Journal: Puritan Reformed Journal
Volume: PRJ 02:2 (Jul 2010)
Article: From Confession To Constitution: How The Presbyterians Shaped The First Admendment
Author: Leah Farish

PRJ 2:2 (July 2010) p. 319

From Confession To Constitution: How The Presbyterians Shaped The First Admendment

Leah Farish

The history of the Presbyterian church in America and that of the founding of the United States exhibit many parallels that converge in the wording of the First Amendment. In this article, we uncover some contributions of the Calvinist faith to our nation’s origins and specifically to the Religion Clauses in the Constitution: the Presbyterian document called the Westminster Confession of Faith (WCF) resonates in the First Amendment. We show that the denomination’s structure, the “biography” of the Presbyterians on this soil, and their worldview all profoundly influenced church/state relations and have application today.

The Marriage Of True Minds

Protestant views, “particularly...the ideas associated with covenant theology,”1 decisively affected our earliest American decisions.2 A giant who straddled both the Presbyterian and secular world, John Witherspoon, was a leader in both spheres. As president of the Presbyterian bastion that is now Princeton, Witherspoon was accused of promoting revolt from Britain, “poisoning the minds” of its students.”3 One of Witherspoon’s pupils was James Madison, who came to the college to learn from him personally. Witherspoon and other Reformed

PRJ 2:2 (July 2010) p. 320

thinkers influenced many of the Founders—and vice versa. The rector of Trinity Church in New York said in 1776, “I do not know one Presbyterian minister, nor have I been able, after strict inquiry, to hear of any who did not by preaching and every effort in their power promote all the measures of the Continental Congress, however extravagant.”4 One expert on Presbyterian history says, “Claims have sometimes been made that the United States Constitution was deliberately patterned after the Presbyterian form of government. It is nearer the truth to say that resemblances existing between the two are due to the fact that the principles of representative government upon which both rest were the common heritage of the men and women of the Revolutionary period, many of whom came of Calvinistic stock and most of whom had been influenced by the political thought of the Puritan revolution.”5 Montesquieu observed, “Calvin, having to do with people who lived under republican governments, or with obscure citizens in monarchies, might very well avoid establishing dignities and preferments”6 in f...