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JAMES ABRAM GARFIELD
[Library of Congress]
1831-1881
20th President (1881)
Education: Western Reserve Eclectic Institute (now Hiram College); Williams College
Occupation: College Professor, College President
Political Affiliation: Republican
Organizational Affiliation(s): Mason
Religious Affiliation: Disciples of Christ
Summary of Religious Views:
In his early adulthood, Garfield sometimes preached and held revival meetings.
Views on Religion & Politics:
Quotations:
"I not only never introduced such a resolution as that to which you refer -- but in several public speeches I have praised the wisdom of our fathers for prohibiting Congress from legislating on the subject of religion -- and leaving it to the voluntary action of the people." -- letter to Robert G. Ingersoll, 9 July 1880, denying claims that he had introduced legislation in support of government support for religious education.
"Whatever help the nation can justly afford 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 in everything relating to taxation should be absolute." -- letter accepting the presidential nomination, 12 July 1880
"The Constitution guarantees absolute religious freedom. Congress is prohibited from making any law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof. The Territories of the United States are subject to the direct legislative authority of Congress, and hence the General Government is responsible for any violation of the Constitution in any of them. It is therefore a reproach to the Government that in the most populous of the Territories the constitutional guaranty is not enjoyed by the people and the authority of Congress is set at naught. The Mormon Church not only offends the moral sense of manhood by sanctioning polygamy, but prevents the administration of justice through ordinary instrumentalities of law.
"In my judgment it is the duty of Congress, while respecting to the uttermost the conscientious convictions and religious scruples of every citizen, to prohibit within its jurisdiction all criminal practices, especially of that class which destroy the family relations and endanger social order. Nor can any ecclesiastical organization be safely permitted to usurp in the smallest degree the functions and powers of the National Government." -- Inaugural Address, 4 March 1881
Misquotations:
"Fellow Citizens! Clouds and darkness are around Him! His pavilion is dark waters and thick clouds of the skies! Justice and judgment are the establishment of His throne! Mercy and truth shall go before His face! Fellow citizens! God reigns, and the Government at Washington still lives!" -- Supposedly from a speech in response to Lincoln's assassination given by Garfield in New York in April of 1865. But Garfield was not in New York in April of 1865. (See the discussion in Paul F. Boller & John George, They Never Said It, Oxford Univ. Press, 1989, p. 32.)
References, Links, & Further Reading: Books, Articles, Links
Books
Works by James Abram Garfield
ed. by Harry James Brown and Frederick D. Williams, The Diary of James Abram Garfield, 4 vols., Michigan State University, 1967-1982
ed. by Theodore Clark Smith, The Life and Letters of James Abram Garfield, 2 vols., Yale Univ. Press, 1925
ed. by Frederick D. Williams, The Wild Life of the Army: Civil War Letters of James A. Garfield, Michigan State Univ. Press, 1964
ed. by Mary L. Hinsdale, Garfield-Hinsdale Letters, Univ. of Michigan Press, 1949
ed. by John Shaw, Crete and James: Personal Letters of Lucretia and James Garfield, Michigan State Univ. Press, 1995
Biographies
Kenneth D. Ackerman, Dark Horse: The Surprise Election and Political Murder of James A. Garfield, Avalon Publishing, 2004
James C. Clark, The Murder of James A. Garfield: The President's Last Days and the Trial and Execution of his Assassin, McFarland & Company, 1993
Justus D. Doenecke, The Presidencies of James A Garfield and Chester A. Arthur, Regents Press of Kansas, 1981
B. V. Hendrik, The Road to Respectability: James A. Garfield and His World, Bucknell Univ. Press, 1988
Margaret Leech and Harry J. Brown, The Garfield Orbit: The Life of President James A. Garfield , Harper and Row, 1978
Richard L. McElroy, James A. Garfield--His Life and Times, Daring Books, 1986
Allan Peskin, Garfield: A Biography, Kent State Univ. Press, 1978
John M. Taylor, Garfield of Ohio: The Available Man, W.W. Norton, 1970
William M. Thayer, From Log-Cabin to White House
Religious Views
Woodrow Wasson, James A. Garfield: His Religion and Education, Tennessee Book Co., 1952
Articles
Links
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