ABSTRACT
The resistance to secular governing principles was especially fierce in Catholic countries. The nineteenth century witnessed a continent-wide backlash among conservative Catholics to the Enlightenment and its associated modernizing innovations. Ultramontanism was named to describe the faithful who looked beyond the mountains, towards Rome. Mexico provides an interesting example. Its 1857 constitution actually proclaimed “separation of church and state.” Pope Pius IX responded by claiming it had no validity. The religion clauses were written by James Madison as an amendment to the Constitution in something known as The Bill of Rights. Legal scholars sometimes praise the brilliant concision of those 16 words. The law neglects to do what states and even American colonies had been doing for centuries.
