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RELIGIONS IN COLONIAL AMERICA

RELIGIONS IN COLONIAL AMERICA. Notes by B. Becker, adapted by N. Miller and T. Zigler Eastlake HS AP US/Honors Amer Lit. 1649: Maryland Toleration Act . 1690-93: Salem witch trials. 1620: Pilgrims arrive at Plymouth. 1656: Quakers arrive in Pennsylvania. 1601. 1700. 1650.

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RELIGIONS IN COLONIAL AMERICA

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  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 1690-93: Salem witch trials 1620: Pilgrims arrive at Plymouth 1656: Quakers arrive in Pennsylvania 1601 1700 1650 Century to come: Great Awakening

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

  4. 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 Continuing debate from Reformation

  5. “city on a hill” – an example of a sense of mission 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

  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 • Too many for any one church to control, although Mass. & Pa. significant • Examples: • Roger Williams • Anne Hutchinson • Mary Dyer - Quaker • Fear of tyranny of church and state, SPG (Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts) seen as a conspiracy • Roger Williams: RI separate to preserve the purity of the church, not the state http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Dyer

  8. People Roger Williams Anne Hutchinson Antinomianism 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 • Kicked out of Mass. Bay • Founded RI • Religious Freedom • Treatment of Native Americans http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Roger_Williams_and_Narragansetts.jpg http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons /b/b8/Anne_Hutchinson_on_Trial.jpg

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

  10. 4 largest: Congregational – 21% Presbyterian – 19% Anglican – 16% Baptist – 16% 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

  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. 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 1769 - Congregationalist Influence of Great Awakening1730s-40s • 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

  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. 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) Contribution to Political Liberty: • 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. But it ended up as religious freedom 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

  17. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:GROWTH1850.JPG

  18. 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 Colonial Maps http://www.fasttrackteaching.com/T_M06_ColAmerCP300g15.gif

  19. Resources used: • Becker, Bruce, notes. • Brewer, Jaques, Jones, and King. “Religion in Colonial America.” http://www.uncp.edu/home/canada/work/allam/16071783/religion.htm, viewed Sept. 21, 2007 • “Religion and the Founding of the American Republic”, Library of Congress. http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/religion/, viewed 21 Sept 07 • “Gilbert Tennent”, http://www.infoplease.com/ce6/people/A0848163.html • http://www.quaker.org/wmpenn.html

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