15 Ibid., entry for 1-24-1768.
16 See the chapter on “Washington and the Clergy.”
17 Custis, Recollections, p. 173-174.
18 WGW, vol. 28, 8-23-1786.
19 Ibid., vol. 37, 9-22-1799.
20 Ibid., vol. 30, 12-23-1788.
21 Slaughter, The History of Truro Parish, p. 123.
22 Jackson, Twohig, Diaries of George Washington, vol. 2, p. 419, 10-2-1785.
23 Slaughter, The History of Truro Parish, p. 97f.
24 Sparks, The Writings of George Washington, vol. 12, p. 405-408.
25 Johnson, George Washington The Christian, p. 199. Also cited in Ashabel Green, The Life of Ashabel Green, 1849, p. 267.
26 John N.Norton, Life of General Washington, 1870. p. 117; also Johnson, George Washington The Christian, p. 58.
27 M’Guire, Religious Opinions and Character of Washington (New York: Harper & Brothers, 1836), p. 154.
28 Ibid., p. 154.
29 Boller, George Washington & Religion, p.32.
30 M’Guire, Religious Opinions, p. 146.
CHAPTER 14
1 Slaughter, The History of Truro Parish, p. 89.
2 Ibid., p. 2-3.
3 Notes on the State of Virginia, Query XIV: Justice, Thomas Jefferson 1781, see http://teachingamericanhistory.org/library/index.asp?document=514
4 Slaughter, The History of Truro Parish in Virginia, pp. 3-4.
5 Can we claim Jefferson for the Christian fold? This is attempted by Catherine Millard in Rewriting of America’s History, pp. 91-109.
1. The problem is that Jefferson explicitly affirmed that he believed the following things:
The Bible is not revealed of God.
It is good to doubt religion and God to assert the oracle of reason.
He opposed Calvinism and Trinitarianism.
That he was a unitarian.
That he was a member of a sect all his own.
That clergy in general were the source of intolerance.
That he was a “true Christian” in the sense of viewing Jesus’ theology and morals as the same as his own.
Paul was one of the worst corrupters of Jesus’ teachings.
A. The Jefferson Bible’s purpose and history: To distill Jesus’ ethics from corruptions to his system found in the Bible by his followers.
B. Jefferson’s religious doubts were carried out in secret, not the public eye, for fear of its impact upon his career.
C. The irony of Jefferson’s fears of the Supreme Court’s unchecked power under the Constitution!
D. But were Jefferson’s ethics and politics contrary to Christianity?
1. His view of the ethics of Jesus—the best the world has ever known.
2. His view of the Bible in schools—to be used in schools for education.
3. His view of Christianizing the Indians—approved of money given from government.
4. His view of religion in the states—federalism permitted religious actions by state government, but not by federal government as he saw the First Amendment.
The Point of his 1802 letter to Danbury Baptists, which uses the famous phrase, “separation of Church and State,” was to reassure the Baptists that there would be no established federal denomination. He was not afraid of religious activity, and even worshiped on Sundays in a church that met in the Capitol Building in Washington, D.C. Boyd Stanley Schlenther, Charles Thomson: A Patriot’s Pursuit (Newark: University of Delaware Press 1990), p. 216-217.
