Garfield, James A. -- Letter of Acceptance, Republican nomination for President (10 Jul 1880)

Dave — Fri, 20 Nov 2020 18:54:16 +0000

Whatever help the nation can justly offer should be generously given to aid the States in supporting common schools; but it would be unjust to our people, and dangerous to our institutions, to apply any portion of the revenues of the nation, or of the States, to the support of sectarian schools. The separation of the Church and the State on everything related to taxation should be absolute.

James A. Garfield (1831–1881) US President (1881), lawyer, lay preacher, educator
Letter of Acceptance, Republican nomination for President (10 Jul 1880)

Grant, Ulysses S. -- Speech (1875-09-25), Address to the Army of the Tennessee, Annual Reunion, Des Moines, Iowa

Dave — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 13:26:37 +0000

Let us all labor to add all needful guarantees for the more perfect security of free thought, free speech, and free press, pure morals, unfettered religious sentiments, and of equal rights and privileges to all men, irrespective of nationality, color, or religion. Encourage free schools, and resolve that not one dollar of money shall be appropriated to the support of any sectarian school. Resolve that neither the state nor nation, or both combined, shall support institutions of learning other than those sufficient to afford every child growing up in the land the opportunity of a good common school education, unmixed with sectarian, Pagan, or Atheistical tenets. Leave the matter of religion to the family altar, the church, and the private schools, supported entirely by private contributions. Keep the Church and the State forever Separate.

Ulysses S. Grant (1822–1885) American military leader, US President (1869–77)
Speech (1875-09-25), Address to the Army of the Tennessee, Annual Reunion, Des Moines, Iowa

This passage of the speech was particularly popular among Protestant folk in the late 19th Century opposed to tax support for Catholic schools (which were considered sectarian), vs. the generally Protestant faith assumed in public schools.

WIST Quotations

Garfield, James A. -- Letter of Acceptance, Republican nomination for President (10 Jul 1880)

Grant, Ulysses S. -- Speech (1875-09-25), Address to the Army of the Tennessee, Annual Reunion, Des Moines, Iowa