there is no escaping the clear intent of the founders, which Lincoln recognized. And, indeed, it was on the question of religion that the founders were the most radical. They went out of their way not to establish the new republic on a religious foundation and were more successful in this than the supposedly more radical French Revolution—even Napoleon felt the need of a Concordat granting the Catholic Church an official role in French society (when he wasn’t persecuting Catholic priests for not accepting his authority over the Pope’s).[48]
