. >> sarah gordon talks about religious cases in history that have transformed the law of the country and dominated protection in the constitution. this interview part of the college series recorded at the university of pennsylvania. it's about 20 units. >> university professor sarah gordon, the spirit of the law is her most recent book. what do you mean when you talk about the old constitutional role and the new constitutional world when it comes to religion? >> for most of the nation's history with the states rather than the federal government that controlled access to the religious worship and organizations and so on. in the early decades that began to shift as the supreme court applied then national constitutional the establishment and centralizing debate about religion. >> but if the states had the control we had written to the constitution, freedom of religion. >> we did indeed the first amendment began congress shall enact no loss it was only to the national government. >> were there restrictions on different states? >> several states had religious establishments and most limit