Thomas Jefferson did not sign the Constitution, nor was he present at
the Constitutional Convention of 1787. Neither was he present when the
First Amendment and religious freedoms were debated in the first session of
Congress in 1789, as he was out of the country in France as a U.S. Minister.
Due to his not being present to hear all the comments of the Founding
Fathers regarding the First Amendment, Thomas Jefferson had to rely on
second-hand information to learn what had transpired in that first session
of Congress. This rendered his letter to the Danbury Baptists (which was
written 13 years after the First Amendment) ineligible to be
a "first-hand" reflection of the intent of the constitutional delegates.