Te Evangelical Origins of the Living Constitution Te Evangelical Origins of the Living Constitution John W. Compton Cambridge, Massachusetts London, England 2014 Copyright © 2014 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College All rights reserved Printed in the United States of America Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Compton, John W., 1977- author. T e evangelical origins of the living constitution / John W. Compton. pages cm Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-674-72679-6 (alk. paper) 1. Religion and law—United States—History. 2. Evangelicalism— United States—History—19th century. 3. Constitutional law—United States—History. 4. United States—Religion. 5. Church and state—United States—History. I. Title. KF4869.E93C66 2014 342.7302’9—dc23 2013029764 For Heidi Contents Introduction 1 1. T e Evangelical Challenge to American Constitutionalism 19 2. Moral Reform and Constitutional Adjudication, 1830–1854 52 3. T e Triumph of Evangelical Public Morality in the States 73 4. T e Triumph of Evangelical Public Morality in the Supreme Court 91 5. Reexamining the Collapse of the Old Order 133 Conclusion: T e Evangelical Origins of the Modern Constitutional Order 177 Notes 185 Acknowledgments 253 Index 255 Te Evangelical Origins of the Living Constitution