Product Description
The U.S. Constitution prohibited the federal government from establishing a national religion, yet American colonies and early state governments operated state-supported religious institutions and continued to do so for a half-century a the creation of the United States. In “One Nation under Law”, Mark D. McGarvie draws on the experiences of three key states – New York South Carolina, and New Hampshire – to illustrate the efforts to disentangle church and state duri… More >>
One Nation Under Law: America’s Early National Struggles to Separate Church And State.
McGarvie explores an important topic, and addresses issues which we are currently discussing during this election year. He presents a readable text, a well researched analysis, and a thought provoking study.
Rating: 5 / 5
Many books on “the separation of church and state” tend to revolve around the issue of was America founded as a “Christian nation,” a question that is loaded with a lot of political and religious baggage. McGarvie weaves through that debate and poses a simple question–how did the transformation of American law affect the separation of church authority and state/government authority in the early republic?
The question may seem a bit abstruse, but McGarvy’s answers are enlightening. One Nation Under Law looks at the disestablishment struggle not as a pro- or anti-religion issue (although there is some of that from the times), but as an issue of how legal structure affected politics. The distinction is important, as it frees the debate from the perils of the “Christian nation” question. McCarvy finds that many people supported the privatization (through incorporation) of religious institutions as the US transformed from a colonial communalism to a republican ideology based on Enlightment principles of individualism. Only after this took effect did the “separation of church and state” as we know it begin to form as a response to legal changes during the country’s founding generation.
Well researched, with copious mention of other legal and history scholars, and packed into a manageable 191 pages. Will not lose the attention of the lay reader, useful to scholars of history, law and religion
Rating: 5 / 5