The Father of the Constitution Agreed

As president, James Madison, "the Father of the Constitution," vetoed a bill that would have given government-owned land to a Baptist church in Mississippi, insisting that it violated the First Amendment and would set "a precedent for the appropriation of funds of the United States for the use in support of religious societies." During the War of 1812, he gave in to pressure to proclaim a national day of prayer and fasting for those “so disposed” to ask for God’s assistance in the war. Later, however, he wrote a document [“Detached Memoranda”] listing five reasons why he had been wrong to do so.

Similarly, Madison initially condoned tax support of congressional chaplains, then later rejected this practiced as “a palpable violation of ... Constitutional principles.” Their payment from the national treasury, he contended, violated the First Amendment and was an affront "to members whose creeds and consciences forbid a participation in the majority."

Shortly after leaving the presidency, Madison observed in a letter to a friend that the civil government performed ably without interference from the church and that “the number, the industry and the morality of the priesthood, and the devotion of the people have been manifestly increased by the total separation of the church from the state.”