JANUARY 16 NATIONAL FREEDOM DAY

ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY:JANUARY 16,1786 National Religious Freedom Day The day was officially proclaimed on January 16, 1993, in an annual statement by the U.S president. The cause was further promoted with the historic signing of the International Religious Freedom Act in 1998. Religious Freedom Day commemorates the Virginia General Assembly's adoption of Thomas Jefferson's landmark Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom on January 16, 1786. The statute, written by Jefferson in 1777 and shepherded through the legislature by James Madison in 1786, became the basis for the establishment clause of the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution and led to freedom of religion for all Americans.