378

favoring assessment came into the house. They employed the same arguments as the preceding petitions for assessment. Religion had been declining for years past, partly because of the war, "but chiefly by its not being duly aided and patronized by the civil Power." Religion is necessary for man's proper conduct in society, and for this reason "every Man should be obliged to contribute as well to the Support of Religion, as that of Civil Government; nor has he any Reason to complain of this, as an Encroachment upon his religious Liberty, if he is permitted to worship God according to the Dictates of his Conscience, and to join with & support that Church or Minister he prefers." The memorial furthermore asked for the incorporation of the Episcopal church in order to secure to it the property of the establishment and freedom of action.

379

On December 1, similar petitions were presented from Dinwiddie and Surry. "We being fully pursuaded," reads the Dinwiddie paper, "that Religion and the sacred Institutions thereof, would have more Influence, and command a greater Respect, under the Smiles, & Support of Government, than they now have to, lay before you this our earnest Petition that Christianity may be, by a Law, made and declared to be the established Religion of this Country."

The Surry memorial declared that "It is with the most heartfelt concern that your Memorialists see the countenance of the civil power wholly withdrawn from religion, and Mankind left without the smallest coercion to contribute to its support." Religion ccnduces to prosperity and the preservation of society. Consequently, "whatever is to conduce equally to the advantage of all, should be borne equally by all ** The Experience of all governments has evinced that the compulsion of law is necessary to urge Mankind in general to a small sacrifice of private Interest for the promotion of the public good. And unless this principle is adhered to in the present instance, the worthy advocates of religion who feel its influence & see its necessity will be oppressed by a burthen which should be equally borne."

The great weight of opinion, as far as it had been expressed, was on the side of assessment. On December 2, 1784, Francis Corbin presented the bill for "establishing a provision for teachers of the christian religion." The bill provided a certain tax, with rate left unfixed, upon all taxable property for the support of ministers, or teachers of the Christian religion, as they are named. Each taxpayer was given the privilege of designating the church which should receive this tax. In cases of refusal to name any

Ts Journal, p. 32.

Signed by John Booker, Jr., Wm. Cross Craddock, Christr. Ford, Wm. Watts, Edwd. Munford, James Jenkins, Stith Hardaway, Chas. Craddock, Edwd. Booker, John Wily, Abraham Lockett, Wm. Pyson, Christopher Hudson, Marston Green, Wm. Quinn, Thomas Nash, Henry Jeter, Thomas Jeffry, Isaac Oliver, Richard Ward, Henry Buford, Matthew Wallis, Peter Lamkin, Joseph Stephens, Thos. Overstreet, Wm. Stuart, Thos. Hitower, William Wood, Robert Snecd, Robt. Foster, Joseph Wilkins, Luke Watson, Joseph Asborn, Edward Branch, Sewall Chapin, Liveston Thompson, Abraham Marshall, John Sturgis, Frans. Anderson, James Henderson, Rowlan Way, Jr., John Archer, Thos. Mitchell, Wm. Worsham, John Crawley, Joel Mottley, Jesse Woodward, Stephen Lockett, Abadiah Hendrick, Wm. Howlett, Lewellin Hudson, John Howison, Peter Ellington, Robert Hinton, John Chambers, John C. Cobbs, Daniel Stringer, John Bennett, George Belcher, Jno. Royall, Wm. Jennings, Stephen Cocke, Wm. Butler and many others. 280 Journal, p. 51, and Virginia Historical Collections, X, 114.

church, the Legislature should apply the tax to some pious use. In its final form the bill left the taxpayer the option of giving his tax to education. The bill was read the second time on the next day and was referred to the committee of the whole.381

The conservatives seemed to have smooth sailing, but Madison noted a change in the house. On November 14, he had thought the bill would pass. "I think the bottom will be enlarged," he wrote, "and that a trial will be made of the practicability of the project."82 But on November 27, he wrote as follows: "You will have heard of the vote in favor of the Genl. Assesst. The bill is not yet brought in & I question whether it will, or if so whether it will pass. A few days later, on December 4, his opinion was still stronger. "The bill for the Religious Asst. was reported yesterday and will be taken up in a Come, of the whole next week. Its friends are much disheartened at the loss of Mr. Henry. Its fate is I think very uncertain."

283

11386

The bill "to amend the several acts, concerning marriages," was brought into the house on December 10.85 This bill, which placed the ministers of all denominations on an equal footing, formed, together with the incorporation bill and the bill for the dissolution of the vestries, the measures necessary to complete the disestablishment of the Anglican church. The bill "for incorporating the Protestant Episcopal Church" was presented by Carter Henry Harrison. It gave the ministers and vestries of the respective parishes a title to the churches, glebes and other property, and outlined a method for the election of vestrymen, who were restricted to membership in the Episcopal church. Vestries were required to make an inventory of property in their charge to the county courts once in three years. Cases in which the revenue of parishes exceeded £800 were to be referred to the Assembly. All former laws in regard to the church were repealed and it was left to regulate its own concerns, subject to the provision that the regulation should be conducted in conventions consisting of two delegates from each parish, "whereof the minister shall always be one." The convention was empowered to remove unworthy ministers, and vestries were authorized to collect arrearages of the poor levies.27 This bill when it became an act may be said to have completed disestablishment, because the title to ecclesiastical property was vested in the church authorities, and those authorities were empowered to regulate church affairs without legislative interference. And yet at the same time, the civil authority maintained a certain hold on the church in requiring the making of reports to the courts, and in enacting certain rules for the conduct of external affairs. By the terms of the incorporation bill, separation of church and state was not entirely complete.

Two important bills on the religious question-for assessment and incorporation were now before the house. The introduction of the latter bill before the settlement of the assessment question was a tactical mistake.

381 Journal, p. 52.

383 Madison, Works, II, 90. 381 Madison, Works, II, 94. 384 Madison, Works, II, 97.

383 Journal, p. 65. 386 Journal, p. 65.

387 Hening, XI, 532.

It was a mistake to bring in a bill for the peculiar benefit of the 'Episcopal church when the general subject of civil support of religion was still under debate. The incorporation bill could have been drawn later, for the church was in no danger of spoliation with a conservative majority in the house. The incorporation act secured the title of the Episcopal church for a brief time, but it was premature and it alarmed the Presbyterian clergy, causing them to take a hostile attitude towards the whole conservative religious policy, and intensifying the naturally strong Baptist opposition. Yet Grigsby is probably right in his statement that since an expression of public opinion on the incorporation bill had been invited and had not condemned the bill, incorporation could hardly have been refused the Episcopal church.3

388

Only one petition-that of Hanover Presbytery-had opposed incorporation, and that had not opposed all forms of incorporation. The Presbyterians by no means conceded the right of the new Episcopal church to all the holdings of the old establishment, and, besides, they contended for a completer separation of church and state.

The committee of the whole debated the incorporation bill on December 18, 20 and 21.90 The bill passed on December 22, 1784, by a vote of 47 to 38. It will be seen that the conservative majority had greatly shrunk. In fact the opposition might have reduced the majority still further, but it was not Madison's policy to oppose incorporation at this time, and he voted for the bill. He conceded incorporation in order to defeat assessment. "The necessity of some sort of incorporation for the purpose of holding & managing the property of the church could not well be denied, nor a more harmless modification of it now obtained. A negative of the bill, too, would have doubled the eagerness and the pretexts for a much greater evil, a general Assessment, which, there is good ground to believe, was parried by this partial gratification of its warmest votaries." "

391

In the affirmative voted John Cropper and Thomas Parramore, Accomac; Samuel Sherman, John Booker, Amelia; Nicholas Cabell and William Meredith, Amherst; Bernhard Markham and Matthew Cheatham, Chesterfield; Edward Carrington and Carter Henry Harrison, Cumberland; James Pendleton, Culpeper; Joseph Jones, Dinwiddie; Miles King and George Wray, Elizabeth City; John Marshall, Fauquier; James Hubard, Gloucester; Peter Saunders, Henry; John S. Wills, Isle of Wight; Philip Barbour, Jefferson; Joseph Jones and William Thornton, King George; James Ball, Jr., Lancaster; Francis Peyton, Loudoun; William Anderson, Louisa; Samuel Goode, Mecklenburg; Francis Corbin and William Curtis, Middlesex; Willis Riddick and Godwin, Nansemond; William Armistead, New Kent; Daniel Sandford, Norfolk; Littleton Eyre, Northampton; John Thornton, Northumberland; James Madison, Orange; William Ronald, Powhatan; Edwin Ruffin, Prince George; Thomas Walke, Princess Anne; William Grayson, Prince William; Mann Page, Spotsylvania; William Brent, Stafford; Carter B. Harrison, Surry; Thomas Edmunds and John H. Briggs, Sussex; Richard Lee, Westmoreland; Nathaniel Nelson, York; and Henry Tazewell, Williamsburg.

388 Virginia Historical Collections, X, 109.

389 Journal, p. 75.

39 Journal, p. 77.

391 Madison, Works, II, 113.

The noes were Wilson Cary Nicholas and Edward Carter, Albemarle; Michael Bowyer and Zachariah Johnston, Augusta; John Trigg, Bedford; Moses Hunter, Berkeley; Archibald Stuart, Botetourt; John Nicholas, Buckingham; Samuel Hawes, Caroline; Jacob Morton, Charlotte; French Strother, Culpeper; Spencer Roane and William Gatewood, Essex; Alexander Henderson, Fairfax; Thomas Underwood, Goochland; George Clendennen, Greenbrier; Ralph Humphreys and Isaac Vanmeter, Hampshire; Garland Anderson, Hanover; Nathaniel Wilkinson, Henrico; Benjamin Pope, Jefferson; Richard Bland Lee, Loudoun; John Glenn, Lunenburg; Robert Sayres, Montgomery; John Kearnes, Norfolk; Charles Porter, Orange; Benjamin Lankford and William Dix, Pittsylvania; Richard Bibb and John Clark, Prince Edward; John Bowyer and John Hays, Rockbridge; Gawin Hamilton and John Hopkins, Rockingham; Isaac Zane, Shenandoah; John Taylor, Southampton; and James Montgomery, Washington.

In addition to the practically undivided western vote, the opponents of incorporation on this ballot commanded many southern and midland delegates, with a few easterners. The smallness of the majority may have acted as a warning to the conservatives to act quickly. It was evident that when the southern and midland delegates, now wavering between the east and the west and inclining to the latter, should array themselves with it, the game would be up. Henry's absence was greatly felt in this crisis, for he was especially influential with the delegates from the middle counties and the southside. No other man of the conservative party carried the same weight in the midland region, and the tendency to democracy naturally allied the central delegates with the mountaineers.

Promptly upon the passage of the incorporation act, the conservative leaders brought the assessment bill before the house. The debate extended from December 22 to December 23, and amendments were added. "In a committee of the whole it was determined by a majority of 7 or 8 that the word "Xn" should be exchanged for the word "Religious." On the report to the house the pathetic zeal of the late Governor Harrison gained a like majority for reinstating discrimination."92 On December 23, the bill was engrossed by the close vote of 44 to 42."

393

The engrossed bill came up for its third reading the next day, December 24. A motion was made to defer the reading "until the fourth Thursday of November next," that is, until the next session of the Assembly. The motion passed 45 to 38, by almost the same vote as upon incorporation, but reversed. The counties in the affirmative were Albemarle, Amelia, Amherst, Augusta, Bedford, Berkeley, Botetourt, Buckingham, Caroline, Charlotte, Culpeper, Essex, Fauquier, Greenbrier, Hampshire, Henrico, Jefferson, Loudoun, Lunenburg, Montgomery, Norfolk, Orange, Pittsylvania, Powhatan, Rockbridge, Shenandoah, Southampton, Spotsylvania, Stafford, Sussex, Washington and Norfolk Borough.

The counties in the negative were Accomac, Charles City, Chesterfield, Cumberland, Culpeper, Dinwiddie, Elizabeth City, Fairfax, Fauquier, Gloucester, Hanover, Isle of Wight, Jefferson, King George, Lancaster, Loudoun, Louisa, Middlesex, Nansemond, Norfolk, Northampton, Northumberland,

393 Madison, Works, II, 114.

993 Madison, Works, II, 99.

Prince Edward, Prince George, Princess Anne, Surry, Westmoreland, York and Williamsburg.

This vote shows that delegates who had not voted before in the religious question voted against assessment. In a word, the antis presented their full strength, won a few conservative votes and carried the day against their wavering opponents.

Following this vote, a resolution passed by a small majority "That the engrossed bill," establishing a provision for teachers of the Christian religion, "together with the names of the ayes and noes, on the question of postponing the third reading of the said bill to the fourth Thursday in November next, be published in hand-bills, and twelve copies thereof delivered to each member of the General Assembly, to be distributed to their respective counties; and that the people thereof be requested to signify their opinion respecting the adoption of such a bill, to the next session of Assembly."

91394

The postponement of the third reading of the assessment bill was a great victory for Madison. It was a victory of democratic policies over conservative, and of the progressives who wished to continue the work of the Revolution. But it was not a final triumph. Sentiment in the people at large was as yet unknown, and was supposed to rather favor assessment. The weight of petitions supported this conclusion.

It was therefore necessary for the progressive leaders in the house to begin what is called a campaign of education. A majority of the delegates in the house personally favored assessment. The western delegates almost unanimously opposed it, because the west was poor, new and radical, and as far as religion went, chiefly Presbyterian. A large element in the State, discontented with the weight of the existing taxes, would oppose the imposition of a new tax for any purpose. But there was a chance that the people might view the religious controversy apathetically, and consequently that the conservatives might be able to carry the day.

But the people were only seemingly indifferent, in spite of the fact that few anti-assessment petitions had been presented. "The only proceeding of the late Session of Assembly," Madison wrote to Monroe cn April 12, 1785, "which makes a noise thro' the Country is that which relates to a Genl. Assessmt. The Episcopal people are generally for it, tho' I think the zeal of some of them has cooled. The laity of the other sects are equally unanimous on the other side. So are all the Clergy except the Presbyterians who seem as ready to set up an establishment which is to take them in as they were to pull down that which shut them out."" On April 27, he wrote that "The Bill for a Genl. Assesst. has produced some fermentation below the Mountains & a violent one beyond them. The contest at the next Session on this question will be a warm & precarious one." Madison seems to have still doubted the outcome of the struggle. But already there was a drift against assessment. The next day Madison informed Monroe that "Our elections as far as I hear are likely to produce a great proportion of new members. In some counties they are influenced by the Bill for a Genl. Assesst. In Culpeper Mr. Pendleton a worthy man & acceptable in his

394 Madison, Works, II, 113; Journal, p. 82.

295 Madison, Works, II, 131.

See Madison, Works, II, 137.