Fall 2015 onPrinciple

A new Ashbrook website on Religion in American History and Politics is scheduled to go live on October 1, 2015. It is being developed by David Tucker, Earhart Senior Fellow at the Ashbrook Center and Associate Director of Ashbrook’s

Master of Arts in American History and Government (MAHG), and Sarah Morgan Smith, an alumna of MAHG and a Ph.D. candidate in Political Science at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey.

Tucker, who teaches courses in MAHG on early America, the Revolution, and America and its music, among other topics, has twice co-taught the course “Religion in American History and Politics” with Smith. Tucker credits Smith’s Master’s thesis, Predestined for Liberty: The Political Theology of Joseph Buckminster (1751-1812) with altering his view of the impact of protestant thinking on American revolutionary sentiment. Smith is now completing her doctoral thesis, Citizens on a Hill: Community and Commitment in New England, 1630-1689. It examines the Puritan approach to another scholarly interest Smith shares with Tucker: the role of religion in grounding the civic formation needed for self-government. Tucker himself covered Jefferson’s ideas on civic formation and other topics in his book Enlightened Republicanism: A Study of Jefferson’s Notes on the State of Virginia (Lexington Books, 2007).

We asked Tucker and Smith to explain Ashbrook’s project on religion in American history.

You are building a broad program on the role of religion in American history and politics at the Ashbrook Center. What does it consist of?Tucker: “Religion in American History and Politics” has always been a course in our Master’s in American History and Government program. We wanted to build on that, adding a document collection (resembling the

50 Core American Documents book), webinars, a web site with information and resources, some publications, and a review of Supreme Court decisions on free exercise and establishment issues. We have a lot of ideas.

Why did you embark on this large project?Tucker: We want to make resources on religion in American history and politics available primarily to secondary school teachers—those we serve in our Master’s program and in our Rediscovering America seminar series—as well as to the general public. I’m not aware of any website that covers the subject in a comprehensive and reliable way.

You know the old saying: “Don’t talk about religion and politics in polite company.” We are talking about both at the same time! By doing it factually and calmly, I think we can be helpful.

It’s important to do this, since religion is such a big part of our history. Americans were the first people to embrace the principle of religious liberty. As a result, there has been an incredible diversity of religious associations and practices in the United States over the years, shaping our history in numerous ways. But because we are so committed to freedom of conscience, we can be wary of talking about religion in our schools, for fear of favoring some religions and slighting others.

Religion in American History and Politics

Ashbrook Center at Ashland University

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David Tucker, who holds a Ph.D. in history from Claremont Graduate School, taught in the Defense Analysis department and Homeland Security program of the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California before joining the Ashbrook Center as a Senior Fellow. His most recent books are The End of Intelligence: Espionage and State Power in the Information Age (Stanford, 2014) and Revolution and Resistance, a historical analysis of Euro-American imperialism (forthcoming).

Sarah Morgan Smith is a Ph.D. candidate at Rutgers University. Her Masters thesis on a Calvinist minister who advocated the cause of the American Revolution won the Master of Arts in American History and Government Chairman’s award in 2008. Before beginning Ph.D. work she was a museum curator and, later, education coordinator for the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History.

You recently facilitated two seminars on religion in American history and politics for secondary school teachers. Would you describe the weekend seminar in Newport, Rhode Island?Smith: We invited teachers in our Master’s program, and some alum, to explore religious liberty in America. We did it with the sponsorship of the George Washington Institute for Religious Freedom. Newport is home to the Touro Synagogue, the oldest Jewish house of worship in America. This synagogue is also famous for a letter addressed to its congregation by President George Washington. When Washington visited Newport in August of 1790, the synagogue sent lay leader Moses Seixas to welcome the President with a gracious speech. The speech contained an implicit question: Would the new federal government respect the Jews’ freedom to worship? Washington responded with a beautiful letter guaranteeing freedom of conscience.

At our seminar, Institute Director Michael Feldberg explained the history of Washington’s letter, while Steven Green of Willamette University, a professor of law and expert on religious freedom, led discussions on our evolving interpretation of the First Amendment. David and I led a session each as well. Institute founder Ambassador John Loeb welcomed the teachers, explaining his personal reasons for educating Americans on religious liberty.

Teachers said they appreciated hearing a Jewish perspective on religious liberty. They also spoke of a sense of awe they felt while visiting the historic synagogue.

In June, you invited graduates of the MAHG program to a weeklong seminar in Ashland on religion, civic virtue, and liberty. How are these ideas related? Tucker: Well, Washington left us another important statement on religion, one that might seem in tension with his commitment to the non-establishment of religion. In his Farewell Address, Washington spoke of “Religion and Morality” as the “indispensable supports” of republican government. Like some other Founders, he held that no government in which the people ruled could survive if the people were not virtuous; and he thought that to be virtuous, the people had to be religious. If citizens were to rule themselves collectively, then each citizen had to be able to rule him or herself individually. Each citizen needed to control his own passions and, when necessary, to sacrifice his own good for the sake of the common good. Such sacrifices, Washington and others thought, require the support of divine power, especially the promise that sacrifice in this world will be rewarded in the next.

Others involved in the founding of the country disagreed with Washington. Jefferson did, for example. He thought men had a moral sense and that if you stated a moral case to a professor and a ploughman, the ploughman was more likely to get it right. This made him think religion less important for self-government than some others did. As in other matters, Jefferson wanted a laissez-faire approach. Let religions hash it out in the religious marketplace, so to speak. He thought the competition would get them doing more good work, and that was the best support to the republic they could give.

That was part of the difference between the Republicans and the Federalists, and later between the Democrats and the Whigs. During the first century of our history, religion did play a prominent public role, especially in education. That has changed over the last hundred years or so (although religious ideas still form part of the differences today between Democrats and Republicans). Why and how things changed is one of the issues we want to address.

We were very fortunate that the Diehl Family Foundation made the seminar possible. We had a good week of work together.

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It must require sensitivity to cover so complex a subject in the classroom. Do teachers in Ashbrook programs find the topic difficult to approach? Smith: I don’t know that they find it more difficult than anything else they do. They just know that they need to address it appropriately. We want to help them in this. Actually, we need them to help us learn ways to help them.

Are secondary school teachers helping you design the website that will go live in October?Tucker: Yes, quite a bit. At both recent seminars, teachers brainstormed ideas for the new website. Teachers in the June

seminar began to research particular topics for inclusion. The attendees at both seminars will continue to work with us as an informal group of advisors for the project.

We’ll cover three general subjects. “Religion and American Law” will cover Supreme Court and state court decisions bearing on the right of free worship and the injunction against a religious establishment. “Religion and American Politics” will cover the impact of religion on electoral outcomes, reform movements, war sentiments, and so on. “Religion and American Life” will survey its impact on our culture. We’ll post PDFs of the 25 key documents and links to outside sites. Sarah has many ideas for interactive features we plan to develop as we continue building out the website.

The Master of Arts in American History and Government (MAHG) degree program at Ashland University, established in 2005, is the only one of its kind in the nation, designed specifically for middle and high school teachers of history, civics, and government.

The Master’s program is an alternative to traditional teacher programs. It was created to address the lack of proper history and civic education in our schools by providing teachers with a deep and broad understanding of the subjects they teach, focusing on the use of original historical documents in the classroom. The program does not teach methodology or classroom management techniques.

To accommodate a teacher’s busy schedule, courses in the program are offered in two unique formats: as weeklong seminars during the summer and as interactive live online video conferences offered throughout the academic year. A distinguished lineup of faculty from both Ashland University and other universities across the nation teach in the program. The program has gained national recognition with teachers from all 50 states having taken courses in the program.

This August marks the 225th anniversary of the Letter to the Hebrew Congregation at Newport,

Rhode Island (see back). On August 22, Ashbrook will host a webinar discussion on the letter and the history of religious liberty in America. To register for it, go to

tah.org/venue/online

onPrincipleAshbrook Center at Ashland University

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The Ashbrook Center, an independent center at Ashland University, seeks to restore and strengthen the capacities of the American people for constitutional self-government. Ashbrook teaches students and teachers why America is exceptional and what America represents in the long history of the world.

Resources for Social Studies Teachers: teachingamericanhistory.org

Executive Director: Roger L. Beckett

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George Washington’s Letter to the Hebrew Congregation at NewportAugust 21, 1790Gentlemen:

While I received with much satisfaction your address replete with expressions of esteem, I rejoice in the opportunity of assuring you that I shall always retain grateful remembrance of the cordial welcome I experienced on my visit to Newport from all classes of citizens.

The reflection on the days of difficulty and danger which are past is rendered the more sweet from a consciousness that they are succeeded by days of uncommon prosperity and security.

If we have wisdom to make the best use of the advantages with which we are now favored, we cannot fail, under the just administration of a good government, to become a great and happy people.

The citizens of the United States of America have a right to applaud themselves for having given to mankind examples of an enlarged and liberal policy — a policy worthy of imitation. All possess alike liberty of conscience and immunities of citizenship.

It is now no more that toleration is spoken of as if it were the indulgence of one class of people that another enjoyed the exercise of their inherent natural rights, for, happily, the Government of the United States, which gives to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance, requires only that they who live under its protection should demean themselves as good citizens in giving it on all occasions their effectual support.

It would be inconsistent with the frankness of my character not to avow that I am pleased with your favorable opinion of my administration and fervent wishes for my felicity.

May the children of the stock of Abraham who dwell in this land continue to merit and enjoy the good will of the other inhabitants — while every one shall sit in safety under his own vine and fig tree and there shall be none to make him afraid.

May the father of all mercies scatter light, and not darkness, upon our paths, and make us all in our several vocations useful here, and in His own due time and way everlastingly happy.

G. Washington

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