Subject: Re: Disconnected Politicians
It wasn't until the adoption of the 14th Amendment, and the eventual incorporation of the Bill of Rights to the states, that there was ever any federal constitutional restriction on state religions.

Ah. Should have remembered that. I keep forgetting the US Constitution didn't apply to the states until the 14th.

Though that brings up the question: how would a conflict between, say, the 5th Amendment of the USC and perhaps a contradictory statute in one of the states be resolved? Because, until the 14th, it seems like you had no protections against any given state. And, arguably, to this day we have more interactions with state laws than federal.