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Ideas & Arguments · 3 of 6 · 1788

North Carolina, 1788: could a Muslim hold federal office?

Last updated October 22, 2026. Not peer reviewed; see the review status.

Did the founding generation debate whether a Muslim could be president?

Yes. On July 30, 1788, North Carolina's ratifying convention argued over whether Article VI's ban on religious tests would admit “Mahometans” to federal office. Anti-Federalist Henry Abbot warned they might; James Iredell replied that excluding any group would undercut religious freedom. It was a contest, not a consensus, and the convention declined to ratify that summer.

Why it matters. The question was asked in 1788, long before any candidate could answer it. This is the clearest founding-era record of the idea tested against a concrete clause. Popular versions quote it loosely; the transcript supports a narrower claim.

The document

What does Article VI say?

The Constitution bans religious tests for federal office. This clause is what the delegates argued over.

“no religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or Public Trust under the United States.”
U.S. Constitution, Article VI, clause 3
The document

What did opponents fear?

The Founders' Constitution prints the debate from Elliot's Debates (vol. 4, pp. 191 to 200). Anti-Federalist Henry Abbot objected that without a test, non-Christians could reach office.

“pagans, deists, and Mahometans might obtain offices among us”
Henry Abbot, North Carolina ratifying convention, July 30, 1788 (Elliot's Debates, vol. 4)As printed in the Founders' Constitution.
The document

How did James Iredell answer?

Iredell, later a Supreme Court justice, said exclusion would defeat the principle the objectors claimed. Anti-Federalist William Lancaster drew the conclusion his side feared: “Papists may occupy that chair, and Mahometans may take it.” Governor Samuel Johnston dismissed the fear of a papal president as no more likely than the election of the King of England or France, or the Grand Turk.

“how is it possible to exclude any set of men, without taking away that principle of religious freedom which we ourselves so warmly contend for?”
James Iredell, North Carolina ratifying convention, July 30, 1788 (Elliot's Debates, vol. 4)
The document

What happened next?

The Hillsborough convention neither ratified nor rejected, proposing a declaration of rights and amendments first. Sources differ on the tally, so none is given. North Carolina ratified at Fayetteville on November 21, 1789, after Congress proposed the Bill of Rights.

Where scholars differ

How do scholars read the exchange?

Spellberg reads it as part of the founding generation's argument over whether Muslims, Catholics, and Jews could hold office. She also notes the convention majority opposed non-Protestant participation, so the debate was a contest.

This site's reading: “Mahometans” appears as a hypothetical, with no Muslim candidate or resident in view. Hypotheticals still state a principle, but they do not show a Muslim could have won office in 1788.

Scholarly conversation

What remains open

  • Whether any delegate had an actual Muslim resident or candidate in mind.
  • How widely the “Mahometan” examples recur in other state conventions (this essay covers North Carolina only).
  • The Hillsborough tally. Sources differ; a primary count is needed.

Further reading for specialists

  • Jonathan Elliot, ed., The Debates in the Several State Conventions on the Adoption of the Federal Constitution, vol. 4 (1836), pp. 191–200.
  • Denise A. Spellberg, Thomas Jefferson's Qur'an: Islam and the Founders (New York: Knopf, 2013).

Sources checked

Related on this site

Cite as: Threads of Connection, “North Carolina, 1788: could a Muslim hold federal office?,” usmuslim.org/ideas/north-carolina-1788-religious-test, last updated October 22, 2026. Content licensed CC BY 4.0.

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