North Carolina Convention (July 30, 1788) during the debates to ratify the Federal Constitution, Governor Samuel Johnston stated:
<I know but two or three States where there is the least chance of establishing any particular religion.
The people of Massachusetts and Connecticut are mostly Presbyterians.
In every other State, the people are divided into a great number of sects. In Rhode Island, the tenets of the Baptists, I believe, prevail.
In New York, they are divided very much; the most numerous are the Episcopalians and the Baptists. In New Jersey, they are as much divided as we are.
In Pennsylvania, if any sect prevails more than others, it is that of the Quakers.
In Maryland, the Episcopalians are most numerous, though there are other sects. In Virginia, there are many sects; you all know what their religious sentiments are.
So in all the Southern States they differ; as also New Hampshire. I hope, therefore, that gentlemen will see there is no cause of fear that any one religion shall be exclusively established.> 1788NC001
On July 30, 1788, State delegate Henry Abbott commented at the Convention to ratify the Federal Constitution:
<Many wish to know what religion shall be established. I believe a majority of the community are Presbyterians. I am, for my part, against any exclusive establishment; but if there were any, I would prefer the Episcopal.>1788NC002
In expressing concern in the North Carolina legislature over the absence of a religious test in the Federal Constitution, delegate Henry Abbott vented:
<If there be no religious test required, pagans, deists, and Mahometans might obtain office among us, and that the senators and representatives might all be pagans.> 1788NC003
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American Quotations by William J. Federer, 2024, All Rights Reserved, Permission granted to use with acknowledgement.
Endnotes:
1788NC001. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). North Carolina, July 30, 1788, comments of Governor Samuel Johnston made during the debates of the North Carolina State Convention to ratify of the Federal Constitution. The Debates in the Several State Conventions on the Adoption of the Federal Constitution, Jonathan Elliot, editor (Washington, D.C.: Jonathan Elliot, 1836), Vol. IV, p. 199.
1788NC002. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). North Carolina, July 30, 1788, comments of Henry Abbott, a State delegate to the North Carolina Convention to ratify the Federal Constitution. The Debates in the Several State Conventions on the Adoption of the Federal Constitution, Jonathan Elliot, editor (Washington, D.C.: Jonathan Elliot, 1836), Vol. IV, pp. 191-192.
1788NC003. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). North Carolina, 1789, statement by delegate Henry Abbott during the debate over the state's ratification of the Federal Constitution. Gary DeMar, "Why the Religious Right is Right-Almost" (Atlanta, GA: The Biblical Worldview, An American Vision Publication-American Vision, Inc., November 1992), p. 3. Jonathan Elliot, ed., The Debates in the Several State Conventions on the Adoption of the Federal Constitution, 5 vols. (Washington, D.C.: Jonathan Elliot, 1836; reprinted Philadelphia, 1861), IV:192. Gary North, Political Polytheism-The Myth of Pluralism (Tyler, TX: Institute for Christian Economics, 1989), pp. 390-91.