Church and State in America: The First Two Centuries (Cambridge Essential Histories)

This is an account of the ideas about and public policies relating to the relationship between government and religion from the settlement of Virginia in 1607 to the presidency of Andrew Jackson, 1829-1837. Hutson examines the four principles of government's approach to religion and the relevance of the concept of the separation of church and state during that period.

James H. Hutson has been Chief of the Manuscripts Division at the Library of Congress since 1982. He has previously held positions as Coordinator of the American Revolution Bicentennial Programs at the Library of Congress, and as lecturer at the College of William and Mary and Yale University. Among his many publications, Dr. Hutson has written Religion and the Founding of the American Republic (6th printing, 2002); Forgotten Features of the Founding: The Recovery of Religious Themes in Early American History (2003); and The Founders on Religion (2005).