(Ebook) Church, state, and original intent by Donald L. Drakeman ISBN 9780521119184, 9780521134521, 0521119189, 0521134528

(Ebook) Church, state, and original intent by Donald L. Drakeman ISBN 9780521119184, 9780521134521, 0521119189, 0521134528

This provocative book shows how the United States Supreme Court has used constitutional history in church-state cases. Donald L. Drakeman describes the ways in which the justices have portrayed the Framers' actions in a light favoring their own views about how church and state should be separated. He then marshals the historical evidence, leading to a surprising conclusion about the original meaning of the First Amendment's establishment clause: the framers originally intended the establishment clause only as a prohibition against a single national church. In showing how conventional interpretations have gone astray, he casts light on the close relationship between religion and government in America and brings to life a fascinating parade of church-state constitutional controversies from the Founding Era to the present.