If religious liberty is rather insecure in the Constitution the administration will certainly prevent all oppression, for a WASHINGTON will preside. Should the horrid evils that have been so pestiferous in Asia and Europe, faction, ambition, war, perfidy, fraud, and persecution for conscience sake, ever approach the borders of our happy nation, may the name and administration of our beloved President, like the radiant source of day, scatter all the dark clouds from the American hemisphere. Washington replied that his ideals were the same, assuring them of this, in the following words: No one would be more zealous than myself to establish effectual barriers against the horrors of spiritual tyranny and every species of religious persecution. He complimented the Baptists and said that they have been, throughout America, uniformly and almost unanimously, the firm friends to civil liberty, and the persevering promoters of our glorious revolution. His assurance was not empty words. In a short time James Madison, with the President’s approval, submitted certain amendments. Article VI was superseded by the First Amendment to the Constitution, which specified: Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances. Thus the long fight was won in America, and now people generally appreciate the importance of the victory gained. Rhode Island may have hesitated to accept the imperfect Constitution, with its lack of assurance for complete religious liberty. In this connection we should not forget that Massachusetts and Connecticut were the last to ratify the First Amendment. VII THE WORLD-WIDE INFLUENCE OF ROGER WILLIAMS’ IDEAL “The world must be made safe for democracy. Its peace must be planted upon trusted foundations of political liberty.”--_President Wilson’s War Message to Congress, 1917._ Till the war-drum throbb’d no longer, and the battle-flags were furl’d In the Parliament of man, the Federation of the world. There the common sense of most shall hold a fretful realm in awe, And the kindly earth shall slumber, lapt in universal law. --_Alfred Tennyson._