Product Description: In this well-researched, informative history, David Dean Bowlby examines church and state in the American colonies and the early national period up to the framing of the religion clauses of the First Amendment by the First Congress...read more

Product Description: It's time to answer the call.  The United States of America was founded by ordinary citizens who willingly sacrificed their lives and fortunes in order to hand down the precious legacy of freedom we enjoy today. In American Patriots, Rick Santorum shares the true-life accounts of 25 unsung heroic men and women from the Revolutionary War era...read more

No American living in 1800 would have predicted that Thomas Jefferson s idiosyncratic views on church and state would ever eclipse those of George Washington let alone become constitutional dogma. Yet today's Supreme Court guards no doctrine more fiercely than Jefferson's antagonistic wall of separation between church and state. Washington's sharply contrasting views, explored in this path-breaking new book, suggest a more reasonable interpretation of the First Amendment, one that is consistent with religion s importance to the enterprise of democracy.The most admired man of his age, Washington presided over the Constitutional Convention and was president when religious freedom was enshrined in the Bill of Rights. His claim to constitutional authority is considerably more impressive than the brilliant but eccentric Jefferson's. Washington considered religion essential for the virtue required of self-governing citizens. Though careful not to favor particular sects, he believed that a democracy must not merely accommodate religion but encourage it.Ross and Smith combine a study of Washington's thought with a copious appendix containing the full texts of his letters, speeches, and official documents on issues of church and state. They present his views chronologically, devoting a chapter to each stage of his career: young regimental officer, colonial legislator, commander in chief of the Continental Army, head of the Constitutional Convention, and president of the United States. An epilogue explains how Jefferson's separationist perspective achieved its disproportional influence on the modern Supreme Court.

Product Description: The leaders of the American Revolution, unlike the leaders of the French revolution, did not set out to erase religion. Indeed, the very first act of the Continental Congress was to pray to Divine Providence in the face of the British bombardment of Boston...read more

Product Description: Forgotten Features of the Founding: The Recovery of Religious Themes in the Early American Republic is a book of six original essays that explore the deep significance of previously neglected religious themes in the Founding Era. Author James Hutson argues convincingly that without understanding these themes, it is impossible to comprehend the religious mentality of the Founding Era...read more (view table of contents, read Amazon.com's description)

Product Description: A collection of the country's most respected historians, philosophers, and theologians examines the role of religion in the founding of the United States. This collection of never before published essays, originally delivered at the Library of Congress, presents the most original and recent scholarship on a topic that still generates considerable controversy...read more (view table of contents, read Amazon.com's description)

Product Description: Adams, James L., Yankee Doodle Went To Church: The Righteous Revolution Of 1776

Discusses the controversy over the separation of church and state, looks at the history of religion in America, and reviews historical precedents involving the First Amendment

Product Description: Using the writings of the founders and records of their conversations and activities, John Eidsmoe demonstrates the influence of Christianity on the political convictions of the founding fathers.