The establishment of religious freedom was no less momentous an achievement than the clearing of the great forest or the winning of independence, for the twin doctrines of separation of church and state and liberty of individual conscience are the marrow of our democracy, if not indeed America’s most magnificent contribution to the freeing of Western man.

Clinton Rossiter (1917-1970) American historian and political scientist [Clinton Lawrence Rossiter III]

The American Quest (1971)