9780826221933

0826221939

On May 10, 1776, the Second Continental Congress sitting in Philadelphia adopted a Resolution which set in motion a round of constitution making in the colonies, several of which soon declared themselves sovereign states and severed all remaining ties to the British Crown. In forming these written constitutions, the delegates to the state conventions were forced to address the issue of church-state relations. Each colony had unique and differing traditions of church-state relations rooted in the colony's peoples, their country of origin, and religion. This definitive volume, comprising twenty-one original essays by eminent historians and political scientists, is a comprehensive state-by-state account of disestablishment in the original thirteen states, as well as a look at similar events in the soon-to-be-admitted states of Vermont, Tennessee, and Kentucky. Also considered are disestablishment in Ohio (the first state admitted from the Northwest Territory), Louisiana and Missouri (the first states admitted from the Louisiana Purchase), and Florida (wrestled from Spain under U.S. pressure). The volume makes a unique scholarly contribution by recounting in detail the process of disestablishment in each of the colonies, as well as religion's constitutional and legal place in the new states of the federal republic. - Publisher.

"On May 10, 1776, the Second Continental Congress sitting in Philadelphia adopted a Resolution urging each of the British colonies in North America "to adopt such government as shall . . . best conduce" in response to the impending crisis with Great Britain. A suitable preamble was passed on the May 15 following, and Congress then directed that the document be released to the public. The Resolution of May 15 set in motion a round of constitution making in the colonies, several of which soon declared themselves sovereign states and severed all remaining ties to the British Crown. In forming these written constitutions, the delegates to the state conventions were forced to address the issue of church-state relations. Each colony had unique and differing traditions of church-state relations rooted in the colony's peoples, their country of origin, and religion, and the state constitutional framers had to confront the issue of religion, which many would have preferred to put off. This unique volume, comprising twenty-one original essays by eminent historians and political scientists, is a state-by-state account of disestablishment in the original thirteen states, as well as a look at similar events in the soon-to-be-admitted states of Vermont, Tennessee, and Kentucky. Also considered are disestablishment in Ohio (the first state admitted from the Northwest Territory), Louisiana and Missouri (the first states admitted from the Louisiana Purchase), and Florida (wrestled from Spain under U.S. pressure)"-- Provided by publisher.

Introduction : the task, methodology, and findings / Carl H. Esbeck and Jonathan J. Den Hartog

Disestablishment in New Jersey / John Fea

Delaware : religious borderland / Evan Haefeli

Church and state in Rhode Island / James S. Kabala

The Pennsylvania experiment with freedom of conscience and church-state relations / David Little

North Carolina : early toleration and disestablishment / Nicholas P. Miller

Religious disestablishment in the state of New York / Kyle T. Bulthuis

Disestablishment in Virginia, 1776-1802 / Carl H. Esbeck

South Carolina / Miles Smith IV

Disestablishment in Kentucky / Keith Harper

Disestablishment in Tennessee / Edward R. Crowther

Georgia : the thirteenth colony / Joel A. Nichols

Church and state in Ohio, 1785-1833 / Michael S. Ariens

Disestablishment in the Louisiana and Missouri Territories / Kevin Pybas

In the interests of true religion : disestablishment in Vermont / Shelby M. Balik

Church and state in Maryland : religious liberty, religious tests, and church disestablishment / Michael D. Breidenbach

Connecticut : a land of steady habits / Robert J. Imholt

Towns and toleration : disestablishment in New Hampshire / Brian Franklin

Maine / Marc M. Arkin

Florida / Nathan A. Adams IV

The last American establishment : Massachusetts, 1780-1833 / John Witte Jr. and Justin Latterell.