A Proposed Constitutional Amendment
DECEMBER 14, 1875, the Hon. James G. Blaine proposed a constitutional amendment which ought to have carried: "No State shall make any law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; and no money raised by school taxation in any State, for the support of public schools, or derived from any public fund therefor, nor any public lands devoted thereto, shall ever be under the control of any religious sect; nor shall any money so raised, or lands so devoted, be divided between religious sects or denominations." The House passed this August 14, 1876, by a vote of "Yeas" 180 to "Nays" 7, and added the words, "This article shall not vest, enlarge, or diminish legislative power in Congress." It was further amended in the Senate, but failed to secure the necessary two-thirds vote, the vote standing, "Yeas" 28 to "Nays" 16. Both of the political parties that year inserted in their platforms declarations on the subject of religious freedom. (See "American State Papers," page 349, new edition.)