The Father of the Constitution Calls for National Day of Prayer

In a previous post on this blog (Judge Declares National Day of Prayer Unconstitutional) we heard about a federal judge who declared that our 235-year-old tradition of declaring a national day of prayer was not constitutional. That's correct - the tradition started by the men who wrote the U.S. Constitution is not constitutional. I guess they should have paid closer attention to what they were writing. And the part of the Constitution that this violates is the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion..." Yes, they cared so little about those ten words that... Wait a minute. They actually debated just how to craft those words for days and days. James Madison, who penned the words after each debate, went through several drafts to finally get the words above. Maybe they actually knew what they meant!

James Madison himself, a little more than 10 years after the Constitution's ratification, began to declare national days of prayer at the urging of Congress. As such he became created 4 of the 164 instances of national prayer days in our history. Here are the examples:

James Madison Proclamation on July 9, 1812. A “day of public humiliation and prayer” set apart on “the third Thursday in August,” 1812. Reflecting on the state of war motivated the call to prayer.


James Madison Proclamation on July 23, 1813. A “day of public humiliation and prayer” set apart on “second Thursday in September,” 1813. Reflecting on the state of war motivated the call to prayer.


James Madison Proclamation on November 16, 1814. A “day of public humiliation and fasting and of prayer” set apart on January 12, 1815. Reflecting on the state of war motivated the call to prayer.


James Madison Proclamation on March 4, 1815. A “day of thanksgiving and of devout acknowledgments to Almighty God for His great goodness manifested in restoring to them the blessing of peace” set apart on the “second Thursday in April next[.]”8 Reflecting on the state of war motivated the call to prayer.

The quotes above and the citations for them can be found in the ACLJ's amicus brief linked from this page:

ACLJ: Court Decision Declaring National Day of Prayer Unconstitutional 'Flawed' - Case Could End Up At Supreme Court