James Madison, John Witherspoon, and Oliver Cowdery: The First Amendment and the 134th section of the Doctrine and Covenants

Brigham Young University Law Review, 2003 by Smith, Rodney K

Madison elaborated further on his equality argument66 and then made an argument designed to appeal to those of the Christian faith. He observed that "the first wish of those who enjoy this precious gift [of Christianity] ought to be that it may be imparted to the whole race of mankind."67 Madison then argued that the Assessment Bill "at once discourages those who are strangers to the light of [Christian] revelation from coming into the region of it [Christianity], and countenances by example the nations who continue in darkness [nonbelief in Christianity], in shutting out those who might convey it [the Christian faith] to them."68

Madison's arguments in his Memorial and Remonstrance clarify his views regarding the scope of the inalienable right of religious conscience and the need for equal liberty as to matters of religious conscience. He also made an argument as to why Christians should have opposed the Assessment Bill on prudential as well as principled grounds (i.e., the argument that Christianity benefits most from a world in which the equal liberty of conscience is recognized and there is free and open dialogue among all religious groups). In the Memorial and Remonstrance, Madison continued themes raised in his education at the College of New Jersey and in his amendment to the Virginia Declaration of Rights. He had no need to discuss the "manifestly endangered" standard that he set forth in the Virginia Declaration of Rights because proponents of the Assessment Bill did not raise a plausible argument to the effect that failure to pass the bill would manifestly endanger the state. It is clear, at this time in Virginia's history, that Madison's views were in ascendancy.

In 1786, Madison served as a delegate to a convention regarding interstate commerce and trade to be held in Annapolis, Maryland.69 At the close of that convention, Alexander Hamilton led an effort to convene a general convention to meet in the summer of 1787 in Philadelphia to revise the Articles of Confederation in a manner that would make "'the Federal Government adequate to the exigencies of the Union'"; Madison was again elected to serve as a delegate to that convention.70 That convention, of course, became known as the Constitutional Convention because it gave birth to the Constitution of the United States of America.

Madison played a significant role both prior to and at the Constitutional Convention. In the spring preceding the Convention, Madison participated in the preparation of a comprehensive plan for a more powerful national government to be considered at the upcoming convention.71 Madison is perhaps best known, in an historical sense, however, for the comprehensive notes that he took at the convention and that were published on his death.72 A respected jurist recently concluded that: "Mr. Madison was the prime mover in the drafting and adopting of the Constitution. He was the quintessential Founder, known for generations by the title 'Father of the Constitution.'"73

I have previously summarized the limited treatment given to issues of religious liberty at the Constitutional Convention: