<P> ^ Note 3: From 1780 Massachusetts had a system which required every man to belong to a church, and permitted each church to tax its members, but forbade any law requiring that it be of any particular denomination . This was objected to, as in practice establishing the Congregational Church, the majority denomination, and was abolished in 1833 . </P> <P> ^ Note 4: Until 1877 the New Hampshire Constitution required members of the State legislature to be of the Protestant religion . </P> <P> ^ Note 5: The North Carolina Constitution of 1776 disestablished the Anglican church, but until 1835 the NC Constitution allowed only Protestants to hold public office . From 1835 to 1876 it allowed only Christians (including Catholics) to hold public office . Article VI, Section 8 of the current NC Constitution forbids only atheists from holding public office . Such clauses were held by the United States Supreme Court to be unenforceable in the 1961 case of Torcaso v. Watkins, when the court ruled unanimously that such clauses constituted a religious test incompatible with First and Fourteenth Amendment protections . </P> <P> ^ Note 6: Religious tolerance for Catholics with an established Church of England was policy in the former Spanish Colonies of East and West Florida while under British rule . </P>

Where did separation of church and state begin