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.Government has no moreto do with the religious opinions of men, than it has with the princi-ples of the mathematicks.Let every man speak freely withoutfear maintain the principles that he believes worship according tohis own faith, either one God, three Gods, no God, or twenty Gods;and let government protect him in so doing.15That the changes to the certificate system meant only toleration of dissent-ing sects, and not religious equality, was reinforced by the Standing Order sinsistence that the Congregationalist establishment retain its legal and socialpreferences.Congregationalist clergy represented a privileged and powerfulclass: their salaries and lands were exempt from taxation, only they could per-form marriages, and their opinions on matters moral and political wentunquestioned.16 Also, the Congregationalist clergy controlled the educationalsystem: town primary schools were run by local Congregationalist clergy; YaleCollege, that bastion of orthodox Calvinism, received tax support from the state;and the Congregationalist clergy resisted calls by Episcopalians for public sup-port for their fledgling academy.17 The privileged position of the Congregation-alists became an issue during a controversy over the sale of western lands in1795.As initially enacted by the legislature, receipts from the sale were to gointo a perpetual account to fund the Ecclesiastical Societies Churches or Con-gregations of all denominations, and, secondarily, Schools of Education, both of which would have enhanced the position of the Congregationalistclergy.For two years, the legislature resisted amending the law despite charges N EW E NGLAND DISESTABLISHMENT 125of preferential treatment of Congregationalists, finally acquiescing to create aperpetual school fund from the proceeds.18As the Appropriation Act controversy demonstrates, the Congregationalistclergy essentially held a stranglehold on the state and local political establish-ments, and by the time of John Adams s election, they were Federalists almostto a man.Within the Connecticut Federalist Party, the clergy were the largestand most powerful block, sometimes choosing the party s political leadership.19Lyman Beecher later candidly acknowledged the political power of the StandingOrder clergy in his Autobiography:The ministers had always managed [political matters] themselves, forin those days the ministers were all politicians.They had always beenused to it from the beginning.On election day they had a festival.Allthe clergy used to go, walk in procession, smoke pipes, and drink.And, fact is when they got together, they would talk over who shouldbe governor, and who lieutenant-governor and who in the upperhouse, and their counsels would prevail.20Thus, in spite of providing an exemption for religious dissenters under thecertificate system, Connecticut maintained one of the more entrenched reli-gious establishments, which gave preferential treatment to Congregationalistchurches and awarded political power to Congregationalist clergy.One oppo-nent described it as a smothering establishment of religion. This inequitablesystem, together with the controversy over the Appropriation Act, led to thebirth of the first serious political opposition (which evolved into the state Repub-lican Party) and helped to engender an anticlericalism in that party s membersthat would continue through disestablishment in 1818.21Growing agitation for greater religious equality if not disestablishment ledJudge Zephaniah Swift to include a defense of the existing system in his trea-tise A System of the Laws of the State of Connecticut (1795).Swift was a formermember of Congress, a liberal Congregationalist, and also a supporter of theexisting Standing Order.Still, his defense of his state s system had more of anapologetic quality than that of New Hampshire s Chief Justice Smith.Swiftwrote that Connecticut had previously maintained a religious establishment,which he characterized as having been a more mild and tolerant establish-ment, than that with which [the settlers] had been acquainted in Britain.Withthe repeal of the Saybrook Platform and the passage of the certificate laws of1784 and 1791, the notion of a religious establishment had exploded. Althoughthe state legislature might not have so intended, Swift wrote,yet here is a compleat renunciation of the doctrine, that an ecclesias-tical establishment is necessary to the support of civil government. 126 T HE A NTEBELLUM S ETTLEMENTNo sect is invested with privileges superior to another.No creed isestablished, and no test act excluded any person from holding anyoffices in government.22For Swift, an establishment something he defined as providing exclusive sup-port and preferences no longer existed in Connecticut.Because all dissenterswere entitled to receive certificates to exempt them from paying for support ofthe Congregational Church, Swift argued that concerns about religious con-science had been met: the people are left to their own freedom, in the choiceof their creed, and the mode of worship. Swift also believed that, notwithstand-ing the presumption in the law that gave Congregational churches all remain-ing taxes, there was a levelling [of] all distinctions and placing [of] everydenomination of christians equally under the protection of the law. 23But Swift was also responding to the orthodox Calvinists who were bemoan-ing the loss of piety and financial support through the liberalization of the law.There were some, Swift wrote, who imbibed the false principle that govern-ment cannot exist without a civil establishment of religion :It will be found in all countries that ecclesiastical establishmentshave subjected mankind to a despotism that has largely contributedto their distress.In this state, since the rejection of our ecclesiasti-cal establishment, religion has become more flourishing, govern-ment more energetic, and the people more peaceable.These consid-erations must demonstrate the important truth, that a religiousestablishment is not necessary to the support of civil government,and that religion left to itself, will produce the happiest influence oncivil society.24Swift still had to reconcile his understanding of disestablishment with thelaws providing for the public support of worship, including assessing taxes topay for church buildings and Christian ministers.Swift insisted that the settle-ment of ministers is merely a civil regulation and was for the benefit of civilsociety, not to advance religion.The 1791 law was passed for the purpose ofpromoting the public good, and there was an inherent right of the legislature to enact such salutary laws
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