Joseph Story, Supreme Court Justice from 1812 to 1845, wrote the first definitive commentaries on the Constitution. He explained that the clause was “not introduced merely for the purpose of satisfying the scruples of many respectable persons, who feel an invincible repugnance to any religious test.” According to Story, “It had a higher objective: to cut off for ever every pretence of any alliance between church and state in the national government.”
