How Jefferson and Madison ensured religious freedom in the United States Thomas Jefferson considered the establishment of religious freedom as a governing principle in the United States to be one of the great accomplishments of his life. It was not his accomplishment alone, however, but the result of sustained cooperation with the “father of the Constitution,” James Madison. The Grand Collaboration is the first comprehensive study of Jefferson and Madison’s mutual endeavor to ensure free inquiry, freedom of conscience, and the separation of church and state, examining their fifty-year partnership beginning with the Virginia Declaration of Rights and culminating with the founding of the University of Virginia as the nation’s first truly secular institution of higher education. In an era of increasing concern with the “original intentions” of the founding generation, Steven Green, one of our great authorities on the concept and history of religious freedom, represents the best possible guide to these complex, critical issues—issues that continue to confront our society in the twenty-first century. Green is one of the leading historians of the development of the ideas, doctrines, and practices of American religious freedom. I cannot think of another scholar who has contributed as much to the subject, and The Grand Collaboration illustrates why Jefferson and Madison remain so essential to our interpretations of issues of separation of church and state.? Jack N. Rakove, Stanford University, author of Beyond Belief, Beyond Conscience: The Radical Significance of the Free Exercise of Religion With characteristic lucidity and insight, Steven Green has produced a superb account of the intellectual partnership between Jefferson and Madison that birthed the nation's modern conception of religious freedom. This gripping history details the nuance and care that went into the foundational documents laying out the matrix of religious liberty along with the long judicial wrangling that has led to the erosion of this precious ideal in recent decades. The prescience of both men in foreseeing the dangers to the American experiment posed by what we now term Christian nationalism is chastening, as we see strikingly similar political battles taking place over religious freedom today. An urgent must-read for our time.? R. Marie Griffith, Washington University in St. Louis, author of Making the World Over: Confronting Racism, Misogyny, and Xenophobia in U.S. History With characteristic lucidity and insight, Steven Green has produced a superb account of the intellectual partnership between Jefferson and Madison that birthed the nation’s modern conception of religious freedom. This gripping history details the nuance and care that went into the foundational documents laying out the matrix of religious liberty along with the long judicial wrangling that has led to the erosion of this precious ideal in recent decades. The prescience of both men in foreseeing the dangers to the American experiment posed by what we now term Christian nationalism is chastening, as we see strikingly similar political battles taking place over religious freedom today. An urgent must-read for our time.― R. Marie Griffith, Washington University in St. Louis, author of Making the World Over: Confronting Racism, Misogyny, and Xenophobia in U.S. History Steven K. Green is the Fred H. Paulus Professor of Law and Affiliated Professor of History and Religious Studies at Willamette University and the author of Separating Church and State: A History .