From James Madison to George Mason, 14 July 1826
To George Mason
Montpellier July 14. 1826
I have received, Sir your letter of the 6th. instant, requesting such information, as I may be able to give, as to the origin of the document1 a copy of which was inclosed in it.
The motive & manner of the request would entitle it to respect, if less easily complied with than by the following statement.
During the Session of the General Assembly 1784–5. a Bill was introduced into the House of Delegates, providing for the legal support of Teachers of the Christian Religion; and being patronized by the most popular talents in the House, seemed likely to obtain a majority of votes. In order to arrest its progress, it was insisted with success, that the Bill should be postponed till the ensuing session; and, in the mean time, be printed for public consideration. That the sense of the people, might be the better called forth, your highly distinguished ancestor, Col. George Mason,2 Col. Geo: Nicholas,3 also possessing much public weight, and some others, thought it adviseable, that a Remonstrance against the Bill should be prepared for general circulation & signature, and imposed on me the task of drawing up such a paper. The draught having recd. their sanction a large number of printed copies, were distributed, and so extensively signed by the people of every Religious denomination, that at the ensuing session, the projected measure was entirely frustrated; and under the influence of the public sentiment thus manifested the celebrated Bill “Establishing Religious freedom,”4 enacted into a permanent Barrier agst. future attempts on the Rights of Conscience as declared in the great Charter affixed to the Constitution of the State. Be pleased to accept Sir my friendly respects.
James Madison
RC (ViHi: James Madison Papers); draft (DLC). RC addressed and franked by JM to Mason at “Green Spring near Williamsburg Virginia”; postmarked at Orange Court House, Virginia, 17 July; docketed by Mason.
1. In the draft, JM placed an asterisk here and in the left margin wrote: “‘Memorial & Remonstrance agst. Religs. Establishmt.”
2. George Mason (1725–92) of Gunston Hall, a large plantation south of Alexandria, Virginia, along the Potomac River, took a leading role in the revolutionary struggle in the state. He was a crucial member of the Virginia Convention of 1776 (in which JM played a small but critical role), the framer of the Declaration of Rights and much of the new state constitution, and a strong advocate for the disestablishment of the Church of England in Virginia. Mason was an important contributor to the debates in the Constitutional Convention of 1787, though he did not sign the document and worked against its ratification at the Virginia convention that followed.
3. George Nicholas (ca. 1754–99), a graduate of the College of William and Mary, served in the Continental Army, 1776–77, rising to the rank of lieutenant colonel. Admitted to the bar in 1778, Nicholas was appointed acting attorney general of Virginia in 1781, when his family moved to Albemarle County. Nicholas served in the House of Delegates in 1781, 1783, and 1786–88. In 1788 he was a prominent member of the Virginia convention that ratified the U.S. Constitution. After moving to Kentucky in 1790, he served as principal draftsman of the first constitution of that state and as its first attorney general. Between 1785 and 1795 Nicholas corresponded frequently with JM (, 6:417 n. 6).