Primary Source Series · Volume II
Faith and the Founding
The Early State Constitutions
How the first states wrote worship, oath, office and conscience into their constitutions, in their own words. No commentary.
About this volume
Volume II gathers the state record. It was in the states, not the nation, that the working relationship between religion and government was first defined, contested and revised. Here are the revolutionary constitutions of 1776 to 1786 and the Virginia measures that closed that era, the frames and revisions of the early republic, and three of the earliest establishment rulings from the state courts, reaching 1824.
The documents do not speak with one voice. Established churches and their disestablishment, religious tests for office and their abolition, tax support for worship and the liberty of conscience all appear side by side, because the record contains all of them. The revolutionary frames are printed in full. The later frames and the three court opinions are excerpted, limited to their preambles, religion clauses and church-state passages, so the provisions can be compared directly across the states and across the decades.
What's inside
- Part A: The Revolutionary Frames, 1776 to 1786. Documents 1 to 18. The revolutionary constitutions of Virginia, New Jersey, Delaware, Pennsylvania, Maryland, North Carolina, Georgia, New York, Vermont, South Carolina, Massachusetts and New Hampshire, in full, with the Virginia petitions and bills that led to the Statute for Religious Freedom.
- Part B: The Early Republic Frames, 1790 to 1802. Documents 19 to 28. The second-wave constitutions of South Carolina, Pennsylvania, Kentucky, Delaware, New Hampshire, Vermont, Tennessee, Georgia and Ohio, excerpted to their preambles and religion clauses.
- Part C: The Establishment Rulings, 1799 to 1824. Documents 29 to 31. Runkel v. Winemiller (Maryland), People v. Ruggles (New York) and Updegraph v. Commonwealth (Pennsylvania), excerpted to their church-state passages.
Inside this volume
The states write their own terms
From the first constitutions of 1776 to the state courts of 1824
Virginia Declaration of Rights
The Revolutionary Frames
South Carolina Constitution, 1778
The Revolutionary Frames
Massachusetts Constitution, 1780
The Revolutionary Frames
Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom
The Revolutionary Frames
Ohio Constitution, 1802
The Early Republic Frames
Updegraph v. Commonwealth
The Establishment Rulings
Plus 25 more: state constitutions, petitions, Virginia bills and court opinions.
Built for reference
Every document, ready to cite
- A headnote on every document: date, author or issuing body, and why it matters.
- Numbered paragraphs, so “Doc. 18, para. 1” points to exactly one passage.
- Original spelling and punctuation, reproduced in full from the authoritative text.
- An index by document and paragraph at the back.
Complete the set
Faith and the Founding, Volumes I to IV
