Birth of a Secular Nation: How the U.S. Protected Religion by Excluding it from the Constitution

It is well documented that the early American colonies, especially those in and around New England, were founded by religious peoples seeking to flee the religious persecution of the European continent. Some of the earliest were Puritans and other protestants who suffered great hardships in England and the continent of Europe. The idea that across the sea there was somewhere one could go and practice one's beliefs freely became a beacon to those who were beleaguered by the impositions of The State on their spiritual way of life.

As soon as these European emigrants arrived in the new land they directly established fledgling States with governing bodies that reflected their own religious views. These views were deeply ingrained in their way of life which guided most of the functions and daily interactions of their lives, and which clearly intertwined their civil and religious duties to each other and to God. All of these particulars have clearly been established through historical study and a multitude of previous academic works including papers continuing to be written even to this day. This whole essay could be written about such subject matter alone, but that is not my focus here. It is from this starting point where a question arises. How did the American colonies, which were so profoundly rooted in Christianity and embedded with governing institutions which so intermingled the church with the state in the 17^th through late 18^th century, then go on later to frame a Federal Constitution that was so secular in nature?

II. Traditions