ABSTRACT
This chapter describes the preconstitutional history of free exercise of religion in the American colonies and states by analyzing protections found in charters, constitutions, and statutes. It discusses the works of the main philosophical, political, and religious figures of the time and examines actual controversies over free exercise exemptions. The chapter examines the framing of the free exercise clause of the first amendment, as well as early interpretations of free exercise clauses in both federal and state constitutions. It proposes the relation between religion and government that best reflects the original conception of free exercise of religion. The original Constitution drafted by the Convention in1787 and ratified by the states in1788 contained no provision protecting the general freedom of religion. The historical materials uniformly equate “religion” with belief in God or in gods, though this can be extended without distortion to transcendent extrapersonal authorities not envisioned in traditionally theistic terms.
