congress and Its Causes. New Constitutions and the Paragraph on Religious Freedom of Conscience. The Limitation of Civil Rights of Catholics. The Federal Constitution and the Abolition of the Religious Test. Discussions on This at Conventions. The Significance of the Paragraph in the Federal Constitution. The Separation of Church and State. (Cont.) (3)

So the federal government of the United States completely separated religion from the sphere of its jurisdiction, and the separation of church and state became the fundamental law of the country. By virtue of it all religious confessions, as it were, ceased to exist for the state and thereby became equal before it. The state refused to have any dealings with them, and thus refused both to favor any of them and to persecute others. Protestantism and Catholicism, which had warred against each other hitherto, with Protestantism as the stronger opponent oppressing Catholics by state laws, were now left to their own internal forces, and in struggling against each other could rely only on their own internal power and turn for means only to their own resources. Although the forces of opponents remained unequal as before and Protestantism vastly surpassed Catholicism, nevertheless it is clear on whose side the advantage lay from such an enactment. By it Protestantism lost the possibility of relying on state force in its struggle against Catholicism and thus lost one of its strongest means of struggle; Catholicism, on the other hand, was freed from the possibility of external oppression from its opponent and thereby gained as much as its opponent lost. The advantage, and indeed an immeasurable advantage, was on the side of Catholicism; this amendment to the constitution brought it out of an oppressed state, placed it on a level with all other confessions, removed its chains of slavery, and provided full freedom to grow and develop. Catholics appreciate highly and fully understand the significance to themselves of this amendment, and Catholic historians endeavor to prove that this amendment was adopted by Congress chiefly as a result of a memoir submitted by Catholics to Congress with the assistance of Washington, who was supposedly on friendly terms with the Jesuit Carroll[1]. “The importance of this enactment,” says a Catholic historian, “which owes its origin chiefly to the far-sighted wisdom and enlightened patriotism of some of the most distinguished Catholics of that time, can scarcely be exaggerated. It was the strongest barrier that could be raised against the revival of the spirit of persecution, which has disgraced almost all colonies and which would surely have raised its hydra head again if the States at a solemn convention had not rejected it as incompatible with the essential character of American government. Only an open field and honest struggle with error – that is all that Catholicism requires for the development of its strength and its march to victory”[2].

American historians like to point to the articles of the constitution by which religion is separated from the state as an example of the magnanimity of Protestantism, which renounced its state advantage and thereby granted Catholicism equal rights with itself. Catholic historians, on the other hand, deny this magnanimity and ascribe the origin of the law to fortunate circumstances[3]. And they are in large measure right. In the direction of legal recognition of freedom of conscience, especially with regard to Catholics, various political, social, and intellectual causes were at work. We have already seen what significance the position of Canada had in this regard at the beginning of the struggle for independence, how, from the desire to win it over to its side, the colonial Congress abruptly turned from its intolerance toward Catholics to the promise of them complete religious freedom. Its loss to the union was a harsh lesson. When after the end of the war Canada nevertheless refused to join the new republic and Americans had to withdraw their troops from it, “this withdrawal they made with great reluctance,” says a historian contemporary with the events. “Americans were not only disappointed by the failure of their favorite plan to attach it as a fourteenth member to their confederation, but also feared the most serious consequences from the restoration of British rule in that region”[4]. Congress was very clearly aware that its excessive expressions regarding the Roman Catholic religion in 1774 had led to such a loss, and by granting actual freedom to Catholics hastened to correct its grave error. Another cause acting in the same direction was the desire on the part of the statesmen of the United States to attract and secure foreign emigration. Already in 1774 Congress noticed that the population of Canada “was daily increased by Catholic emigrants from Europe”; and when by the condition of the Treaty of Peace of 1783 Canada was to remain under British rule, it was evident that to maintain an anti-Catholic character for the government of the United States would be to encourage growth in this province at the expense of the United States, and that only by granting complete freedom, both civil and religious, to all could the country hope for a turning of the emigrant stream to its shores[5]. Finally, the substantial help which the Catholic powers of France and Spain rendered to the colonies in their struggle for independence imposed an obligation to grant freedom to the religion professed by them[6]. The stubborn struggle for independence, requiring the utmost exertion of all forces, naturally united the colonists, made them forget their religious disagreements, and thereby developed a spirit of tolerance. The complete proclamation and achievement of political independence, purchased at a dear price and by the heavy efforts of all without distinction of confession, disposed toward granting to all of them complete freedom and equal rights as a reward for these efforts. Under the influence of the benefits of political independence, Americans developed the view of their country as a refuge for all those oppressed under European despotism, and this in turn contributed to a favorable resolution of the question of religious freedom. The rapid growth in the number of sects also had important significance as a cause of the separation of the state from the church, since the diversity of them made any religious legislation difficult, and moreover many of them directly rejected the interference of civil authority in matters of religion. Finally, the theory of the civil character of the state that prevailed in the eighteenth century was not without influence, the most prominent representative of which in America was Jefferson, the famous author of the “Declaration of Independence,” who received his political views from the French philosophers of the past century. The state, according to this theory, is a purely political organism and is not connected with religion in any way. This theory, as we shall see below, in a moderate form was laid at the foundation of the American constitution[7].

The greater part of the causes listed above, which led to the granting of freedom of religious conscience to Catholics, were understood by the latter even in the past century, and one of them, the Jesuit Carroll, who was later to be the first bishop of the Roman Catholic Church in the United States, upon his elevation to the episcopate, gave in 1790 an important historical account of these causes. Carroll first reviews the position of the Catholic Church in the colonies before the struggle for independence. “The laws in the colonies were,” he says, “the most severe against its exercise. A priest was subject to death for merely entering their territory. Catholics were subjected to the most cruel punishments for adherence to a religion approved by their conscience; and not only were excluded from any office in government, but it would scarcely have been permitted for them even to reside in any of these provinces if it were known that they professed the Roman faith. In such circumstances, few Catholics settled in other states; and if they did settle, they concealed their religion, either attaching themselves to another or entering into marriage with Protestants and were forced to raise their children in error. Even in Maryland and Pennsylvania the position of Catholics was a state of oppression. The few Jesuits who could be obtained from the English mission were insufficient even to meet the needs of the two provinces in which they first settled; and from the other clergy no one yet dared undertake the dangerous task – to bring the true faith to the other provinces. Such was the state of affairs when a general uprising against England occurred.” Then he proceeds to the exposition of the causes themselves: “In rejecting submission to England, the American states found it necessary to form new constitutions for their future government and, fortunately, the free toleration of religions was made a fundamental point in all these new constitutions; and in many of them not only toleration but equality of civil rights was admitted for persons of every Christian profession. In some, however, the ineradicable spirit of prejudice and intolerance excluded Catholics from this equality. Many causes came together to produce this happy and just clause in the new constitutions. First. Some of the leading persons in directing American councils were, on principle, against all religious oppression, and, being well acquainted with the customs and teachings of Roman Catholics, strongly set forth the injustice of excluding them from any civil right. Second. Catholics equally and with equal zeal united in the rejection of the oppression that first produced hostility with Great Britain; and it would have been impolitic as well as unjust to deprive them of a share in the benefits purchased by common danger and united efforts. Third. The help or at least the neutrality of Canada was considered necessary for the success of the United States, and the granting of equal rights to Roman Catholics could dispose Canadians favorably to the American cause. Finally, France began to show a friendly disposition toward the United States, and therefore it was considered very impolitic to offend this mighty state by unjust severity against the religion professed by it”[8].

The enormous significance of the article of the federal constitution and the amendment to it, which separate the state from the church and equalize the civil rights of all confessions, is thus without doubt for the fate and growth of the Roman Catholic Church in the United States and is recognized by Catholics themselves. But a correct understanding of this significance can be established only by clarifying those theoretical principles which lay at the foundation of the legislation and continually exercise influence on its practical application, as well as by determining the relationship of the federal constitution to the private conventions of individual states. We now turn to the consideration of these questions.