Thomas Jefferson and the Wall of Separation Between Church and State (Book Review‪)‬

As the Supreme Court continues to reexamine its jurisprudence concerning the proper relationship between church and state, (1) scholars recently have taken a new look at the historical foundations of the Establishment Clause. In particular, more than one recent work has focused on the historical origins of the view that the First Amendment was designed to create a "wall of separation" between religion and government. (2) Daniel Dreisbach's book, Thomas Jefferson and the Wall of Separation between Church and State is a valuable contribution to that debate. (3) Professor Dreisbach focuses on Thomas Jefferson's famous pronouncements concerning the "wall of separation," which have been the foundation for much of the Supreme Court's twentieth-century jurisprudence in this area. Dreisbach maintains that the traditional interpretation of Jefferson' s statements in his 1802 letter to the Danbury Baptist Association regarding the "separation" between church and state is flawed. According to Dreisbach, Jefferson was merely attempting to convey his view that there was a wall of separation between the federal government and religion. Under the Constitution, the federal government was delegated certain enumerated powers--the power to regulate in areas involving religious matters not being among them. However, according to Dreisbach, Jefferson did not contemplate any such separation between the various state governments and religion. Indeed, the separation principle, as Dreisbach notes, was understood by Jefferson to preclude the federal government from preempting the state governments' authority in matters of religion.