Quote:
Originally Posted by Atticus Grinch
What the Founders said to each other in letters etc. was very different from what they said in public, when they would invoke the Almighty Creator and Providence and some such to bless their undertakings. Jefferson was no fool -- he spent a lot of his valuable time editing Life and Morals of Jesus of Nazareth but never allowed it to be published in his lifetime -- it was first published in 1895. But you'd better believe he said whatever it was you needed to say to get elected in 1769, 1775, 1779, 1783, 1797, and 1801.
So the religion acid test for elected officials was different then, and I continue to think that was because the evangelical contingent was politically irrelevant and the landed gentry had various amounts of religious zeal but that shouldn't get in the way of political discourse and civility, tut tut.
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When Original Intent types pull out their crystal balls in order to determine what the Founders actually thought particular provisions of the Constitution meant, do they look at the statements intended for consumption by the electorate, the letters between them, or something else?
Just wondering. I've never been a real Supreme Court buff, it's too high-falutin' for me.
