THE ANTI-FEDERALISTS

The framers of our Constitution deliberately wanted to avoid setting up any kind of religious establishment and that's why we have this sentence in Article VI, paragraph 3:

no religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States.

There were some people who opposed adapting the proposed constitution because it did not create a religious establishment but the original intent of the Founders was to prevent such a creation.

A great source for the debates about the Constitution was published by the Library of America:

The Debate on the Constitution: Federalist and Antifederalist speeches, Articles, and Letters During the Struggle over Ratification.

There are 2 volumes, the first one covers the period Sept. 1787 to Feb. 1788; the second, Jan. to Aug. 1788.