“The purpose of separation of church and state is to keep forever from these shores  the ceaseless strife that has soaked the soil of Europe in blood for centuries.  

 —James Madison 

St. John’s Church in Savannah 

St. John’s Church in Savannah was incorporated by an act of the Georgia State Legislature and built on Madison Square in 1853. The church was designed by John Norris and created by architect Calvin Otis. 

The Green-Meldrim House now serves as its official parish house. (See PFS #61.) 

The Square on which St. John’s Church is located is named for the fourth President of the United States, James Madison. Hailed as the Father of the Constitution, Madison, with Alexander Hamilton and John Jay, wrote The Federalist Papers. He would memorialize the American concepts of ‘separation of church and state’ and the ‘checks and balances’ of different branches of a democratic-republican government. 

At the time Madison took the oath of office as President in 1809, the country faced devastating commercial warfare at the hands of the British and French fleets, both of which were attacking American shipping. At Madison’s request, Congress declared war on Great Britain on June 12, 1812. 

The War of 1812 was devastating to Savannah’s commercial interests. British Admiral Alexander Cockrane plundered the nearby sea islands of coastal Georgia and slowed port imports and exports to a trickle. Word was spreading around town that Britain planned to seize Savannah in 1813. 

Many citizens fled the city. Merchants moved business inventories to Augusta. And rumors of the British deploying its black troops based in its Caribbean colonies added to the fear for many local slave owners.  

Mary Telfair, the wealthy and privileged daughter to Edward Telfair (1735-1807), a three-term Governor of Georgia, member of the Continental Congress, as well as a significant Savannah-based slave trader, was concerned the war had altered Savannah immeasurably because, she claimed, the city was now ruled by “Yankees who have come hither for the purpose of gain.” (See PFS #34.) 

Many war preparations in Savannah continued into early 1815 because news of the Treaty of Ghent signed on Christmas Eve in 1814 — officially ending the war — did not reach Savannah for several weeks. The Treaty of Ghent, also ironically preceded Andrew Jackson’s decisive victory over the British in the January 1815 Battle of New Orleans. (See PFS # 41.) 

Squares in Savannah were named after two of the United States’ most significant victories in the War of 1812: Chippewa Square and Orleans Square. And local streets from that time forward bore the names of the war’s naval heroes, including (Isaac) Hull, (Thomas) Macdonough, and (Oliver Hazard) Perry Streets. 

However, the City of Savannah was never attacked by the British during the War of 1812, and the war’s end led to a nationwide economic expansion that benefited port cities like Savannah enormously. 

The American Revolution brought ecclesiastical independence from the Church of England when the Episcopal Church in America separated itself in 1789. St. John’s congregation in Savannah understands its mission is to “uphold and propagate the historic Faith and Order as set forth in the Book of Common Prayer.” As a result, when large parts of the Episcopal Church went in one direction in 1979, St. John’s Church in Savannah continued with its fundamental traditions of classical Anglicanism.