James Madison and the Legislative Chaplains
James Madison and the Legislative Chaplains
Andy G. Olree, 102 Nw. U. L. Rev. 145 (2008)
Historical analysis of the Framers’ views of the practice has tended to focus on James Madison, who wrote a good deal about the First Amendment. A principal Founding Father, Madison’s influence on our nation’s highest law was so great that he is popularly termed the “Father of the Constitution.” It was he who proposed the first version of the Bill of Rights, including what would become the First Amendment, to the First Congress that met under the federal Constitution. It was he above all others who sponsored and shepherded the proposed amendments through Congress, staking his personal reputation on the outcome and repeatedly hounding Congress until it reluctantly agreed to consider the amendments. And Madison, to a greater degree than any other Founder, explicitly considered the legislative chaplaincy in light of the Establishment Clause and principles of religious liberty. Thus, Madison is uniquely important to the originalist enterprise with respect to the First Amendment, and it is no surprise that he is quoted extensively in contemporary debates over both the legislative chaplaincy specifically and the meaning of the Establishment Clause more generally. But in the case of legislative chaplains, it is no mean feat to discover exactly what Madison thought the Establishment Clause permitted.
2 Comments
I wish ADF readers had online access to this Nw. U. L. Rev. article including citations, not available out here despite the local state university’s library.
Peter — send an email to info@alliancealert.org for assistance retrieving the article.