[Irontank]

The States were not perfectly free, at the time of the founding, to have established religions

Regardless of whether or not any state had an established religion...all would have been free under the First Amendment to the US Constitution to do so. Whether or not state constitutions or state laws provided otherwise is something else. In New England, Congregational Churches received public support into the 19th century in, at least, NH, Connecticut and Massachusetts.

[FredFlash]

You wrote:

Regardless of whether or not any state had an established religion...all would have been free under the First Amendment to the US Constitution to do so.

I write:

That would have been a reasonable interpretation but not the only reasonable one. The Jeffersonians often argued that the First Amendment applied against the states. There are legal decisions where a State Court applied the Madison Doctrine to a state question. That was an application of the religion clauses against a state.

However, I concede that the First Amendment did not apply against the States.

[FredFlash]

You wrote:

In New England, Congregational Churches received public support into the 19th century in, at least, NH, Connecticut and Massachusetts.

I wrote:

In Massachusetts and NH, the religion supported by the coerced contributions was the Protestant sect that the majority of the local voters wanted. In the case of Connecticut, I concede your point argueno.

[FredFlash]

Yep - it was Madison 10 to Ellsworth 3 on the scoreboard - I was a surprised to find that ten of states, in 1789, were 99% of the way to separation - meaning no legal Establishments of religion, no religious test and no civil disabilities - There were religious tests on the books but they were just ignored - In some state's only Protestants or Christians were guaranteed equal protection on paper but there is no case of any non Christian being denied protection - Some state courts decided cases as if the religion causes applied to the states and were the law of the land - From 1789 to the Civil War is where you find Strict Separation - It all changed with Lincoln's Proclamation and "In God We Trust" on the money.