Benjamin Franklin~

"When a religion sgood, I concieve it will suppot itself; and wen it does not support itself, and God does not take care to support it so that its professors are obliged to call fr help of the civil power, 'tis a sign, I apprehend, of its being a bad one."

George Mason~

"...it is contrary to the pinciple of reason and justice that any should be compelled to contribute to the maintenance of a church with which their conscineces will not permit them to join, and from which them can derive no benefit; for remedy whereof, and that eual liberty as well religious as civil, may be universally extended to al lthe good people of this comonwealth." (Pamela Copeland and Richard MacMaster, The Five George Masons, pp.176).

Thomas Jefferson~

"In matters of religion I have conseidered that its free exercise is placed by the Constitution independent of the powers of General Government. I have therefore undertaken on no occasion to prescribe the religious exercieses suited to it, but have left them, as the Constitution found them, under the direction and discipline of the church pr state authorities acknowledged by the several religiouse societies." Second Inaugural Address, March 4, 1805

"We have solved by fair experiment the great and interesting question whether freedom of religion is compatible with order in government and obedience to the laws. And we hae experienced the quiet as well as the comfort which results from leaviong every one to profess freely and openly those principles of religion which are the inductions of his own reason and the serious convictions of his own inquiries." Letter to te Virginia Babtists, 1808

Richard Henry Lee~ 

"The qualifictions of the representatives are also fixed and designated, and no person under 25 years of age, not an inhabitant of the state, and not having ben seven years a citizen of the United States, can be elected; the clear inference is that all persons 25 years of age, and upwards, inhabitants of the state, and having been, at any period or periods, seven years citizens o the United States, may be elected representatives. they have a right to be elected by the constitution, and th electors have a right to chuse them. This is fixing the federal representation, as to the elected, on a very broad basis: it can be no objection to the elected, that they are Christians, Pagans, Mahometans, of Jews; that they are of any colour, roc or poor, convict or not..." Letters from the Federal to the Republican, XII, january 12, 1788

James Madison~

"Whilst I thus frankly express my view of the subject presented in your sermon, I must do you the justice to observe theat you very ably maintained yours. I must admit moreover that it may not be easy, in every possible case, to trace the line of separation between the rights of religioun and the Civil authority with such distinctness as to avoid collisions and doubts on unessential points. The tendency to a usurpation on one side or the other, or to a corrupting coalition of alliance bwtween them, will be best aurded against an entire abstinence of: the Govt from interference in any way whatever, beyond the necessity of preserving public order, and protecting each sect against trespasses on its legal rights by others." To Jasper Adams, President of the College of Charleston, 1832.

"...I beg leave to remark that the only foundation for a useful education in a republic is to be laid in RELIGION.Without this, there can be no virtue, and without virtue there can be no liberty, and liberty is the object and live of all republican governments."

"The Christian religion, in its purity, is the basis and the source of all genuine freedom in government...I am persuaded that no civil government of a republican form can exist and be durable, in which the principles of Christianity have not a controlling influence."

George Washington~

"Of all this dispositions and habits which lead o political prosperity, religion and mortality are indispensable. supports...Let us with caution indulge the supposition that mortalit can be maintained without religion...Reason and experience both forbid us to expect that National mortality can prevail in exclusion of religious principles."

Noah Wabster~

Rev. John Witherspoon~

John Adams~