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the Massachusetts Body of Liberties is created, the document includes a right to petition and a statement about due process.
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The new Charter of Rhode Island grants religious freedom.
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This letter provides the philosophical basis for George Mason’s proposed Article Sixteen of the Virginia Declaration of Rights of 1776, which deals with religion. Mason’s proposal provides that “all Men should enjoy the fullest toleration in the exercise of religion.”
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Allows “full liberty of worship” to Anglicans and Baptists.
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The Baptist worshipers were jailed for preaching the Gospel contrary to the Anglican Book of Common Prayer
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Refusing to pay taxes that support the Congregational church.
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The Virginia Declaration is the first bill of rights to be included in a state constitution in America.
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This draft states: “No man shall be compelled to frequent or support any religious worship, place, or ministry whatsoever.” The bill later becomes the famous Virginia Ordinance for Religious Freedom.
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The Ordinance of Religious Freedom effectively disestablished the Anglican Church as the official church and prohibited harassment based on religious differences.
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In Federalist No. 84, Alexander Hamilton writes on the subject of the liberty of the press, declaring that “the liberty of the press shall be inviolably preserved.”
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provides that “religion, morality and knowledge being necessary also to good government and the happiness of mankind, schools and the means of education shall forever be encouraged.”
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On Dec. 15, Virginia becomes the 11th state to approve the first 10 amendments to the Constitution, thereby ratifying the Bill of Rights.
