ABSTRACT
The chapter looks in detail at Voltaire’s and then Rousseau’s thinking about tolerance, which provides important influences on the Founding Fathers of the US.
Whatever one feels about current American political life, the early history of the American colonies and the foundation of the American constitution obviously turn on the central role of tolerance and the general influence of Enlightenment thinkers such as Locke, Diderot, Montesquieu, Voltaire, and others. In order to fully grasp current political realities in the US, including the way that the intolerant religious right has become so influential today, it is helpful to look at some aspects, relevant to my theme, of the complex origins of American society, its revolution, and the way that the issue of how to accommodate a multiplicity of religious beliefs came to play such an important role in early American history.
There are two different historical narratives of the formation of the American identity; American identity is dual in nature. One side remains convinced that the American identity has been shaped by the influence of Enlightenment thinkers, based on a rational philosophy that excludes or sidelines religion, and the other side, influenced by a romantic rediscovery of the Puritan ancestors, is convinced that the nation is at its core religious, and therefore government should support the free exercise of religion, even supporting faith-based schools and organizations with public funding. The Supreme Court at various times has wavered between these two narratives, finding it difficult to reconcile them. One cannot understand the American interpretation of tolerance, nor indeed American politics today, without understanding this duality at the heart of the American identity.
