MEssRs. NEHEMIAH
DoDGE, EPHRAIM ROBBINS, AND STEPHEN s. NELsoN, A commITTEE of THE DANBURY
BAPTIST AssociaTION, IN THE STATE OF CONNECTICUT.
Gentlemen
The affectionate sentiments of esteem and approbation which
you are so good as to express towards me, on behalf of the Danbury Baptist
Association, give me the highest satisfaction. My duties dictate a faithful and
zealous pursuit of the interests of my constituents, and in proportion as they
are persuaded of my fidelity to those duties, the discharge of them becomes
more and more pleasing.
Believing with you that religion is a matter which lies
solely between man and his God, that he owes account to none other for his
faith or his worship, that the legislative powers of government reach actions
only, and not opinions, I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the
whole American people which declared that their legislature should “make no law
respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise
thereof.” thus building a wall of separation between church and State. Adhering
to this expression of the supreme will of the nation in behalf of the rights of
conscience, I shall see with sincere satisfaction the progress of those
sentiments which tend to restore to man all his natural rights, convinced he
has no natural right in opposition to his social duties.
I reciprocate your kind prayers for the protection and
blessing of the common Father and Creator of man, and tender you for yourselves
and your religious association, assurances of my high respect and esteem.
Th Jefferson
January 1, 1802.
SOURCES: H. A. Washington, Editor, The Writings of Thomas
Jefferson: Inaugural addresses and messages. Replies, Volume VIII, Part II, p.
113-4; Library of
Congress, Information Bulletin, Vol. 57, No. 6, June 1998.
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