Church, State, Courts, and Law in Indiana to 1851
Year: 2015
Type: article
Abstract: M orris Morris was one of the earliest residents of Indianapolis, ar- riving in 1821.Morris was what the nineteenth century called a "useful citizen."He served as state auditor and helped oversee the construction of the state capitol building.Before coming to Indiana, he had been a successful attorney in Kentucky.He gave up the practice of law, however, for a simple reason-he had decided that he could not be both a good lawyer and a good Christian.1 Many would have disagreed with Morris's conclusions, but their rebuttals point to the challenge of determining the correct relationship between law and faith.Church and state relations in Indiana before 1851 were complex.Organic law-the Northwest Ordinance and the 1816 state constitution-guaranteed freedom of worship.State laws both enacted concepts of Christian morality and attempted to accommodate, as much as possible, the peculiarities of sectarian groups, but this did not guarantee accommodation of every manifestation of individual belief.Officials regularly invoked God and affirmed that Indiana was a Christian polity and the United States a Christian nation.On the other hand, separation of church Thomas D. Hamm is Professor of History and Director of Special Collections at Earlham College in Richmond, Indiana.He has just finished a book manuscript on Hicksite Quakers in the nineteenth century.
Source: Indiana Magazine of History
Author: Thomas D. Hamm
Language: English
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: diamond
OpenAlex ID: W2486482080