The Politics of Revelation and Reason

"This fair-minded and cogent study provides much to admire."—William and Mary Quarterly

"Anyone truly concerned about the moral revival of America’s civic life can learn from this fine book."—Crisis

"West’s account of the evangelicals’ efforts to assert a public religious influence within the Founders’ ambiguous guidelines is exemplary. It begins to accomplish for its period what Richard J. Carwardine’s magisterial Evangelicals and Politics in Antebellum America has done for the following three decades."—Journal of American History

"Well-written, well-researched, highly readable, and provocative."—American Review of Politics

"West masterfully links the founders’ religious understanding with the emergence of evangelical activism in the early republic."—American Historical Review

"A long-overdue contribution to rethinking the role of religion in American politics. This book not only demonstrates the influence religious reformers exerted in the development of early American politics, but offers a persuasive account of the irreplaceable role of evangelical Christianity on the republican stage."—The University Bookman

"Highly recommended."—Choice

"A fresh, well-researched, and exceedingly well-balanced account of religious-political connections in the early republic. West’s concentration on evangelical Protestants is entirely justified, since this was the era in which such Protestants became overwhelmingly the dominant religious force in the nation. But this work is also outstanding on the views concerning political-religious interaction among the major Founding Fathers. It has much to offer for those who debate religious-political connections in the late twentieth century. "—Mark A. Noll, author of Religion and American Politics: From the Colonial Period to the 1980s

"This keenly revisionist analysis of religion’s role in the political issues that divided the new nation enriches our understanding of the period. It deserves a wide readership."—John B. Boles, author of The Great Revival: 1787–1805: The Origins of the Southern Evangelical Mind