Historical Links

It is impossible to understand religious liberty without a grasp of both its historical and theological development. The following collections have wonderfully gathered the primary historical source materials. To fully understand their significance, however, some of the books on the recommended reading list will prove invaluable.

The Founders Constitution, a collaboration between the University of Chicago and the Liberty Fund, has extensive resource materials on all aspects of the Constitution. This includes dozens of historical documents relevant to understanding the First Amendment’s religion clauses.
http://press-pubs.uchicago.edu/founders/tocs/amendI_religion.html

A fine collection of historical documents pertaining to religious freedom assembled by a law firm.
http://www.churchstatelaw.com/historicalmaterials/

http://www.bc.edu/bc_org/avp/cas/comm/free_speech/historicdocuments.html
This collection of historical documents emphasizes freedom of speech, but has many primary documents of tremendous significance to the development of religious freedom as well.

The American Memory collection at the Library of Congress features 8 collections devoted to religion, including one, http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/collections/petitions/, containing religious petitions in colonial Virginia, many of which pertain directly to the issues of freedom of conscience and the separation of church and state.

For essential historical materials generally, on law, history and diplomacy, the collection assembled by Yale University is superb. http://avalon.law.yale.edu/subject_menus/major.asp lists the major collections.