Separation of Church and State
...driven by hysteria of witches and evil spirits. The play paints a clear picture of the separation of church and state. In the case Everson v. Board of Education of 1947, the Supreme Court stated, “The First Amendment has erected a wall between church and state.” The phrase “separation of church and state” was originated in a swap of messages between President Jefferson and the Baptist Association of Danbury, Connecticut, shortly after Jefferson was president. In a letter of congratulations, the Baptists also expressed to Jefferson their grave concern over the entire concept of the First Amendment, including its guarantee for “the free exercise of religion”. Jefferson theorized that the government was to be powerless to interfere with religious expressions for a very simple reason: he had long witnessed the unhealthy disposition of government to trespass upon the free exercise of religion. Jefferson did not permit the government to confine, manage, or meddle with public religious practices. He committed himself as President to practicing the purpose of the First Amendment: stopping the “establishment of a particular form of Christianity” by the Episcopalians, Congregationalists, or any other denomination. Jefferson preached that God, not government, was th...