 And as a kind of no-brainer, it was a pretty big deal at the time because established churches were the norm in Europe. But there were even states that had established churches as well. The phrase, Congress shall make no law, not that the states can't make such a law. It wasn't until later the Supreme Court said that the federal law trumps state and local laws. But in colonial days and in the immediate aftermath of the American Revolution, Catholics were for the most part ostracized from society.