...drafted the constitution for the state, and proposed an amendment (not adopted) which declared that " all men are equally entitled to the full and free exercise " of religion, and was more radical than the similar one offered by George Mason. In 1777, largely, it seems,...

...of Rights, in which he held that religion can be directed only by reason. To this Madison added that all men are equally entitled to the full and free exercise of religion according to the dictates of conscience. This was followed in 1785 by Jefferson's Declaratory...

...he made what was in effect a minority report by moving that the section be amended to read : "That all men are equally entitled to the full and free exercise of religion according to the dictates of conscience, and that no man or class of men ought, on account...

...the fullest toleration in the exercise of religion," Madison said, the Bill of Rights ought to say, " All men are equally entitled to the full and free...exercise of it according to the dictates of conscience." (See James Madison, in "American State Papers," p. 243.) " The time was when toleration was craved...

...annul, the grant. inherent and indefeasible right, by nature, to freedom of religion, declaring that all men are equally entitled to the full and free...exercise of it, according to the dictates of conscience." Thus closing the door against an abusive exercise of the authority of the civil magistrate under the...

...owe the Creator, and the manner of discharging it, being under the direction of reason and conviction only, not of violence or compulsion, all men are equally...exercise of it, according to the dictates of conscience." This amendment, or rather substitute, was finally adopted. Madison, when a boy, had stood in the streets...

...convention agreed, and the objectionable clause was rejected in favor of Madison's amendment, which read: "all men are equally entitled to the full and free exercise of religion, according to the dictates of conscience." Madison was also successful in gaining acceptance...

...being under the direction of reason and conviction only, not of violence, or compulsion, all men are entitled to the full and free exercise of it according...men ought on account of religion to be invested with particular emoluments or privileges, nor subjected to any penalties or disabilities, unless under color...

...Madison was also successful in gaining acceptance of a restraining clause, which declared that H[n]o man, or class of men, ought on account of religion to be invested with peculiar emoluments of privileges, nor subjected to any penaltics or disabilities, unless under color of religion the preservation...

...the fullest toleration," Madison's amendment, which was introduced by Patrick Henry, would have said: all men are equally entitled to the full and free exercise of [their religion] according to the dictates of conscience; and therefore that no man or class of men...