Georgia

“We the people of Georgia, relying upon protection and guidance of Almighty God, do ordain and establish this Constitution.” 1777

“VI. …The representatives shall be chosen out of the residents of each county… and they shall be of the protestant religion, and of the age of twenty one years.”

‘XIV. Every person entitled to one vote shall take the following oath or affirmation, if required viz.

‘I, A.B. do voluntarily and solemnly swear, or affirm, as the case may be , that I do allegiance to this state and will support the constitution thereof…So help me God.”

South Carolina

“No person shall be eligible to sit in the house of representatives unless he be of the Protestant religion.” March 19, 1778

“XXXVII…The Christian Protestant religion shall be deemed and is hereby constituted and declared to be, the established religion of this State. That all denominations of Christian Protestants in this State, demeaning themselves peaceably and faithfully, shall enjoy equal religious and civil privileges.”

Every Christian group had to qualify for five basic points:

“1. That there is one eternal God, and a future state of rewards and punishments.

That God is publicly to be worshipped.
That the Christian religion is the true religion.
That the holy scriptures of the Old and New Testaments are of divine inspiration, and are the rule of faith and practice.
That it is lawful and the duty of every man being thereunto called by those that govern, to bear witness to the truth.”

North Carolina

“XXXII.(5) That no person, who shall deny the being of God or the truth of the Protestant religion, or the divine authority either of the Old or New Testaments, or who shall hold religious principles incompatible with the freedom and safety of the State, shall be capable of holding any office or place of trust or profit in the civil department within the State.”

North Carolina Constitution, Dec. 18, 1776

Virginia

Virginia Bill of Rights, June 12, 1776

“Article XVI That Religion, or the Duty which we owe our Creator, and the Manner or discharging it, can be directed only by Reason and Convictions, not by Force or Violence; and therefore all Men are equally entitled to the free exercise of Religion, according to the Dictates of Conscience; and that it is the mutual Duty of all to practice Christian Forbearance, Love and Charity towards each other.”

Virginia Statute of Religious Liberty, Jan. 16, 1786

“Well aware that Almighty God hath created the mind free; that all attempts to influence it by temporal punishments or burdens, or by civil incapacitations…are a departure from the plan of the Holy Author of our religion.”

Maryland

Constitution of the State of Maryland, August 14, 1776

“We, the people of the state of Maryland, grateful to Almighty God for our civil and religious liberty…”

“Article XXXV That no other test or qualification ought to be required, on admission to any office of trust or profit, than such oath of support and fidelity to this State and such oath of office, as shall be directed by this Convention, or the Legislature of this State, and a declaration of a belief in the Christian religion.”

“Article XXXVI That the manner of administering an oath to any person, ought to be such, as those of the religious persuasion, profession, or denomination, of which such person is one, generally esteem to most effectual confirmation, by the attestation of the Divine Being.”

“That, as it is the duty of every man to worship God is such a manner as he thinks most acceptable to him; all persons professing the Christian religion, are equally entitled to protection in their religious liberty;

“wherefore no person ought by any law to be molested… on account of his religious practice; unless, under the color [pretense] of religion, any man shall infringe the laws of morality.. yet the Legislature may, in their discretion, lay a general and equal tax, for the support of the Christian religion.” [changed in 1851]

Delaware

Constitution of the State of Delaware, Sept. 21, 1776

“Article XXII. Every person who shall be chosen a member of either house, or appointed to any office of trust, before taking his seat, or entering upon the execution of his office, shall take the following oath, or affirmation, if conscientiously scrupulous of taking an oath, to wit:

“I, A.B. will bear true allegiance to the Delaware State, submit to its constitution and laws, and do no act wittingly whereby the freedom thereof may be prejudiced.

And also make and subscribe the following declaration, to wit:

“I, A.B. do profess faith in God the Father, and in Jesus Christ His only Son, and in the Holy Ghost, one God, blessed for evermore; and I do acknowledge the holy scriptures of the Old and New Testament to be given by divine inspiration.”

New Jersey

New Jersey Constitution, July 2, 1776

XVIII. That no person shall ever, within this Colony, be deprived of the inestimable privilege of worshipping Almighty God in a manner, agreeable to the dictates of his own conscience; nor, under any presence whatever, be compelled to attend any place of worship, contrary to his own faith and judgment; nor shall any person, within this Colony, ever be obliged to pay tithes, taxes or any other rates, for the purpose of building or repairing any other church or churches, place or places of worship, or for the maintenance of any minister or ministry, contrary to what he believes to be right, or has deliberately or voluntarily engaged himself to perform.

XIX. That there shall be no establishment of any one religious sect in this Province, in preference to another; and that no Protestant inhabitant of this Colony shall be denied the enjoyment of any civil right, merely on account of his religious principles; but that all persons, professing a belief in the faith of any Protestant sect who shall demean themselves peaceably under the government, as hereby established, shall be capable of being elected into any office of profit or trust, or being a member of either branch of the Legislature, and shall fully and freely enjoy every privilege and immunity, enjoyed by others their fellow subjects.

Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania Constitution, Sept. 28, 1776

II. That all men have a natural and unalienable right to worship Almighty God according to the dictates of their own consciences and understanding: And that no man ought or of right can be compelled to attend any religious worship, or erect or support any place of worship, or maintain any ministry, contrary to, or against his own free will and consent: Nor can any man, who acknowledges the being of a God, be justly deprived or abridged of any civil right as a citizen, on account of his religious sentiments or peculiar mode of religious worship: And that no authority can or ought to be vested in, or assumed by any power whatever, that shall in any case interfere with, or in any manner controul, the right of conscience in the free exercise of religious worship.

Section 10. “…And each member, before he takes his seat, shall make and subscribe the following declaration, viz:

I do believe in one God, the creator and governor of the universe, the rewarder of the good and the punisher of the wicked. And I do acknowledge the Scriptures of the Old and New Testament to be given by Divine inspiration.

And no further or religious test shall ever hereafter be required of any civil officer or magistrate in this State.”

New York

Constitution of the State of New York, 1777

“The free exercise and enjoyment of religious profession and worship, without discrimination or preference, shall forever hereafter be allowed, within this State, to all mankind: Provided, that the liberty of conscience, hereby granted, shall not be construed as to excuse acts of licentiousness.”

Connecticut

Constitution of the State of Connecticut

“The people of this State …by the Providence of God…hath the sole and exclusive right of governing themselves as a free, sovereign, and independent State…and forasmuch as the free fruition of such liberties and privileges as humanity, civility and Christianity call for, as is due to every man in his place and proportion…hath ever been, and will be the tranquility and stability of Churches and Commonwealth; and the denial thereof, the disturbances, if not the ruin of both.””

Rhode Island

Constitution of the State of Rhode Island, 1842

“We the people of the State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, grateful to Almighty God for the civil and religious liberty which He hath so long permitted us to enjoy, and looking to Him for a blessing upon our endeavors to secure and to transmit the same unimpaired to succeeding generation, do ordain and establish this constitution.”

Massachusetts

Constitution of the State of Massachusetts, 1780

“We, therefore, the people of Massachusetts, acknowledging, with grateful hearts, the goodness of the great Legislator of the universe, in affording us, in the course of his providence [an opportunity to form a compact];…and devoutly imploring His direction in so interesting a design,…[establish this Constitution].

“The governor shall be chosen annually; and no person shall be eligible to this office, unless, at the same time of his election… he shall declare himself to be of the Christian religion.”

Chapter VI, Article I [All person elected to State office or to the Legislature must] make and subscribe the following declaration, viz. “I _____, do declare, that I believe the Christian religion, and have firm persuasion of its truth.”

Part I, Article II “It is the right, as well as the duty, of all men in society, publicly, and at stated seasons, to worship the Supreme Being, the Great Creator and Preserver of the Universe. And no subject shall be hurt, molested, or restrained, in his person, liberty or estate, for worshipping God in the manner and seasons, most agreeable to the dictates of his own conscience.”

Part I, Article III, “And every denomination of Christians, demeaning themselves peaceably, and as good subjects of the commonwealth, shall be equally under the protection of the law: and no subordination of any sect or denomination to another shall ever be established by law.”

New Hampshire

Constitution of the State of New Hampshire, 1784

Part One, Article I, Section V. “Every individual has a natural and unalienable right to worship God according to the dictates of his own conscience, and reason”

Article I, Section VI. “And every denomination of Christians demeaning themselves quietly, and as good citizens of the state, shall be equally under the protection of the laws. And no subordination of any one sect of denomination to another, shall ever be established by law.”