15 – Rev. Abernathy has tired feet, but a joyous heart and spirit.
16″ x 20″ archival print. Interleaf text shown here. Actual interleaf is 16″ x 20″ printed on vellum.
In several states in the U.S. after the Declaration of Independence, Jews, Quakers or Catholics were denied voting rights and/or forbidden to run for office.
– Chilton Williamson, from American Suffrage, 1960
The Delaware Constitution of 1776 stated that “Every person who shall be chosen a member of either house, or appointed to any office or place of trust, before taking his seat, or entering upon the execution of his office, shall (…) also make and subscribe the following declaration, to wit: I, A B. do profess faith in God the Father, and in Jesus Christ His only Son, and in the Holy Ghost, one God, blessed for evermore; and I do acknowledge the holy scriptures of the Old and New Testament to be given by divine inspiration.”. This was repealed by Article I, Section 2 of the 1792 Constitution: “No religious test shall be required as a qualification to any office, or public trust, under this State.”
– The State Constitution of Delaware
The 1778 Constitution of the State of South Carolina stated that “No person shall be eligible to sit in the house of representatives unless he be of the Protestant religion.”
– An Act for establishing the constitution of the State of South Carolina, March 19, 1778
The 1777 Constitution of the State of Georgia (art. VI) that “The representatives shall be chosen out of the residents in each county (…) and they shall be of the Protestent (sic) religion”.
– The State Constitution of Georgia, February 5, 1777
In Maryland, voting rights and eligibility were extended to Jews in 1828.
– An Act for the relief of Jews in Maryland, passed February 26, 1825