Church-State Relations in the Early American Republic, 1787–1846

Americans of the Early Republic devoted close attention to the question of what should be the proper relationship between church and state. This issue engaged participants from all religions, denominations and party affiliations. Kabala examines this debate across six decades and shows that an understanding of this period is not possible without appreciating the key role religion played in the formation of the nation.

Introduction
1 Beyond the First Amendment: Religion and the Federal Government
2 The Protestant Clergy and the Rise of the Non-Sectarian Consensus
3 ‘The Political Orphans of Your State’: Religious Tests in the Early Republic
4 The Limits of Consensus: The Unorthodox in the Court System
5 Legislative Prayer in the Early Republic: The Consensus Defeats Theocracy and Secularism
Epilogue

James S Kabala, Rhode Island College

• 'well-researched and detailed... this book gives historians of the early republic a useful framework for discussing the complex relationship between religion and politics.'

  Journal of the Early Republic

• 'a very informative, well-researched, and interesting book on the relationship between religion and government during the first fifty-some years of U.S history.'

  American Historical Review

• 'Kabala introduces his readers to a cast of writers and a set of viewpoints that help expand our understanding of church-state debates as they occurred inside the early republic’s legislative halls and courtrooms but also beyond.'

  The Catholic Historical Review

• ‘This superb account of church-state relations during the most tumultuous years of American Christendom reveals that our present disputes over the separation of church and state are nothing new. Kabala’s deeply researched book contains the fullest and clearest summary that we have of the bitter struggles during the six decades following 1780 that led to the Protestant non-sectarian consensus of the 1840s.’

  Gordon Wood, Brown University

• 'Kabala’s ground-level analysis reveals a new and important measure of the nation’s commitment to maintaining Christianity’s public presence.'

  Journal of Church and State

• 'Kabala does great work highlighting the enduring tensions in American ideas of church-state relations.'

  Ohio Valley History

• 'The work provides sustenance for reflection for those willing to engage the complex federalism of the founders' First Amendment.'

  Journal of American History