Mixing Church and State: Thomas Jefferson and America’s First Megachurch

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America is known for its churches.

Even today, despite decades of declining attendance, millions of Americans still head to church every Sunday. Many will gather in what we call “megachurches”—congregations numbering in the thousands.

Most people assume megachurches are a modern phenomenon.

They’re not.

In fact, America’s first megachurch wasn’t in Texas, California, or Florida. It wasn’t led by a celebrity pastor or built around a bookstore, coffee shop, or livestream.

America’s first megachurch met inside the United States Capitol.

Yes, that Capitol.

The same building where Congress meets and eventually in the same room that hosts State of the Union addresses. It’s the same facility many Americans today consider the very definition of government space.

For nearly a century, thousands of Americans gathered there to worship God. And one of its most faithful attendees was none other than Thomas Jefferson.

That fact alone should make us pause.

Thomas Jefferson is often portrayed as America’s patron saint of secularism.

He’s routinely invoked whenever someone wants to argue that religion should be kept far away from government and public life. Yet Jefferson’s actual behavior tells a more complicated story.

The story begins in Washington, D.C., during the 1790s.

At the time, the new federal city was little more than an ambitious construction project surrounded by mud, unfinished buildings, and grand dreams. There weren’t many churches available for public worship. So citizens began meeting wherever space could be found.

The U.S. Capitol was one of those places.

A Boston newspaper reported in 1795 that in “our infant city” public worship was being regularly conducted at the Capitol every Sunday morning by the Reverend Mr. Ralph.

The arrangement was practical. The Capitol was one of the few public buildings available. People needed a place to worship. The building stood mostly empty on Sundays. Why not use it?

As the federal government settled into Washington, the practice continued.

Then came Thomas Jefferson.

Far from opposing worship services in government buildings, Jefferson became one of their strongest supporters and most consistent participants. Visitors routinely observed the president attending services in the House chamber.

Margaret Bayard Smith, one of Washington’s most careful observers, described Jefferson as a regular attendee, and he often attended with his personal secretary (Meriwether Lewis). Another eyewitness noted that Jefferson often rode horseback to the Capitol for worship services regardless of weather conditions.

Apparently, rain, snow, mud, or political controversy weren’t sufficient excuses to skip church.

The Capitol church services were remarkably diverse.

Various denominations rotated through the Capitol. Presbyterians, Episcopalians, Baptists, Congregationalists, Methodists, and others all used the facility. No single denomination controlled the services. No official government church emerged.

That fact is important. The issue confronting Jefferson’s generation wasn’t whether religion belonged in public life, but rather whether government should control religion.

That’s an entirely different question.

The Separation of Church and State?

Today, many Americans hear the phrase “separation of church and state” and assume it means separating religion from government buildings, government officials, or public institutions.

Jefferson never defined it that way. The famous phrase comes from a January 1, 1802 letter Jefferson wrote to the Danbury Baptist Association in Connecticut.

The Baptists were concerned about government interference in religion. Many states still maintained established churches or gave preference to particular denominations. Religious liberty remained a developing concept. Jefferson reassured them that the First Amendment prevented Congress from establishing a national church and protected the free exercise of religion.

He wrote that the American people had built “a wall of separation between Church & State.”

Notice the direction of the concern.

The Baptists feared the state would control the church and there would be government interference. They did not fear church attendance, public prayer, or religious expression.

They feared government power.

That distinction matters.

In fact, Jefferson attended worship services in the Capitol shortly after writing those famous words. If he believed “separation of church and state” required removing religion from public buildings, his own actions would have been remarkably hypocritical.

Instead, Jefferson apparently saw no contradiction whatsoever. Neither did James Madison, John Quincy Adams, or thousands of other Americans.

Capitol worship services flourished in the 1800s.

Crowds often exceeded a thousand people and sometimes approached two thousand. Margaret Bayard Smith described services so crowded that every available space was occupied. The floor filled. The galleries filled. Even areas behind the Speaker’s chair became standing-room-only sections.

Imagine trying to find a seat. Today we’d call it a megachurch.

The Capitol congregation attracted government officials, military officers, professors, merchants, laborers, families, visitors, and curious travelers.

Congress purchased hymnals for worshippers.

Think about that for a moment. Congress bought hymnals. The Marine Band occasionally played worship music. The President attended the Capitol-hosted services. And somehow nobody believed the Republic was collapsing.

For nearly one hundred years, worship services continued in various parts of the Capitol complex. At times, multiple services were conducted on the same Sunday by different denominations. The building functioned less like a denominational church and more like a shared worship space for a growing nation.

What does all this mean?

It certainly doesn’t mean America established a national religion.

Nor does it mean every Founder was an orthodox Christian. To the contrary, of the nearly 200 “Founding Fathers and Mothers,” there were Anglicans, Episcopalians, Baptists, Congregationalists, Quakers, Methodists, Presbyterians, and Catholics.

But they all were orthodox in the major doctrines of Christianity.

Only one Founding Father was a non-traditional, unorthodox Christian: the Unitarian John Adams. Even his own son- John Quincy- reputedly raised as a Unitarian, would reject it in adulthood.

Thomas Jefferson: religiously fascinating and complicated.

The third U.S. President admired Jesus while questioning traditional doctrines. He embraced religious liberty while rejecting government-established religion. He was influenced by Enlightenment rationalism while continuing to participate in Christian worship.

Like Benjamin Franklin, Jefferson resists easy labels. But one conclusion seems difficult to avoid.

The generation that wrote the Constitution did not view public religious expression the same way many Americans do today. They distinguished between government control of religion and religion’s presence in public life. Those were not the same thing.

The Capitol worship story is a reminder that early Americans viewed religious liberty as freedom for religion, not freedom from religion.

That’s a distinction worth remembering.

Today, the Capitol is viewed almost entirely as a secular, political space. Few Americans realize that for generations it also served as a place of prayer, worship, preaching, singing, and fellowship.

History has a way of surprising us. Especially when it refuses to fit neatly into modern political categories.

Perhaps that’s why this story matters.

Not because it settles every debate. Not because it proves one political side right and another wrong. But because it reminds us that America’s past is usually more complicated—and more interesting—than the slogans we inherit.

And who knows?

A little religion in the Capitol might still do some good. After all, much of what they do on Capitol Hill nowadays hasn’t got a prayer.

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Sources

1. Federal Orrery (Boston), July 2, 1795, p. 2.

2. Thomas Jefferson to the Danbury Baptist Association, January 1, 1802, in The Writings of Thomas Jefferson, ed. Andrew A. Lipscomb (Washington, DC: Thomas Jefferson Memorial Association, 1904), Vol. 16, pp. 281–282.

3. Thomas Jefferson to Benjamin Rush, April 21, 1803, in Memoir, Correspondence, and Miscellanies from the Papers of Thomas Jefferson, ed. Thomas Jefferson Randolph (Boston: Gray & Bowen, 1830), Vol. III, p. 506.

4. Margaret Bayard Smith, The First Forty Years of Washington Society, ed. Gaillard Hunt (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1906), pp. 13–14.

5. Rev. Manasseh Cutler, Life, Journals and Correspondence of Rev. Manasseh Cutler, Vol. II (Cincinnati: Robert Clarke & Co., 1888), pp. 114, 119.

6. Abijah Bigelow to Hannah Bigelow, December 28, 1812, in “Letters of Abijah Bigelow, Member of Congress, to His Wife,” Proceedings of the American Antiquarian Society 40 (1930), p. 168.

7. James H. Hutson, Religion and the Founding of the American Republic (Washington, DC: Library of Congress, 1998), pp. 84–92.

8. James H. Hutson, Church and State in America: The First Two Centuries (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2008), pp. 61–67.