The American states have gone far in assisting the progress of truth; but they have stopped short of perfection. They ought to have given every honest citizen an equal right to enjoy his religion and an equal title to all civil emoluments, without obliging him to tell his religion. Every interference of the civil power in regulating opinion, is an impious attempt to take the business of the Deity out of his own hands; and every preference given to any religious denomination, is so far slavery and bigotry.
Noah Webster (1785). “Sketches of American Policy Under the Following Heads: I. Theory of Government, II. Governments on the Eastern Continent, III. American States, Or, the Principles of the American Constitutions Contrasted with Those of European States, IV. Plan of Policy for Improving the Advantages and Perpetuating the Union of the American States”, p.27, The Lawbook Exchange, Ltd.
