What did Jefferson mean by “Separation of Church and State”

“I consider the government of the United States as interdicted by the Constitution from meddling in religious institutions, their doctrines, discipline, or exercises. This results not only from the provision that no law shall be made respecting the establishment or free exercise of religion, but from that also which reserves to the states the powers not delegated to the United States. Certainly, no power to prescribe any religious exercise or to assume authority in religious discipline has been delegated to the General Government. It must rest with the States, as far as it can be in any human authority.”
– Thomas Jefferson, letter to Samuel Miller, Jan. 23, 1808

This was written 6 years after the earliest known reference to the coined phrase “Separation of Church and State”, by Thomas Jefferson . Most of us have been taught that Jefferson was adamant about an absolute separation between religion and all government, but in the quote above Jefferson says something very different. He says that religion, along with doctrines and disciplines were to remain with State governments. Therefore, he was stating there is no separation between individual State governments and religion. So, did he change his mind? Of course not.

Jefferson was consistent by referring to the State as in the “General Government”, which was another common reference to the Federal Government at the time.

Earliest known reference to Separation of Church and State:

“Believing with you that religion is a matter which lies solely between Man & his God, that he owes account to none other for his faith or his worship, that the legitimate powers of government reach actions only, & not opinions, I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should “make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof,” thus building a wall of separation between Church & State.”
– Thomas Jefferson, Letter to Baptists from Danbury, Connecticut, 1802

Jefferson references the 1st amendment of the US Constitution:

“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”

The 1st Amendment begins with “Congress shall make no law”. This unambiguously applies this restraint against the Federal government (general government) and not the Individual States themselves.

Bill of Rights

What is little known about the Bill of Rights is that they were all originally intended to apply as restraints ONLY against the Federal Government, but thanks to the Incorporation Doctrine of the 20th Century, this interpretation according to original intent has been changed so that the Supreme Court has slowly been incorporating the Bill of Rights so that some apply against the States as well. What many believe to be an expansion and protection of freedoms, has been a violation of them by removing from us our right to self governance, which was a paramount concept at the time of our founding and crucial in preventing tyranny from the central government. In order for the Federal government to protect our rights, it has to necessarily define them. If the Bill of Rights was to serve as a stict limitation against Federal action, consider today, who is the biggest offender of these rights, the States or Federal Government? Each State Constitution has its own Bill of Rights or Declaration of Rights, which creates similar restrictions against the actions of respective State governments.

Regarding the original intent of the Bill of Rights, consider the following:

Bill of Rights Preamble (which is rarely studied):

“The Conventions of a number of the States, having at the time of their adopting the Constitution expressed a desire in order to prevent misconstruction or abuse of its powers, that further declaratory and restrictive clauses should be added: And as extending the ground of public confidence in the Government will best ensure the beneficent ends of its institution.”

Supreme Court Decision of Barron vs Baltimore 1833

The courts decided according to original intent that the Bill of Rights, including the 5th amendment did not apply to the States, but only the Federal Government.

The 14th Amendment

Thomas Jefferson referenced the 1st amendment and 10th amendment, but he also makes the point that even in exclusion of these amendments the Constitution grants no authority to regulate religion, therefore the Federal government has no such power. This also applies to the limits of the entire Bill of Rights according to original intent. The original Constitution provided no power to the Federal government to enforce the Bill of Rights, this did not occur until the 20th century interpretation of the 14th amendment with the Supreme Court Case Gitlow v. New York in 1925.

Why the Lie?

Why then have we been told that the founders, especially Jefferson intended for there to be a “Separation” between all government and religion? Why weren’t we told the complete truth? Why weren’t we told the simple truth that the FEDERAL government was never to interfere with religion, which includes necessarily morality, but the STATES could? Why didn’t we just read the Constitution for ourselves and see what was in black and white? Why didn’t we just read the original words of Jefferson in their proper context?

For those who are concerned that Liberty is being violated by an ever expanding Central government. The States are your strongest legal safeguard. Allowing the Federal government the ability to force the “Bill of Rights” upon the States ironically threatens your rights, it does not secure them.

Just look at your “freedom of religion”, it has been all but chased out of public life, even on the State level. This was not the founders’ intent, not even Jefferson himself!

Consider your other rights, do you think the Federal government is protecting them or is it a direct threat to them? Our founders knew any centralized authority would eventually become a threat to our Liberties, which is why they delegated very few and defined powers to the Federal government. Ironically, the general protection of our “liberty” was not one of them, except from the threat of foreign enemies. The protection of our “liberties” otherwise, was to rest with the people and to be administered by the individual States under directives of their respective citizens.

Is it any wonder our Federal government has gotten wildly out of control? We have abandoned the structures of government that our founders carefully put in place, we have abandoned their warnings. The primary reason for which is that we simply don’t know them. It is about time we begin to relearn history with an objective lens. It is time that we dust off the sources of history and rediscover the true intent of our founders for ourselves.

Why not start today? Check out our basic Study Guide. It is a collection of simple videos and articles to help you learn the basics of our founding principles.

“Educate and inform the whole mass of the people… They are the only sure reliance for the preservation of our liberty.”
— Thomas Jefferson

“On every question of construction, carry ourselves back to the time when the Constitution was adopted, recollect the spirit manifested in the debates and instead of trying what meaning may be squeezed out of the text or invented against it, conform to the probable one in which it was passed.”
– Thomas Jefferson

“We have the greatest opportunity the world has ever seen, as long as we remain honest — which will be as long as we can keep the attention of our people alive. If they once become inattentive to public affairs, you and I, and Congress and Assemblies, judges and governors would all become wolves.”
— Thomas Jefferson