Title: The founders on religion : a book of quotations /
Authors: Hutson, James H.
Publisher: Princeton University Press,
Year: 2005
Subjects: Religion Quotations, maxims, etc.; Statesmen United States Quotations.
Abstract: "What did the founders of America think about religion? Until now, there has been no reliable and impartial compendium of the founders' own remarks on religious matters that clearly answers the question. This book fills that gap. A collection of quotations on everything from the relationship between church and state to the status of women, it is the most comprehensive and trustworthy resource available on this timely topic." "The book calls to the witness stand all the usual suspects - George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, Benjamin Franklin, and John Adams - as well as many lesser known but highly influential luminaries, among them Continental Congress president Elias Boudinot, Declaration of Independence signer Charles Carroll, and John Dickinson, "the Pennsylvania Farmer." It also gives voice to two founding "mothers," Abigail Adams and Martha Washington." "The founders quoted here ranged from the piously evangelical to the steadfastly unorthodox. Some were such avid students of theology that they were treated as equals by the leading ministers of their day. Others vacillated in their conviction. James Madison's religious beliefs appeared to weaken as he grew older. Thomas Jefferson, on the other hand, seemed to warm to religion late in life. This compilation lays out the founders' positions on more than seventy topics, including the afterlife, the death of loved ones, divorce, the raising of children, the reliability of biblical texts, and the nature of Islam and Judaism." "Partisans of various stripes have long invoked quotations from the founding fathers to lend credence to their own views on religion and politics. This book, by contrast, is the first of its genre to be grounded in the careful examination of original documents by a professional historian. Conveniently arranged alphabetically by topic, it provides multiple viewpoints and accurate quotations."--Jacket.
Contents: Addiction -- Afterlife -- Age -- America -- American Revolution -- Animals -- Atheism -- Bible : value of -- Bible : accuracy of the text -- Bible : exegesis of -- Bible : Old Testament -- Bible : revision of -- Calvinism -- Catholicism -- Catholicism : Jesuits -- Chaplains -- Children -- Christianity -- Christianity : Christian nation -- Church and state -- Clergy -- Communion -- Conscience : see liberty of conscience -- Consolation -- Constitution of the United States -- Creeds -- Crime and punishment -- Death -- Deism -- Divorce -- Ecumenicism -- Education -- Episcopalians -- Faith -- Fast and Thanksgiving days -- God -- Grief -- Hell -- Indians : see Native Americans -- Islam -- Jesus -- Jews -- Laws -- Liberty of conscience -- Marriage -- Millennium -- Miracles -- Missionary and Bible societies -- Morality -- Native Americans -- New England -- Oaths -- Patriotism -- Paul, the apostle -- Persecution -- Plato -- The poor -- Prayer -- Presbyterians -- Proclamations : see fast and Thanksgiving days -- Profanity -- Prophecy -- Providence -- Quakers -- Reason -- Religion, freedom of : see liberty of conscience -- Religion : propensity of humans for -- Religion : social utility of -- Republicanism -- Rights -- Sabbath -- Sin -- Slavery -- Trinity -- Unitarianism -- Universalism -- Virgin Mary -- War -- Women.