Early Opinions About Christianity and Government

Justice James Wilson, also appointed by Washington, was one of only six men who signed both the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. He was the second most frequent speaker at the Constitutional Convention. He said, "Christianity is a part of the common law of America."

In 1811, the Supreme Court said "Whatever strikes at the root of Christianity tends to destroy civil government."

Daniel Webster in 1820 (who became Secretary of State in 1841): "Let us not forget the religious characters of our origin. Our fathers brought here there high veneration for the Christian religion; they journeyed by its light and labored in its hope; they sought to incorporate and to diffuse its influence through all their institutions, civil, political, and literary."