![]() “Well aware that the opinions and belief of men depend not on their own will, but follow involuntarily the evidence proposed to their minds,” Jefferson wrote in the first sentence of his draft, “God hath created the mind free, and manifested his supreme will that free it shall remain by making it altogether insusceptible of restraint.” In other words, Jefferson argued, freedom of conscience is, by definition, an unalienable right – one that can’t be alienated or surrendered to government – because our opinions are the involuntary result of the evidence contemplated by our reasoning minds. Freedom of conscience is an unalienable right Let’s review each of Jefferson’s four reasons.ġ. Free speech allows the public discussion necessary for democratic self government. Free speech is necessary for the discovery of truth and the rejection of falsehood Ĥ. ![]() Free speech makes representatives accountable to We the People ģ. Freedom of conscience is an unalienable right because people can only think for themselves Ģ. Those four reasons were summed up by Justice Brandeis in Whitney, and they have been further developed by the Supreme Court since then:ġ. Jefferson’s Bill sets out four reasons why government can make no law that constrains our freedom of speech, conscience, or opinion. He concluded that because freedom of conscience is a fundamental right, government can regulate “overt acts against peace and good order,” but it lacks all power to “intrude into the field of opinion.” Jefferson proposed not only to disestablish the Anglican Church and remove all criminal punishments for dissent, but also to prohibit all compelled support for religion of any kind. Quakers, Jews, and other dissenters could be denied the freedom to marry or to have custody of their children. Presbyterians and Baptists could be arrested for practicing their faith or preaching the gospel. Under Virginia’s colonial religious code, all dissenters were required to support and attend the Established Anglican church. He considered his Religious Freedom Bill among the three accomplishments of his life important enough to be inscribed on his tombstone, along with his having drafted the Declaration and founded the University of Virginia. Jefferson drafted his bill in Virginia months after he returned Philadelphia, where he had just completed the Declaration of Independence. Those text are Thomas Jefferson’s Bill for Establishing Religious Freedom in Virginia, drafted in 1777, and Justice Brandeis’s opinion in Whitney v. How do we know that the rights of conscience, as the Founders called them, were first among the unalienable rights and the blessings of liberty recognized by the Declaration and the Constitution? We know that from two other sacred texts I’d like to talk to you about now, as we dedicate the First Amendment Tablet together. It protects freedom of conscience, which the Founders considered first among the unalienable rights enshrined in the Preamble to the Declaration and first among the blessings of liberty enshrined in the Preamble to the Constitution. Holding these two images in our minds is illuminating, because the First Amendment shows us the connection between the Declaration and the Constitution. As we prepare to dedicate the Tablet, let’s gaze together at Independence Hall and then turn our attention back to the words of the Tablet that are shining before us. ![]() It’s fitting that the 45 words of the First Amendment will shine forever over Independence Hall, where the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution were drafted. Thank you, Judge Luttig, for your gift to America in bringing the First Amendment Tablet to Philadelphia. Its design and installation was made possible through the generosity of Judge J. ![]() These remarks were delivered by Jeffrey Rosen, president and CEO of the National Constitution Center, at a May 2, 2022, celebration of the newly installed marble First Amendment tablet, donated to the National Constitution Center by the Freedom Forum. ![]()
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