ABSTRACT
The first and most obvious place to begin an inquiry into the original understanding of the Establishment Clause is in the Bill of Rights debate that took place in the First Congress during the summer of 1789. The Philadelphia Convention of 1787 saw fit not to include a Bill of Rights in the proposed Constitution. After the Constitution was forwarded to state ratification conventions, some commentators began to suggest that guarantees of rights should be added to the proposed Constitution, particularly freedom of speech and of the press, trials by jury, and freedom of religion. New York and Virginia subsequently ratified, but they too wanted amendments. When the First Congress of the United States met on March 4, 1789, one and a half years after the Constitutional Convention adjourned, only eleven states were represented. During the period from August 13–22, the House of Representatives as a whole considered the report of the Committee of Eleven.
