e 12, 1776, the Virginia Assembly adopted a Declaration
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of Rights, Section 16 of which contained the following words:-
"That religion, or the duty which we owe to our Creator, and
the manner of discharging it, can be directed only by reason and
conviction, not by force or violence; and therefore all men are
equally entitled to the free exercise of religion, according to the
dictates of conscience."
July 4, following, the Declaration of Independence of all the
Colonies was adopted. Shortly afterward, the Presbytery of
Hanover, aided by the Baptists and the Quakers in Virginia,
presented a memorial to the Assembly of Virginia, asking that the
Episcopalian Church be disestablished in that State, and that the
example set by the Declaration of Independence be extended to
the practice of religion, according to Section 16 of the Bill of
Rights.
The Episcopalian Church was disestablished, but in its place a
move was made to establish a system by which a general tax should
be levied in support of the Christian religion. Again the Presbytery of
Hanover, the Baptists, and the Quakers came up with a strong
memorial in behalf of the free exercise of religious belief,
according to the dictates of conscience. In this memorial they said:-
"The duty that we owe to our Creator, and the manner of
discharging it, can only be directed by reason and conviction, and
is nowhere cognizable but at the tribunal of the universal Judge. To judge
for ourselves and to engage in the exercises of religion agreeably to
the dictates of our own conscience, is an inalienable right, which upon
the principles on which the gospel was first propagated, and the
reformation from popery carried on, can never be transferred to
another."-Baird's "Religion in America," book III, chap. III, par. 22; or "The
Two Republics," p. 686.
Jefferson and Madison gladly and powerfully championed their
cause, yet the movement in favor of the general tax was so strong
that it was certain to pass if the question came to a vote. Therefore
Madison and Jefferson offered a motion
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that the bill be postponed to the next Assembly, and that meantime
it be printed and circulated among the people. T
