The Pastoral Office of the President

Abstract

“Like much else that George Washington said and did as President of the United States, this [supplication for God's blessing] was precedent-setting. His thirty-third successor would launch a Presidential administration with a formal Inauguration Prayer. … Meanwhile, in 1791, the states had ratified a Bill of Rights whose first article forbade ‘any law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.’ Twentieth century jurisprudence has strictly construed this article, assuming that freedom from establishment must mean the right of non-exercise.”