American Political Architecture: Establishmentarianism, Toleration, Containment

Abstract

The travails of Jeremiah Moore, a colonial Baptist preacher, set the stage for an exploration into political and religious disputes over the proper intersection and legitimacy of ecclesiastical and governmental regulations of religion in civil society. Establishmentarian justifications are analyzed, including those found in lectures of Puritan and Congregational ministers as well as the Cambridge Platform of Church Discipline and various Acts of Toleration. Warnings of British writers are entertained regarding the growing conflict between advocates of political toleration of religious diversity and proponents of religious liberty in the American colonies, especially as they affected the growing revolutionary blend of political dissidents and religious dissenters. Opinions are examined of founders of the American republic who struggled to identify any formal role of religion in its new Constitution. The chapter’s analysis reveals the path toward the logic underpinning American political architect with its disestablishmentarian preference for religious liberty over religious toleration.