Both the Declaration of Independence and the Northwest Ordinance were composed prior to the ratification of the US Constitution. The Founding Fathers composed the US Constitution not as a document that is more secular; they composed one that is entirely secular. The Founding Fathers could have composed a document that was sectarian; as James Madison's Convention notes reveal, the subject was never considered.

The US Constitution was composed and ratified in reaction to the ineffectiveness of the Articles of Confederation as a national governing fundamental law. The states that emerged from the territory governed by the Northwest Ordinance composed constitutions that comported with the US Constitution.