Start Date
4-9-2021 9:00 AM
End Date
4-9-2021 10:15 AM
Disciplines
History
Subjects
Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826) -- Homes and haunts -- France -- Paris, Americans -- France -- Paris -- History -- 18th century, Diplomats -- France -- Paris -- History, Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826) -- Religion, Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826) -- Political and social views, Virginia. Act for establishing religious freedom.
Description
Abstract: When Thomas Jefferson became minister to France in the mid-1780s, his time in Paris was defined in no small part by his enduring belief in religious liberty. His Statute for Religious Freedom saw considerable challenge in Virginia as it was deliberated in Jefferson’s absence by influential political forces in the state legislature. The battle over its passage pitted two prominent figures of the early republican era against each other. The celebrated rhetorician Patrick Henry fought against the secular aims of Jefferson and his political ally, James Madison, who ultimately helped to secure passage of the statute. As Madison championed Jefferson’s secular agenda in Virginia, the minister to France discovered an altogether different form of religious fundamentalism when the capture of American sailors by North African vessels was defended by the Ambassador of Tripoli through religious rationalizations. In response to naval aggression on the Mediterranean, Jefferson sought a military solution, informing Jefferson’s view that the United States needed to exert a strong, unified position in the world and rejecting the religious claims of the Barbary states.
PART OF SESSION 1A. CHRISTIANS AND MUSLIMS:
Comment: Jeanette Fregulia, Carroll College
Chair: Ellen Kittell, University of Idaho
Francesca M. Duncan, University of Portland, undergraduate student
“A Collaborative Crusade: Economic Incentives for Religious Tolerance in Sicily, 1061–1189”
John Franzwa, Western Oregon University, undergraduate student
“The Space Between Love and Hate: Coexistence During Convivencia”
James M. Masnov, Portland State University, graduate student
“Religious Freedom Matters, At Home and Abroad: Thomas Jefferson in Paris in the 1780s”
Rights
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
Persistent Identifier
https://archives.pdx.edu/ds/psu/35284
Included in
Religious Freedom Matters, At Home and Abroad: Thomas Jefferson in Paris in the 1780s
Abstract: When Thomas Jefferson became minister to France in the mid-1780s, his time in Paris was defined in no small part by his enduring belief in religious liberty. His Statute for Religious Freedom saw considerable challenge in Virginia as it was deliberated in Jefferson’s absence by influential political forces in the state legislature. The battle over its passage pitted two prominent figures of the early republican era against each other. The celebrated rhetorician Patrick Henry fought against the secular aims of Jefferson and his political ally, James Madison, who ultimately helped to secure passage of the statute. As Madison championed Jefferson’s secular agenda in Virginia, the minister to France discovered an altogether different form of religious fundamentalism when the capture of American sailors by North African vessels was defended by the Ambassador of Tripoli through religious rationalizations. In response to naval aggression on the Mediterranean, Jefferson sought a military solution, informing Jefferson’s view that the United States needed to exert a strong, unified position in the world and rejecting the religious claims of the Barbary states.
PART OF SESSION 1A. CHRISTIANS AND MUSLIMS:
Comment: Jeanette Fregulia, Carroll College
Chair: Ellen Kittell, University of Idaho
Francesca M. Duncan, University of Portland, undergraduate student
“A Collaborative Crusade: Economic Incentives for Religious Tolerance in Sicily, 1061–1189”
John Franzwa, Western Oregon University, undergraduate student
“The Space Between Love and Hate: Coexistence During Convivencia”
James M. Masnov, Portland State University, graduate student
“Religious Freedom Matters, At Home and Abroad: Thomas Jefferson in Paris in the 1780s”