force or violence." It is not at all improbable that
many signed this remonstrance, not so much because they believed it to
be true as because it was a protest against a tax; that others were more
moved by jealousy of the power of the Episcopal Church than they were by
anxiety to protect religious liberty outside of their own sects. But
whatever the motives, the movement was too formidable to be disregarded.
It was made a test question in the election of members for the
legislature of 1785-86; at that session the bill for the support of
religious teachers was rejected, and in place of it was passed "an act
for establishing religious freedom," written by Jefferson seven years
before. This provided "that no man shall be compelled to frequent or
support any religious worship, place, or ministry whatsoever, nor shall
be enforced, restrained, molested, or burthened in his body or goods,
nor shall otherwise suffer on account of his religious opinions or
belief; but that all men shall be free to profess, and by argument
maintain, their opinions in matters of religion, and that the same shall
in no wise diminish, enlarge, or affect their civil capacities."[8]

In the memorial and remonstrance Madison had said: "If this freedom be
abused, it is an offense against God, not against man. To God,
therefore, not to man, must an account of it be rendered." If the people
of Virginia did not clearly comprehend this doctrine in all its length
and breadth a hundred years ago, it is not quite easy to say who were
then, or who are now, at liberty to throw stones at them. The assertion
of the broadest religious freedom was no more new then than it is true
that persecution for opinion's sake is now only an ancient evil. It was
not till fifty years after Virginia had refused to tax her citizens for
the support of religious teachers that Massachusetts repealed the law
that had long imposed a similar burden upon her people.

It was in 1786, the last year of Madison's service in the Virginia
Assembly before he returned to Congress, that the craze of paper money
broke out again through all the States. The measure was carried in most
of them, followed in the end by the usual disastrous consequences.
Madison's anxiety was great lest his own State should be carried away by
this delusion, and he led the opposition against some petitions sent to
the Assembly praying for an issue of currency. The vote against it was
too large to be due altogether to hi