Result of the Constitutional Amendment by Dudley Marvin Canright

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · May 13, 1873

Result of the Constitutional Amendment.

By Dudley Marvin Canright

The Christian Union of Feb. 26, 1873, has the following sound words touching the proposed Constitutional Amendment. It clearly indicates just what the final result of that movement will be when actually carried out:—

“The method of the National Association is antagonistic to the spirit of American civil liberty. Every argument which has been or can be used in favor of the theological amendment of the Constitution, has been used a thousand times, just as logically, for the union of Church and State. Moreover, every one of these arguments would justify prosecution in the courts of the land for opinion’s sake. Suppose that you have carried your amendment. Instantly you have revolutionized the civil spirit of this Republic. From the moment of your victory, you make the holding of certain theological opinions, different from your own, an offense indictable in our courts and punishable in our prisons. When you have gained so much, what have you left of American liberty?”

“Both as Christians and as patriots, therefore, we solemnly protest against the measure now in agitation. It is a measure in every way evil. Its success would be fatal at once to religion and to freedom in America.”

D. M. CANRIGHT.