In his younger years, James Madison fought for a group of Baptist ministers from Culpeper who were imprisoned for preaching without a license. He felt strongly that government had no business meddling in matters of faith and opposed those who wanted tax money used to pay Christian educators. Research Historian Hilarie Hicks says Madison’s home – Montpelier – has won a $2.5 million grant to further explore his feelings about freedom of religion and thought.
“Madison felt very strongly that church was in one sphere, and state was in a different sphere, and so he wrote this petition and lays out 15 points why church and state should be separate," she says. "He also works very hard to make sure that Thomas Jefferson’s Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom is enacted into law, and then of course, freedom of religion is one of the rights enshrined in the Bill of Rights.”
Hicks adds that Virginia had abandoned an official church of state, and the founders didn’t agree on any one theology.
“The founders, individually, had very different beliefs, from Patrick Henry who was more traditional to Thomas Jefferson who was literally taking scissors and clipping the miracles out of the New Testament.”
Madison kept his religious views to himself. His wife, Dolly, was raised as a Quaker but was eventually baptized in the Episcopal Church. Such details will be part of the exhibit expected to open in 2028. For now, Hicks and her colleagues are doing their research, tracking down documents and relevant possessions that can be displayed at Montpelier and as part of a traveling exhibit. The grant will also fund a lecture series and digital content.
