Publisher's Synopsis
Excerpt from Religious Tests in Provincial Pennsylvania: A Paper Read Before the Historical Society of Pennsylvania at a Meeting Held, 1885
What the result of the constant recognition ever since of these principles has been here it is certainly not neces sary to enlarge upon. We may be permitted, however, to point with justifiable pride to the effect of our example on other nations. If the practice of universal toleration be, as Lord Brougham called it, the noblest innovation of modern times, we must not forget that the signal for this great revolution came from this country, and that our success has made the practical application of a doctrine untried until we adopted it, because it was universally regarded as a highly dangerous theory, one of the most admirable and beneficial instruments of government ever employed for ruling mankind. This country has made at least two grand contributions to modern civilization, - the peculiarly Ameri can ideas of civil liberty and religious liberty. Both of these ideas found embodiment for the first time in history in our national declarations and laws, and they found place there principally through the energy and philosophic insight of one man, - Thomas Jefferson. These ideas have become the most fruitful of all our political doctrines, and have gone forth from us to mould, for good or for evil, the destinies of the world.
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