To: Messrs.
Nehemiah Dodge and Others, a Committee of the Danbury Baptist Association,
in the State of Connecticut
Gentlemen:
The affectionate sentiments of esteem and approbation which you are so good
as to express towards me, on behalf of the Danbury Baptist Association, give
me the highest satisfaction. My duties dictate a faithful and zealous pursuit
of the interests of my constituents, and in proportion as they are persuaded
of my fidelity to those duties, the discharge of them becomes more and more
pleasing.
Believing with you
that religion is a matter which lies solely between man and his God, that
he owes account to none other for his faith or his worship, that the legislative
powers of government reach actions only, and not opinions, I contemplate with
sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that
their legislature should "make no law respecting an establishment of
religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof," thus building a
wall of separation between church and State. Adhering to this expression of
the supreme will of the nation in behalf of the rights of conscience, I shall
see with sincere satisfaction the progress of those sentiments which tend
to restore to man all his natural rights, convinced he has no natural right
in opposition to his social duties.
I reciprocate your
kind prayers for the protection and blessing of the common Father and Creator
of man, and tender you for yourselves and your religious association, assurances
of my high respect and esteem.
Thomas Jefferson
