North Carolina Constitution (1776):
<DECLARATION OF RIGHTS, ARTICLE 19. That all men have a natural and unalienable right to worship Almighty God according to the dictates of their own consciences.
FORM OF GOVERNMENT, ARTICLE 31. That no clergyman, or Preacher of the Gospel, of any denomination, shall be capable of being a member of either the Senate, House of Commons, or Council of State, while he continues in the exercise of pastoral function.
ARTICLE 32. 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 this State.
ARTICLE 34. That there shall be no establishment of any one religious Church or denomination in this State, in preference to any other; neither shall any person, on any presence whatsoever, be compelled to attend any place of worship contrary to his own faith or judgment, nor be obliged to pay, for the purchase of any glebe, or the building of any house of worship, or for the maintenance of any minister or Ministry, contrary to what he believes right, of has voluntarily and personally engaged to perform; but all persons shall be at liberty to exercise their own mode of worship.-Provided, that nothing herein contained shall be construed to exempt Preachers of treasonable or seditious discourses, from legal trial and punishment. (In force till 1876)> 1776NC001
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American Quotations by William J. Federer, 2024, All Rights Reserved, Permission granted to use with acknowledgement.
Endnotes:
1776NC001. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). North Carolina Constitution, 1776.