More recent Supreme Court decisions have gone back and forth regarding the protection of individuals or groups from complying with policies that may run contrary to their specific religious tenets.
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The freedom of religion, composed in part by the right to free expression, had become a pivotal tenet of the American Revolution, and was extensively defended as such by James Madison, the lead author of the First Amendment. Aside from hailing from different religious backgrounds, some of the colonists had also fled to the New World to escape discrimination and persecution they experienced across continental Europe. In addition to the government establishment of a religion, the First Amendment also protects the free expression of faith for all Americans. Although this only specifically restricted the federal government, the state governments also removed the establishment of state-run religious institutions in their own constitutions by 1833, and local governments followed soon thereafter. When the First Amendment to the Constitution was created, the Establishment Clause made it clear that the federal government was not allowed to create an established religion. By the time the United States declared independence in 1776, the Continental Congress generally agreed that forcing the public to worship beneath a state-run church was antithetical to the freedoms they were working to establish.
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Those who refused to pay these taxes, as well as those who preached without a license to practice, were often criminally charged by the authorities. Members of the Anglican clergy, for instance, were tasked with collecting taxes from local colonists to be paid to their local governments. At this point in colonial history, religious leaders often carried political influence rivaling that of appointed government officials.
Some Roman Catholic settlements were set up in Maryland and northern Virginia, while Jewish communities began to emerge in some select cities. The New England colonies were largely defined by Puritans and Separatists, the Southern colonies were predominantly Anglican, while Quakers, Lutherans, and some Presbyterians were largely centered in the middle colonies, especially Pennsylvania.
The settlers living in the various colonies were from several different religious groups. “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”Īs was the case with the rest of the Bill of Rights, the key stipulations of the amendment were influenced in part by the various political, religious, and social elements of colonial America. The official text of the amendment is written as such: It is most commonly recognized for its protection of the freedom of speech, religion, the press, and making complaints and requests to the government. Government Publishing Office)Īmendment One to the Constitution was ratified on December 15, 1791. Stanley Dersh citizenship poster recognizing the First Amendment, 1959.
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