Additional insight is seen in the debates of the various State Ratifying Conventions.
At North Carolina’s Ratifying Convention, July 30, 1788, Governor Samuel Johnston argued:
“The people of Massachusetts and Connecticut are mostly Presbyterians …
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 …
I hope, therefore, that gentlemen will see there is no cause of fear that any one religion shall be exclusively established.”