Catholics and Religious Toleration in Early America

Church-state separation in America, generally understood as the product of a Protestant-driven Enlightenment, may have had more of a Catholic influence than most people realize. In colonial America, Catholics were presumed dangerous until proven loyal. Yet Catholics went on to sign the Declaration of Independence and helped to finalize the First Amendment to the Constitution. What explains this remarkable transformation?

In this lecture, Michael Breidenbach shows how Catholic leaders emphasized their church’s own traditions—rather than Enlightenment liberalism—to secure the religious liberty that enabled their incorporation in American life. And enjoins us to revise not only our sense of who the American founders were, but also our understanding of the sources of secularism.

About the Speaker

Michael D. Breidenbach is Associate Professor of History at Ave Maria University and coeditor of The Cambridge Companion to the First Amendment and Religious Liberty. His writing has appeared in the Washington Post, The Atlantic, and First Things.

This event is presented by the Institute for Humane Studies (IHS) and the Center for the Study of Government and the Individual.