New Hampshire (June 21, 1788) was the 9th State admitted to the Union, completing the ratification of the United States Constitution. The Constitution of the State of New Hampshire, adopted 1776, stated:
<That morality and piety, rightly grounded on evangelical principles would give the best and greatest security to government, and would lay in the hearts of men the strongest obligation to due subjection; and that the knowledge of these was most likely to be propagated by the institution of the public worship of the Deity and instruction in morality and religion.> 1788NH001
In 1792, the legislature of the State of New Hampshire passed the "Bill of Rights," Article I, which abolished slavery within the State. The Constitution of the State of New Hampshire, adopted 1784 and 1792, stated:
<[Representatives and Senators are to be of the] Protestant religion.(until 1877)> 1788NH002
<Declaration of rights. The open denial of the being and existence of God or of the Supreme Being is prohibited by statute, and declared to be blasphemy.> 1788NH003
<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; and no subject shall be hurt, molested, or restrained in his person, liberty or estate for worshipping God, in the manner and season most agreeable to the dictates of his own conscience; or for his religious profession, sentiments or persuasion; provided he doth not disturb the public peace, or disturb others, in their religious worship.> 1788NH004
<Article I, Section VI. As morality and piety, rightly grounded on evangelical principles, will give the best and greatest security to government, and will lay in the hearts of men the strongest obligations to due subjection; and as the knowledge of these is most likely to be propagated through a society by the institution of the public worship of the Deity and of public instruction in morality and religion;
therefore, to promote these important purposes, the people of this state have a right to empower, and do hereby fully empower, the legislature to authorize from time to time, the several towns, parishes, bodies-corporate, or religious societies within this State, to make adequate provision at their own expense, for the support and maintenance of public Protestant teachers of piety, religion and morality.> 1788NH005
<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 or denomination to another, shall ever be established by law.> 1788NH006
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American Quotations by William J. Federer, 2024, All Rights Reserved, Permission granted to use with acknowledgement.
Endnotes:
1788NH001. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). New Hampshire, 1776, Constitution. Benjamin Franklin Morris The Christian Life and Character of the Civil Institutions of the United States (Philadelphia, PA: L. Johnson & Co., 1863; George W. Childs, 1864), p. 235.
1788NH002. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). New Hampshire, 1792, Article I, "Bill of Rights," was passed by the legislature of New Hampshire which abolished slavery within the State. The Constitutions of the Sixteen States (Boston: Manning and Loring, 1797), p. 50. New Hampshire Constitution, 1784, 1792, in effect till 1877. Supreme Court Justice David Josiah Brewer, who served 1890-1910, in his work, The United States-Christian Nation (Philadelphia: The John C. Winston Company, 1905, Supreme Court Collection). The Constitutions of the Several Independent States of America, Published by Order of Congress (Boston: Norman & Bowen, 1785) p. 3-4. Frances Newton Thorpe, ed., Federal and State Constitutions, Colonial Charters, and Other Organic Laws of the States, Territories, and Colonies now or heretofore forming the United States, 7 vols. (Washington: Government Printing Office, 1905; 1909; St. Clair Shores, MI: Scholarly Press, 1968). Edwin S. Gaustad, Neither King nor Prelate-Religion and the New Nation, 1776-1826 (Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1993), p. 166.
1788NH003. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). New Hampshire, 1838, cited in the Massachusetts Supreme Court case of Commonwealth v. Abner Kneeland, 37 Mass. (20 Pick) 206, 207, 216-218 (Sup. Ct. Mass. 1838).
1788NH004. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). New Hampshire, 1784, 1792, Part One, Article I, Section V. The Constitutions of All the United States According to the Latest Amendments (Lexington, KY: Thomas T. Skillman, 1817), pp. 27, 29. The Constitutions of the Several Independent States of America, Published by Order of Congress (Boston: Norman & Bowen, 1785) p. 3-4. Frances Newton Thorpe, ed., Federal and State Constitutions, Colonial Charters, and Other Organic Laws of the States, Territories, and Colonies now or heretofore forming the United States, 7 vols. (Washington: Government Printing Office, 1905; 1909; St. Clair Shores, MI: Scholarly Press, 1968). Charles E. Rice, The Supreme Court and Public Prayer (New York: Fordham University Press, 1964), p. 172; "Hearings, Prayers in Public Schools and Other Matters," Committee on the Judiciary, U.S. Senate (87th Cong., 2nd Sess.), 1962, pp. 268 et seq. New Hampshire Manuel (1937), pp. 9-10.5. Edwin S. Gaustad, Neither King nor Prelate-Religion and the New Nation, 1776-1826 (Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1993), p. 166.
1788NH005. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). New Hampshire, June 2, 1784, Constitution, Article I, Section VI, "Bill of Rights." The Constitutions of All the United States According to the Latest Amendments (Lexington, KY: Thomas T. Skillman, 1817), pp. 27, 29, 37, 38. The Constitutions of the Several Independent States of America, Published by Order of Congress (Boston: Norman & Bowen, 1785), p. 3-4. The Constitutions of the United States of America with the Latest Amendments (Trenton: Moore & Lake, 1813), p. 37-38. Frances Newton Thorpe, ed., Federal and State Constitutions, Colonial Charters, and Other Organic Laws of the States, Territories, and Colonies now or heretofore forming the United States, 7 vols. (Washington: Government Printing Office, 1905; 1909; St. Clair Shores, MI: Scholarly Press, 1968). Richard L. Perry, ed., Sources of Our Liberties-Documentary Origins of Individual Liberties in the United States Constitution and Bill of Rights (Chicago: American Bar Foundation, 1978; New York: 1952), p. 382. Edwin S. Gaustad, Neither King nor Prelate-Religion and the New Nation, 1776-1826 (Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1993), p. 166-167. Stephen McDowell and Mark Beliles, "The Providential Perspective" (Charlottesville, VA: The Providence Foundation, P.O. Box 6759, Charlottesville, Va. 22906, January 1994), Vol. 9, No. 1, p. 4.
1788NH006. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). New Hampshire, 1784, 1792, Constitution, Article I, Section VI. The Constitutions of All the United States According to the Latest Amendments (Lexington, KY: Thomas T. Skillman, 1817), pp. 27, 29, 37, 38. The Constitutions of the Several Independent States of America, Published by Order of Congress (Boston: Norman and Bowen, 1785), pp. 3-4. Gaustad, Neither King nor Prelate-Religion and the New Nation, 1776-1826, pp. 166-67. Richard L. Perry, ed., Sources of Our Liberties: Documentary Origins of Individual Liberties in the United States Constitution and Bill of Rights (Chicago: American Bar Foundation, 1978; New York: 1952), p. 382. Frances Newton Thorpe, ed., Federal and State Constitutions, Colonial Charters, and Other Organic Laws of the States, Territories, and Colonies now or heretofore forming the United States, 7 vols. (Washington: Government Printing Office, 1905; 1909; St. Clair Shores, MI: Scholarly Press, 1968).