1. RELIGIONS IN COLONIAL AMERICA
Notes by B. Becker, adapted by N. Miller and T. Zigler
Eastlake HS
AP US/Honors Amer Lit

2. 1649: Maryland Toleration Act
: Salem witch trials
1620: Pilgrims arrive at Plymouth
1656: Quakers arrive in Pennsylvania
1601
1700
1650
Century to come: Great Awakening

3. CHARACTERISTICS OF RELIGION in the Colonies
Important motive behind founding of several colonies
Colonial religion part of the continuing debate dating from the Reformation
Puritanism very influential
Assumed union of church and state
Overwhelmingly Protestant
98%

4. Continuing debate from Reformation
Issues: role of ministers, number of sacraments, organization of the church, liturgical service, hierarchy, Presbyterians, Congregationalists, Quakers, antinomianism, Arminianism
Changes in England: Bishop Laud, Charles I, 39 Articles, Civil War, Levellers, Puritan Commonwealth, Test Act (1673), Toleration Act (1689), Glorious Revolution

5. Influence of Puritanism
Source of significant ideas:
education for Bible Reading
founding of Harvard to educate ministers
higher law & moral codes
Covenant theology:
boost to the idea of a covenant between government and the governed
“city on a hill” – an example of a sense of mission

6. Freedom from religious persecution, not religious freedom
Established churches in 9 colonies (tax supported)
Anglican: NY, Md, Va, NC, SC, Ga
Congregational: Mass., Conn, NH
Quakers: Pa
Pennsylvania: 1682: Quakers: Wm. Penn
Rhode Island: Roger Williams
Exile
Relations with tribes
Maryland: Lord Baltimore: Catholic
SC and NJ experiments
French Huguenots
Catholic Spain and France

7. Union of Church & State: Backlash
Fear of tyranny of church and state, SPG (Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts) seen as a conspiracy
Too many for any one church to control, although Mass. & Pa. significant
Examples:
Roger Williams
Anne Hutchinson
Mary Dyer - Quaker
Roger Williams: RI separate to preserve the purity of the church, not the state

8. People Antinomianism Exiled from Plymouth
Belief that “child of God” need not be restrained by civil or other law
Exiled from Plymouth
Death at hands of Indians was taken to be divine retribution
Roger Williams
Anne
Hutchinson
Kicked out of Mass. Bay
Founded RI
Religious Freedom
Treatment of Native Americans
/b/b8/Anne_Hutchinson_on_Trial.jpg

9. America Overwhelmingly Protestant
1775:
3142 church buildings – only 56 Catholic, 5 Jewish
More than 98% Protestant (USA now more than 20% Catholic, 3% Jewish)
Called the “Penal Period” by Catholic historians
All colonies had anti-Catholic laws at one time

10. CHANGES during the Colonial Period
Multitude of religions
Calvinism influential, especially evangelical
Energized by Great Awakening
Many unchurched
Religions contributed to rise of political liberty
4 largest:
Congregational – 21%
Presbyterian – 19%
Anglican – 16%
Baptist – 16%

11. Influence of Calvin
Emphasis on evangelical Calvinism: missionary work to get converts
Emphasis on the individual’s direct relationship with God rather than the church’s corporate one
Emphasis on emotion, not doctrine

12. Influence of Great Awakening 1730s-40s
Colleges established to train ministers
Princeton – 1746 – Presby
King’s College – Columbia
1754 – Anglican
RI College – Brown
1764 – Baptist
Queens College – Rutgers
1766 – Dutch Reformed
-Dartmouth College
Congregationalist
Reinvigorated Calvinistic influence – society seen as egalitarian
Jonathan Edwards: “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God”
William and George Tennent & George Whitefield
Missionaries to Westerners and Indians
In-Fighting
Old Lights vs. New Lights
University of Pennsylvania – Only non-sectarian college in US

13. Jonathan Edwards and George Whitefield
“Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God”
Preached during “Great Awakening”
Foe of the “halfway covenant”
Methodist Preacher
Revivalist

14. Many unchurched or Deists
Religion or philosophy that sees God reflected in nature and known through reason and personal reflection, or unknowable
Generally rejects supernatural events or divine interference in human life
Generally rejects all scriptures, or accepts all as fallible human attempts to express ineffable Nature
Generally rejects organized religion
Many never attended
1776: Philadelphia had 18 churches for 40,000 people
Few churches or missionaries in backwoods areas
Deism widespread among the upper classes

15. Contribution to Political Liberty:
Weak church organization and control spurred individualism (Calvin’s emphasis on individual)
Disestablishment came only because it proved too difficult to establish a single church: they tried!
Came with Revolutionary War
Virginia Decl of Rights (1776)
Virginia Act for Est of Religious Freedom (1785)
James I: “No bishop, no king” – attack on the church was attack on the crown
Anti-Presbyterian
Democratic churches led to a demand for democratic governments. (Dang! He knew that would happen!)
Concept of natural laws, natural rights fed by deism

16. Separation of Church and State
Religious freedom was not original desire
Maryland Act of Toleration for only those who believed in the Trinity
Church was separated from state
But it ended up as religious freedom

18. Colonial Maps Maryland: Catholic (1649: Toleration Act)
Massachusetts Bay: Puritan
Pennsylvania: tolerant
Plymouth: Puritan
Rhode Island: tolerant
Virginia: Church of England
Spanish Florida: Catholic
New France (lower Canada): Catholic
(later) Upper Canada: Church of England

19. Resources used: Becker, Bruce, notes.
Brewer, Jaques, Jones, and King. “Religion in Colonial America.” viewed Sept. 21, 2007
“Religion and the Founding of the American Republic”, Library of Congress. viewed 21 Sept 07
“Gilbert Tennent”,

20. People, cont. John Winthrop
Long-time governor of Massachusetts Bay colony
Led colony in Pequot War
Thought Indians were degraded civilization, alienated from God

21. People, cont. Cotton Mather William Penn Boston pastor
“Wonders of the Invisible World”
Defended use of spectral evidence, belief in witches and evil powers
Proprietor of Penn’s Woods (Pennsylvania)
Established religious toleration
Women’s rights and rights of minority races
Written guarantee of rights

22. People, cont.
Mary Dyer
George Whitefield
1660: Puritan who converted to Quakerism, and was hanged for defying Boston’s law forbidding Quakers in the colony
Had met Anne Hutchinson
Considered only woman in USA to die for religious freedom
Preacher during “Great Awakening”
Also credited as founder of Methodism, with John and Charles Wesley – but kept predestination
evangelist

23. People, cont. John Wesley Preached in both UK and the New World
Gilbert Tennent
Preached in both UK and the New World
Founder of Methodism
Active social reformer
Followers called “Methodists” because of their methodical method of study
Presbyterian
Revivalist leader during the “Great Awakening”
Went on evangelical tour of England