Judaeans Celebrate 150th Anniversary of Constitutional Religious Liberty

The 150th anniversary of the constitutional establishment of religious liberty in America was celebrated by the Judaeans at the club’s meeting held Sunday night at the Astor Hotel under the chairmanship of Louis Marshall.

The meeting was called to commemorate the one hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the adoption of the first constitution of the State of New York, in which the clause for religious liberty was incorporated, New York being one of the first states to include this principle in its constitution. Mr. Marshall gave an outline of the history of the New York State Constitution.

Judge Irving Lehman, Associate Judge of the Court of Appeals of New York State, read a paper on the 150th Anniversary of the Constitutional Establishment of Religious Liberty.”

“It is a trite saying that government is not merely a matter of law but of men. As the very foundation of out government, the organic law dcrees freedom of thought and conscience, yet from time to time men try to destroy or abridge the freedom which the law decrees. It has been said that no man is worthy of freedom who cannot defend it. We celebrate this year the one hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the recognition of religious freedom as a legal right. We rejoice and are proud because we are citizens of the country which has recognized that right and guaranteed it in its constitution. We prove ourselves worthy of it when we are ready to defend it from direct or indirect attack, when we fight all forms of prejudice, whether directed against us or others, which threaten it,” Judge Lehman declared.

Max J, Kohler, vice-president of the Judaeans, read a paper on “American Influences on the Development of Religious Liberty in Europe,” in which he traced the way in which America contributed to the progress of mankind by establishing the principle of constitutional religious liberty. He cited a number of cases when the United States government acted on this principle in its international relations, including the protection of persecuted Jews. Mr. Kohler mentioned, among others, the case of the Jews of Damascus when Secretary of State Forsyth, at the direction of President Van Buren instructed the United States Minister at Constantinople to use his good offices on behalf of the Damascus Jews; the case of the United States Government’s intervention with Switzerland against discriminations against Jews holding American passports; the action of the United States government in 1870 when President Grant appointed Benjamin F. Peixotto, United States Consul at Bucharest for the purpose of affection an ameliorat on in the civil, religious and political condition of the Jews in Roumania.

“The greatest progress in making the American principle of religious liberty a principal of international law was made at the Peace Conference in Versailles in 1919, under the leadership of Louis Marshall and his associates, Judge Julian W. Mack, Dr. Cyrus Adler and Dr. Stephen S. Wise,” Mr. Kohler declared.

“Our cherished American religious liberty provisions have been made directly applicable to a large section of Europe, largely through American direct effort. We sought to make the chief draftsman of these clauses our guest of honor soon after he returned from the peace conference, and we sought again to induce him to be our guest of honor last fall on the alleged occasion of his seventieth birthday, but he modestly declined. I am now assuming new authority as a vice-president of this organization, in declining to let our chairman of the evening silence me, when I say that our hearts go out to him in gratitude for this most important and valuable incident in a long and most useful life, and we hope that this seventy year young champion of religious liberty will be spared for many years of unabated public usefulness. I will conclude my desultory remarks with a question: Is it not clear that this one hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the constitutional establishment of religious liberty in America is of no less profound significance for Europe, too?” Mr. Kohler declared.

Mr. Marshall took occasion at this meeting to remark jokingly that those who confuse him with Chas. Marshall who addressed a letter of interrogation to Governor Smith, were confused with regard to the initials.

Mr. Marshall expressed surprise at the fact that no editorial notice had been taken of the one hundred and fiftieth anniversary of constitutional religious liberty.