Home School Heartbeat Radio Program

Mike Farris:
James Madison would write late in life that he was “under very early and strong impressions in favor of Liberty both Civil & Religious.”

By January 1773, Madison had arrived at a decided opinion on the topic. He wrote to a friend,

That diabolical... principle of persecution rages among some... This vexes me the most of any thing whatever. There are at this time in the adjacent County not less than 5 or 6 well meaning men in close Gaol for publishing their religious Sentiments which in the main are very orthodox. I have neither patience to hear talk or think of any thing relative to this matter, for I have squabbled and scolded abused and ridiculed so long about it, to so little purpose that I am without common patience. So I leave you to pity me and pray for Liberty of Conscience to revive among us.

Madison’s personal encounters appear to have ultimately stirred his soul and made him eager to take action against persecution. He was not a typically passionate and reactionary person—more inclined to sit, study, ponder, and write than to take sides in a public debate or draft legislation; indeed, he preferred good literature to law. But at a time when he was still young and wondering what his future held, Madison took notice of the outrageous treatment of Virginia dissenters and saw in them a cause worth fighting for.

I’m Mike Farris.