Our Dear-Bought Liberty: Catholics and Religious Toleration in Early America (Harvard University Press, 2021)
Runner Up for the 2022 Journal of the American Revolution Book of the Year
First Things Summer Reading Recommended Book, 2021
Claremont Review of Books Christmas Selection, 2023
Public Discourse Essential Reading on Religious Freedom Selection, 2021
Recommended Reading Selection, Hank Center for the Catholic Intellectual Heritage, Loyola University Chicago, 2021
“Unequivocally excellent, one of the most important recent books in modern Catholic history. Clearly argued, brilliantly researched, important in its implications, Breidenbach’s book convincingly lays out how the Reform Catholic, or conciliar Catholic, tradition—deeply Catholic but resolutely opposed to any papal interference in temporal politics—shaped the American idea of religious liberty. We needed Our Dear-Bought Liberty.”
—John T. McGreevy, author of Catholicism and American Freedom: A History
How early American Catholics justified secularism and overcame suspicions of disloyalty, transforming ideas of religious liberty in the process.
In colonial America, Catholics were presumed dangerous until proven loyal. Yet Catholics went on to sign the Declaration of Independence and helped to finalize the First Amendment to the Constitution. What explains this remarkable transformation? Michael Breidenbach shows how Catholic leaders emphasized their church’s own traditions—rather than Enlightenment liberalism—to secure the religious liberty that enabled their incorporation in American life.
Catholics responded to charges of disloyalty by denying papal infallibility and the pope’s authority to intervene in civil affairs. Rome staunchly rejected such dissent, but reform-minded Catholics justified their stance by looking to conciliarism, an intellectual tradition rooted in medieval Catholic thought yet compatible with a republican view of temporal independence and church-state separation. Drawing on new archival material, Breidenbach finds that early American Catholic leaders, including Maryland founder Cecil Calvert and members of the prominent Carroll family, relied on the conciliarist tradition to help institute religious toleration, including the Maryland Toleration Act of 1649.
The critical role of Catholics in establishing American church-state separation enjoins us to revise not only our sense of who the American founders were, but also our understanding of the sources of secularism. Church-state separation in America, generally understood as the product of a Protestant-driven Enlightenment, was in key respects derived from Catholic thinking. Our Dear-Bought Liberty therefore offers a dramatic departure from received wisdom, suggesting that religious liberty in America was not bestowed by liberal consensus but partly defined through the ingenuity of a persecuted minority.
Praise for Our Dear-Bought Liberty
“Unequivocally excellent, one of the most important recent books in modern Catholic history. Clearly argued, brilliantly researched, important in its implications, Breidenbach’s book convincingly lays out how the Reform Catholic, or conciliar Catholic, tradition—deeply Catholic but resolutely opposed to any papal interference in temporal politics—shaped the American idea of religious liberty. We needed Our Dear-Bought Liberty.”
—John T. McGreevy, author of Catholicism and American Freedom: A History
“What has medieval Catholic ecclesiology and political thought to do with the U.S. Constitution? Much more than anyone thought, it turns out, as Breidenbach shows in this impressively researched, superbly argued, and beautifully written book. Our Dear-Bought Liberty will compel a rethinking of church–state relations, religious liberty and toleration, and the place of Catholicism in American history. A truly important, original work.”
—Brad S. Gregory, author of The Unintended Reformation: How a Religious Revolution Secularized Society
“Breidenbach’s provocative book makes the case for Catholics’ intellectual contributions to the juridical separation of church and state. Ranging from medieval jurist John of Paris to James Madison, this vigorously argued, richly sourced work should permanently widen the lens through which American constitutional history is discussed and debated.”
—Catherine O’Donnell, author of Men of Letters in the Early Republic: Cultivating Forums of Citizenship
“An extremely interesting and well-written book. It isn’t easy to make a new contribution to the much-studied topic of religious liberty in colonial America, but Breidenbach does so by exploring the subject within the broad tradition of conciliarist or Gallican Catholic thinking about the nature of papal authority. Situating the American experience within an often overlooked dimension of European religious history, he offers a valuable perspective on historical questions that remain enormously important to the study of early America, early modern Britain, and the Atlantic world.”
—Jeffrey Collins, author of In the Shadow of Leviathan: John Locke and the Politics of Conscience
“In this remarkably well researched book, Breidenbach shows that Anglo-American Catholics embraced a centuries-old intellectual tradition within Catholicism to contribute to the idea of church–state separation that ultimately took root in the United States. He deftly shows that American Catholics were not the grateful beneficiaries of church–state separation; rather, they were early—and natural—architects of it.”
—Maura Jane Farrelly, author of Papist Patriots: The Making of an American Catholic Identity
“Our Dear-Bought Liberty sheds new light on the Catholic origins of religious liberty in the United States and its constitutional tradition. Although colonial Catholics are often forgotten and overlooked, Breidenbach asserts their wide-ranging impact in the Maryland colony and the nascent republic as they helped shape the American understanding of religious liberty. This extensively researched and eloquent work leads the reader to a greater appreciation of this central theme advanced by Catholics from the Constitutional Convention to the Second Vatican Council.”
—Timothy Cardinal Dolan, Archbishop of New York
Reviews of Our Dear-Bought Liberty
“An original, provocative contribution to the study of U.S. Catholic history.”
—George Weigel, First Things
“[A] superb study of American attitudes toward Catholicism in the founding era.”
—Gerard V. Bradley, Claremont Review of Books
“[An] important new book. . . . Required reading for anyone who wants to delve deeply into the American founding and how it came to achieve the constitutional separation of church and state that has so shaped our culture and society. Breidenbach’s achievement is large.”
—Michael Sean Winters, National Catholic Reporter
“An extraordinary work. America’s regime of religious freedom can be seen now in large measure as the achievement of Catholic statecraft and courage.”
—Hadley Arkes, Claremont Review of Books
“Can Catholics be Americans? . . . Michael D. Breidenbach offers a persuasive account of how Catholics have wrestled with this question since the earliest days of the Maryland Colony. In so doing, he exhumes treasures of great significance for our own time [and] opens up new vistas on the history of religion in the American colonies.”
—Bill McCormick, S.J., America
“An impressive work of historical scholarship that makes a persuasive case for the importance of American Catholics in the story of American religious liberty. . . . Breidenbach has broken new ground.”
—Lael Weinberger, National Review
“The definitive treatment of the Catholic quest for religious toleration in America. . . . An excellent work that should be read by anyone interested in church–state relations in early America.”
—Mark David Hall, Law & Liberty
“One of the most comprehensive and well-researched histories of American colonial Catholicism of our generation. . . . A triumph of academic scholarship yet also a pleasure to read. . . . Rich in its account of how Catholics contributed to the American tradition of religious liberty.”
—James M. Patterson, Public Discourse
“Superbly researched and readable book.”
—Francis X. Maier, The Catholic Thing
“Most treatments of the American revolutionary settlement of religion characterize its arrangements . . . as deriving their heft from the Reformation’s renunciation of papal authority, dissenting Protestants’ fear of ecclesiastical tyranny, and the Enlightenment’s insistence that an individual’s choice to worship as guided by an unfettered conscience is a natural right. . . . Michael D. Breidenbach makes a compelling case for amending this interpretation.”
—Charles L. Cohen, Journal of American History
“A valuable reconstruction of a hitherto poorly understood dimension of American religious liberty.”
—Evan Haefeli, Journal of Church and State
“A well-written and ambitious book. . . . A wonderful intellectual history of early modern Catholic Republican Thought that is Atlantic in scope. . . . The arguments remain subtle and persuasive. This is an excellent book that deserves a wide readership.”
—Peter Cajka, Church History
“A compelling read . . . Breidenbach makes a powerful case that [Catholic conciliarism] belongs in any serious treatment of the philosophical foundations of American church/state separation. . . . Our Dear-Bought Liberty is an essential corrective to the dominant narratives of early American church/state separation. By integrating Maryland Catholics and conciliarism into this history, it demonstrates that early American secularism took root not only in republican ideology and Protestantism, but also in a Catholic political theology that, against Protestant assumptions and accusations, defined the colonial-era American Catholic experience. May it inspire further inclusive rethinking of American secularism’s origins.”
—Dawn Coleman, Early American Literature
“[A]n ambitious and sweeping ecclesio-political tour . . . . Breidenbach has gifted us with a synthesis of years of research into early modern Anglo-American Catholicism . . . . He revises, definitively, the picture of Catholic involvement in the forging of religious liberty in America, from ideals to rhetoric to actual laws [A] fascinating story—one told with humble confidence, profundity, and incisive insight.”
—Shaun Blanchard, Newman Studies Journal
“Breidenbach’s history of Catholics in early America provides a much more nuanced and insightful treatment of the relationship between the American constitutional order and the Catholic faith. . . . Breidenbach makes a strong case for showing that the early American Catholics could celebrate the Revolution, Constitution, and First Amendment not in spite of their faith but because of it. . . . Breidenbach has opened up a major channel for enlarging our understanding these contributions.”
—Jerome C. Foss, Interpretation: A Journal of Political Philosophy
“The scope of this ambitious work casts an important, if still underappreciated, argument about Catholic contributions to the history of liberty of conscience in an interesting new light.”
—Christopher P. Gillett, British Catholic History
“Breidenbach convincingly argues that Catholics played an active, intentional, and philosophically-grounded role in creating a national ethic of religious toleration and a constitution that guarantees it. . . . [His] thorough and scholarly study of how Catholics navigated intolerance—thoughtfully and courageously—provides a roadmap for future debate and encouragement for those who feel disenfranchised.”
—Gabriel Neville, Journal of the American Revolution
“Deeply researched . . . and highly readable work of historical revision . . . . Breidenbach offers a very convincing presentation . . . of American Catholic participation in [America’s] liberal development . . . . A challenging and welcome exploration of the relationship between American and Catholic principles around the time of the American Founding.”
—Thomas W. Jodziewicz, Touchstone
“A well-researched, groundbreaking narrative that explores the development of religious freedom in Maryland with particular attention to the different strategies used by Catholics to create a mixed religious state, and their eventual effect on the American Republic of 1787. . . . An excellent addition to the literature on early American religious history and the influence of Catholicism on the new Republic. . . . Our Dear-Bought Liberty is a must-read book for scholars and the wider American public.”
—Vincent Stine, Catholic Social Science Review
Talks, Interviews, and Media on Our Dear-Bought Liberty
“The Rise of American Politics,” The Pursuit of Wisdom lecture course, Ave Maria University, April 2024 [watch the course] [watch the trailer]
Interview with Faith on Trial, Iowa Catholic Radio Network, November 25, 2023 [listen]
“Our Dear-Bought Liberty: Catholics and Religious Toleration in Early America,” The Federalist Society, September 15, 2023 [watch]
“Catholic Influences on Religious Liberty and Church–State Relations in the American Founding,” James Madison Program, Princeton University, June 6, 2023 [watch]
“Catholics in Early America,” Catholic Theology Show, March 7, 2023 [listen] [watch]
“Our Dear Bought Liberty: Catholics and Religious Toleration in Early America,” Ave Maria Lecture Series, Naples, FL, February 16, 2023 [watch]
“The Catholic Foundations of the Establishment Clause,” Project on Constitutional Originalism and the Catholic Intellectual Tradition, Catholic University of America Columbus School of Law, January 12, 2023 [watch]
“How America’s First Catholics Walked the Church-State Tightrope,” Crown and Crozier Podcast, November 26, 2022 [listen]
“Our Dear-Bought Liberty,” First Freedom Podcast, United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, July 27, 2022 [listen]
“How Catholics Became Americans,” Political Animals, The Matthew J. Ryan Center, Villanova University, April 22, 2022 [listen]
“Our Dear-Bought Liberty,” Notre Dame Law School, Religious Liberty Initiative, April 4, 2022 [watch]
Interview at the New Books Network with Hope J. Leman, March 24, 2022 [listen]
“Cushwa in Rome: Book Discussion with Michael Breidenbach,” Cushwa Center for the Study of American Catholicism, University of Notre Dame, March 4, 2022 [read]
“Our Dear-Bought Liberty,” Alpheus T. Mason Lecture on Constitutional Law and Political Thought, James Madison Program, Princeton University, February 17, 2022 [watch]
“The Papacy & America’s Founding,” The Popecast, December 17, 2021 [listen]
“A Look at How Catholics Contributed to the Creation of Our Nation,” EWTN News Nightly, November 24, 2021 [watch]
“The Catholic Quest for Religious Liberty in America,” Inaugural Ave Maria Lecture Series, Ave Maria University, broadcasted on Maria Vision TV, November 23, 2021 [watch]
Book discussion with commentary by Prof. John T. McGreevy, Rome Global Gateway and the Cushwa Center for the Study of American Catholicism, University of Notre Dame, November 16, 2021 [watch]
“Colonial Catholics and the Transformation of Liberty,” Kresta in the Afternoon, Ave Maria Radio, October 29, 2021 [listen]
“Historically Speaking: Our Dear-Bought Liberty,” St. Mary’s County Historical Society, Maryland, August 10, 2021 [watch]
“Our Dear Bought Liberty: Catholics and Religious Toleration in Early America,” Anchoring Truths, James Wilson Institute, Washington, DC, June 30, 2021 [listen]
“Our Dear-Bought Liberty: Catholics and Religious Toleration in Early America,” Catholic Information Center, Washington, DC, June 16, 2021 [watch]
“Tolerating Catholics,” First Things, June 14, 2021 [listen]
“Catholics and Religious Toleration in Early America: A Conversation with Michael Breidenbach,” Madison’s Notes, James Madison Program, Princeton University, June 14, 2021 [listen]
“Our Dear-Bought Liberty: Catholics and Religious Toleration in Early America,” Center for the Study of Government and the Individual, University of Colorado–Colorado Springs, April 29, 2021 [watch]
Citations of Our Dear-Bought Liberty
James Patterson, “Catholic Republicanism in America,” Perspectives on Political Science 52, no. 3 (2023): 106-118
Matthew S. Brogdon, “Conscience, Consent, and a Multiplicity of Factions: Disestablishment and Free Exercise in Colonial American Constitutionalism,” Perspectives on Political Science (2022)
John Witte, Joel A. Nichols, and Richard W. Garnett, Religion and the American Constitutional Experiment, 5th Edition (New York: Oxford University Press, 2022)
Theodore G. Dedon, “Conciliarity, Nationalism, and the Roman Social Imaginary: A History of Political and Ecclesiastical Ideas on the Separation and Integration of Powers” (PhD diss., Georgetown University, 2022)
Mitchell Oxford, book review of Against Popery: Britain, Empire, and Anti-Catholicism, ed. Evan Haefeli, Newman Studies Journal 19, no. 2 (Winter 2022): 103–105
John T. McGreevy, Catholicism: A Global History from the French Revolution to Pope Francis (New York: W.W. Norton, 2022)
Gabriel Neville, book review of Religious Liberty and the American Founding by Vincent Phillip Muñoz, Journal of the American Revolution, January 23, 2023
James M. Patterson, “No to Neo-Integralism,” National Review, January 23, 2023
Andrea Picciotti-Bayer, “American Catholics Shouldn’t Abandon Religious Freedom,” National Review, May 8, 2023
Susanna De Stradis, “Rome, Catholicism, and the Nation–State in America: Re-centering a Debate?” Religion Compass (2023)
Mark Valeri, The Opening of the Protestant Mind: How Anglo–American Protestants Embraced Religious Liberty (New York: Oxford University Press, 2023)
Gabriel Glickman, “Empire and Overseas Missions,” in Uncertainty and Change, 1641-1745, vol. 2, The Oxford History of British and Irish Catholicism, eds. John Morrill and Liam Temple (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2023)
Theodore G. Dedon, “Synodality, Barlaam of Calabria on the Papacy, and Conciliar Theory,” in Decolonial Horizons: Reshaping Synodality, Mission, and Social Justice, eds. Raimundo C. Barreto and Vladimir Latinovic (Palgrave Macmillan, 2023), 61–79
Michael S. Carter, “Religious Freedom, Catholic Citizenship, and the First U.S. State Constitutions, 1776–1796,” U.S. Catholic Historian 41, no. 4 (Fall 2023): 1–25
Jeffery R. Appelhans, “Something New Under the Sun: The Catholic Counterpoint in Early America,” Journal of the Early Republic 43, no. 4 (Winter 2023): 645–57
Mark Mulligan, “‘Glory to the English and Protestant Name’: Protestant Hegemony in Seventeenth and Eighteenth-Century Rhode Island,” (PhD diss., College of William and Mary, 2023)
Christian Burset, An Empire of Laws: Legal Pluralism in British Colonial Policy (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press 2023)
Scott Douglas Gerber, Law and Religion in Colonial America: The Dissenting Colonies (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2024)
Edwina Pio, Robert Kilpatrick, and Peter Lineham, Religious-Spiritual Diversity in Organisations: Crafting the Religious Diversity Mosaic in Organisational Life (Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar, 2024)
Gregory James Tirenin, “Wesley and the People Called Papists: Recusancy, Methodism, and Religious Tension in Eighteenth-Century Britain,” Wesley and Methodist Studies 16, no. 1 (2024): 29–58