Toleration Becomes Law: 1781 to 1787

In the 1780s, arguments for religious toleration began to become law. In October 1781 Emperor Joseph II issued a Patent of Toleration allowing Lutherans, Calvinists and Orthodox Christians in the Habsburg lands to worship privately, build churches without steeples and hold public office, followed in 1782 by edicts easing restrictions on Jews.

In Virginia, Thomas Jefferson drafted a Statute for Religious Freedom in 1777; championed by James Madison, it passed in January 1786, declaring that no one should be compelled to support any church or suffer for their beliefs. In November 1787 Louis XVI's Edict of Versailles gave French Protestants civil status, allowing them to register marriages and births legally, though not full equality.

These measures differed greatly: Joseph's patent tolerated minorities while keeping Catholicism dominant, whereas Virginia separated church and state. Comparing them shows the range between toleration, which permits minorities, and religious freedom, which treats all beliefs equally under law.