Document Type
Article
Abstract
The purpose of this article is to briefly examine the origin of the Establishment Clause in the event sometimes referred to as the "Virginia Experience," and to consider the possibility that the significant "leading roles" in the First Amendment's creation were not limited to Jefferson and Madison. Further, Madison's leading role in the actual sponsorship of the First Amendment may not have been entirely voluntary. With the ever-present litigation and controversies revolving around the extent and meaning of the First Amendment's Establishment Clause, the overlooked history of the creation of the First Amendment is both interesting and instructive in the Constitutional debate.
Recommended Citation
Gregory C. Downs,
Religious Liberty That Almost Wasn't: On the Origin of the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment,
30 U. Ark. Little Rock L. Rev. 19
(2007).
Available at: https://lawrepository.ualr.edu/lawreview/vol30/iss1/2