Wine Letters Built Church–State Doctrine

The piece argues Chief Justice Morrison Waite, facing the first religion-clause case (Reynolds v. United States, 1879), justified relying on Jefferson’s 1802 Danbury 'wall of separation' letter by citing a 1788 Jefferson letter to wine partner Alexander Donald urging a Bill of Rights, including religious freedom. That trade correspondence, passed to Patrick Henry, helped elevate Jefferson as an authoritative interpreter despite his being in France during ratification. The result is that a commercial exchange about Bordeaux indirectly shaped First Amendment jurisprudence. — It shows constitutional doctrine can hinge on accidental document trails and elite networks, complicating simple originalist narratives and raising questions about how courts select historical authorities.