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enlightened nations in the world fulfils all the outward duties of religion with fervour.
Upon my arrival in the United States, the religious aspect of the country was the first thing that struck ray attention; and the longer I stayed there, the more did I perceive the great political consequences resulting from this state of things, to which I was unaccustomed. In France I had almost always seen the spirit of religion and the spirit of freedom pursuing courses diametrically opposed to each other; but in America I found that they were intimately united, and that they reigned in common over the same country. My desire to discover the causes of this phenomenon increased from day to day. In order to satisfy it, I questioned the members of all the different sects; and I more especially sought the society of the clergy, who are the depositaries of the different persuasions, and who are more especially interested in their duration. As a member of the Roman catholic church I was more particularly brought into contact with several of its priests, with whom I became intimately acquainted. To each of these men I expressed my astonishment and I explained my doubts: I found that they differed upon matters of detail alone; and that they mainly attributed the peaceful dominion of religion in their country, to the separation of church and state. I do not hesitate to affirm that during my stay in America, I did not meet with a single individual, of the clergy or of the laity, who was not of the same opinion upon this point.
This led me to examine more attentively than I had hitherto done, the station which the American clergy occupy in political society. I learned with surprise that they filled no public appointments;[1] not one of them is to be met with in the administration, and they are not even represented in the legislative assemblies. In several states[2] the law excludes them from political life;
- ↑ Unless this term be applied to the functions which many of them fill in the schools. Almost all education is intrusted to the clergy.
- ↑
See the constitution of New York, art. 7, § 4:—
“And whereas, the ministers of the gospel are, by their profession, dedicated to the service of God and the care of souls, and ought not to be diverted from the great duties of their functions; therefore no minister of the gospel, or priest of any denomination whatsoever, shall, at any time hereafter, under any pretence or description whatever, be eligible to, or capable of holding any civil or military office or place within this state.”
See also the constitutions of North Carolina, art. 31. Virginia. South Carolina art. 1, § 23. Kentucky, art. 2, § 26. Tennessee, art. 8, § 1. Louisiana, art. 2, § 22.
