Letter to the Danbury Baptist Association, 1 January 1802
President Jefferson’s reply to the Baptists of Danbury, Connecticut, in which he describes the First Amendment as building a wall of separation between church and state.
Read the text at loc.gov ↗Text in The Papers of Thomas Jefferson (Founders Online) ↗
The letter is three short paragraphs. Jefferson says that he believes with the Baptists that religion lies solely between a man and his God and that the powers of government reach actions only and not opinions, and that he regards with reverence the act of the American people in declaring that their legislature should make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting its free exercise. It is a president’s private gloss on the amendment, written to supporters, and has no force of law in itself. See Religious Freedom in the United States.
Cited in
- 1786 to 1791, firm date