(1835), a French historian, published his work in Paris entitled, 2 In this work he documented his travels in America with Alexis de Tocqueville, May 1831–February 1832. He was commissioned by the French Government to study the American prisons, democracy, and religion.
In his work, 2 1835, Gustave de Beaumont reported:
The principal established religious sects in North America are the Methodists, Anabaptists, Catholics, Presbyterians, Episcopalians, Quakers or Friends, Universalists, Congregationalists, Unitarians, Dutch Reformed, German Reformed, Moravians, Evangelical Lutherans, etc.
The Anabaptists are divided into Calvinists, Dunkers, etc. The most populous Protestant group is that of the Methodists; it numbered 550,000 members at the beginning of the year 1834. There are no exact figures for the other communions.2711
Religion in America is not only a moral institution but also a political institution. All of the American constitutions exhort the citizens to practice religious worship as a safeguard both to good morals and to public liberties. In the United States, the law is never atheistic … 2712
All of the American constitutions proclaim freedom of conscience and the liberty and equality of all the confessions.2713
The constitution of Massachusetts proclaims the freedom of the various faiths in the sense that it does not wish to persecute any of them; but it recognizes within the state only Christians and protects only the Protestants.2714
Maryland’s constitution also declares that all of the faiths are free, and that no one is forced to contribute to the maintenance of a particular church. However, it gives the legislature the right to establish a general tax, according to the circumstances, for the support of the Christian religion.2715
The constitution of Vermont recognizes only the Christian faiths, and says specifically that every congregation of Christians should celebrate the Sabbath or the Lord’s Day, and observe the religious worship which seems to it most pleasing to the will of God, manifested by revelation.2716
Sometimes the American constitutions offer religious bodies some indirect assistance: thus, Maryland law declares that, to be admitted to public office, it is necessary to be a Christian. The Pennsylvania constitution requires that one believe in the existence of God and in a future life of punishment or rewards.2717
There is no political ceremony in America that does not begin with a pious invocation. I have seen a meeting of the Senate in Washington open with a prayer, and the anniversary festival of the Declaration of Independence consists, in the United States, of an entirely religious ceremony.2718
I have just indicated how the law, which recognizes neither the authority nor the existence of clergy, confirms the power of religion.2719
I shall add that the religious sects, which remain strangers to party activity, are far from showing themselves indifferent to political interests and to the government of the country.
They all take a lively interest in the maintenance of American institutions through the voice of their ministers in the sacred pulpit and even in the political assemblies. In America, Christian religion is always at the service of freedom.2720
It is a principle of the United States legislature that, to be good citizen, it is necessary to be religious; and it is a no less well-established rule that, to fulfill one’s duty toward God, it is necessary to be a good citizen.2721
Although not all American state constitutions impose religious beliefs and the practice of faith as a condition of political privileges, there is not a single state where public opinion and the customs of the inhabitants do not forcefully constrain an obligation to these beliefs.
In general, anyone who adheres to one of the religious sects, whose number is immense in the United States, enjoys all of his social and political rights in peace.2722
But the man who would claim to have neither a church nor religious beliefs would not only be excluded from all civil employment and from all political offices, voluntary or salaried, but, furthermore, would be an object of moral persecution of all kinds.
No one would care to have any social relations with him, even less to contract family ties; no one would buy from him or sell to him. No one in the United States believes that a man without religion could be an honest man.2723