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The great awakening and the revolutionary war
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When Columbus arrived on the Caribbean island of San Salvador in 1492, one of the first things he and his crew did was kneel in thanks (Moore, 2006). Early Spanish explorations of the present day United States were not complete without a missionary element. Even the British colonists tried to convert the eastern Natives to Christianity. Almost from the New World’s discovery, religion procured a dominant role in its early history. As one of the three main factors that drove settlement of America, religion and religious freedom grew to hold an important place in colonial culture and the heart of nearly every American. All too often, however, in a study of colonial history, religion’s role is misconstrued (Bonomi, 2003). In Under the Cope of Heaven, author Patricia Bonomi clarifies the importance of colonial religion through several different arguments, including religion’s entertainment value, the role in the Great Awakening, and ultimately the Great Awakening’s part in the American Revolution. Religion had an entertainment …show more content…
Even with its high entertainment value, religion had much more significant impact on colonial America: it was directly responsible for the Great Awakening. Arguably the single most important movement leadings towards the Revolutionary War, the Great Awakening fractured religion as the colonies knew it and set in motion a dissenting mentality that would ultimately culminate in conflict (Bonomi, 2003). Perhaps even more important than the dissenting mindset was the role it elevated the church to. With a new found rebellious attitude ever present, churches utilized their influence and propagated revolutionary political positions to their members (Bonomi). Religion shaped colonial America in a way that no other factor could have. Under the Cope of Heaven provides the reader a chance to fully comprehend this often misconstrued
By 1763, although some colonies still maintained established churches, other colonies had accomplished a virtual revolution for religious toleration and separation of church and state. The Anglican Church was the only established denomination in England. In contrast, the colonies supported a great variety of churches. The largest were the Congregationalist, Anglican, and German churches, but many smaller denominations could be found through the colonies. In addition to this, a high percentage of Americans didn’t belong to any church. These differences could be attributed to the fact that many of the Europeans who immigrated to America didn’t fit in to or agree with the churches in their homelands.
America is a nation that is often glorified in textbooks as a nation of freedom, yet history shows a different, more radical viewpoint. In Howard Zinn’s A People's History of the United States, we take a look at American history through a different lens, one that is not focused on glorifying our history, but giving us history through the eyes of the people. “This is a nation of inconsistencies”, as so eloquently put by Mary Elizabeth Lease highlights a nation of people who exploited and sought to keep down those who they saw as inferior, reminding us of more than just one view on a nation’s history, especially from people and a gender who have not had an easy ride. In some respects, we can attribute the founding of America and all its subsequent impacts to Christopher Columbus. Columbus, a hero in the United States, has his own holiday and we view him as the one who paved the way for America to be colonized.
Hatch tells the reader that the religious communication changed in only two ways in the years following the American Revolution. The first way in which religious communication was that “clergy men lost their unrivaled position as authoritative sources of information (Hatch 125).” The second way in which the religious communication changed “was an explosion of popular printed material (Hatch 125).” This explosion of printed word changed Protestant Christianity. Exploiting of the press many pamphlets, tracts, books, songs and newspapers were published in order to extend the reach of Christianity and to battle other religions and naysayers. But even men of proper learning and character found it difficult to infuse elitist communication and gospel for the common man (Hatch 128). Elias Smith contented, “and all Christians have a right to propagate it, I do also declare, that every Christian has a r...
As the regions began to expand and develop, their motivations for settlement helped to mold their societies. New England was a place where men sought refuge from religious persecution and was established as a haven for religious refugees. Despite this reason for settling, the New Englanders still attempted to spread their own beliefs of religion. As illustrated by John Winthrop in his Model of a Christian Charity, he preached to his fellow colonists that “we shall be a city upon a hill” (Doc A) exemplifying the Puritans’ aspirations of a Holy Utopia. He and countless other New Englanders practiced the belief that they must all work together. They were determined to “mourn together, labor and suffer together, always having before our eyes our commission and community in the work.” The Articles of Agreement plainly laid out the basis for the New England region. These articles made New England a cosmopolitan mix of rich and poor families, all being in possession of land and resolute in doing God’s work (Doc D). However, while the New Englanders settled to create a Holy Utopia, the people of the Chesapeake were concerned not only with their religious freedom, but also ...
Religion is the name given to a “relationship with God, and different groups of people have different Gods and belief systems” (Terhart & Schulze, 2008). Today there are 313 religions and denominations in the United States; from monotheists who believe in one God, to polytheists who believe in many Gods, to others who believe in no God, or a God as represented by animal spirits, alien groups, or psychoactive substances (ProCon.org, 2008). Christianity was the first religion that was brought to the world by European settlers and it became dominant religion of the United States throughout its history. Although Puritan practices was accepted under the reign of Queen Elizabeth I, both James I and Charles I believed that their authority had full power to enforce religious standards among their subjects and so they authorized the persecution of Puritans, who were challenging many of the most important rules of the English church. As a result, in the 1620s and 1630s a number of English Puritans decided to move to America, where they hoped to put their religious beliefs into practice unaffected by the Stuarts or the Church hierarchy. (Norton et al., 1986)
All early colonists were deeply religious and believed most of what happened to them in America was due to God’s wrath or pleasure. For example, 347 Virginians were massacred by Indians they had previously believed to be their friends, and more would have been killed were it not for one Indian who happened to warn them of another attack. Since the Native was a Christian convert, they saw this warning as an act of God and “the good fruit of an infidel converted to Christianity,” rather than simply an act of a good person. Though many of their people were killed, they still felt they were able to say “blessed be God forever, whose mercy endureth forever” due to this one act (doc 9). Native conversion was another way religion permeated the early colonists’ lives, as it was one of the main goals of the Virginia colony. A document published by the British explained that the European goal for the natives was to “bring them from their base condition…if they will believe in Him” (doc 8). Even their interactions with the “heathens” involved God. So, therefore everyone accepted laws that mandated that “every man and woman duly twice a day…shall…hear divine service” and that everyone must “have a care that the Almighty God be duly and daily served” (doc 9). Along with suffering and rigidity, religion was a
Some would say that Christopher Columbus was a devout Christian. He believed that "his was a mission that would put Christian civilization on the offensive after centuries of Muslim ascendancy" (Dor-Ner 45). Columbus' original mission was to find a western route to the Indies. But when that failed, his mission became clear: convert these new people to Christianity. Throughout this paper I will show the view of the natives by Columbus and Christendom and how these views changed over a span of fifty years.
In “The New York Conspiracy Trials of 1741”, Horsmanden presents the sacredness of oaths, and the profound religious influence on everyday life in colonial America, especially in New York. The circumstances regarding the case represented in the 1741 trials embody colonial anxiety over religion and its justification through law and imperial domination. These anxieties caused many of the accused of the trials to begin confessing, out of fear of harsh civil punishments, which allowed for a larger plot to unfold. A crime as petty as larceny spawned into a national panic, a fear of a larger Catholic backed conspiracy to overthrow Protestant Anglo-American civil order. The religious dogma of Christianity had a great impact on the civil and social order of the early colonies. It exemplified the importance of oaths, which were made in reverence to God and also helped to maintain the hierarchical and social boundaries which limited people to specific social duties and liberties. Most civil order was justified through the numerous fundamentals alluding to biblical text as well as British concepts of civility. The religiosity of the overall spectrum of Colonial life, also represented a collective social anxiety in regards to disputes among other powers, especially the conflicting Catholic regimes striving for imperial domination, which led to further accusations of the parties convicted in the trials of 1741. The social orders justified through religious texts, paved the way for the unfair treatment of social outcasts, especially the Negroes and others deemed lesser of the social strata of Anglo colonial society; all which were legitimized through the dogmatic principles of Christianity, which resulted in the final outcome of the and unfair...
And Providence revealed an angry God. Portents and prodigies arose within a world besmirched with sin, a world of men and women who failed to heed his laws. The murderer, the mocking cavalier, the liar, the sabbath-breaker - all these and many others could expect that someday, somehow, their violations of the moral order would provoke awful warnings or more awful judgments.”2 By living a life of righteousness, they believed their lives would be approved by God and therefore blessed and enriched by “a special overruling providence.”3 Living a life of sin, they believed, would lead to poverty, sickness, and eternal damnation. However, their own fickle human nature was not the only threat to the colonists as they believed there was active opposition in the form of the Devil who would attempt to corrupt and seduce them into committing evil
In the New World, colonies of Europeans were forming rapidly across the east coast. These colonies were seemingly founded on the ideas of oppression as well as dreams of wealth and glory, except for one particular group of religious colonists who dreamed of creating“the city upon the hill”. But who were these people and how did their ideas and beliefs affect Early America? In England a religious group of people known as the Puritans were finding themselves unhappy with the Anglican Church. The Puritans, numbered 102 men women and children, found themselves relocating to America and settling near Cape Cod in southeastern Massachusetts to escape the church and practice their own religion. Their mission was to build a society of independent farm
Throughout human history, religion has played a fundamental role in societal development, regardless of the culture. Christianity, in particular, has profoundly shaped the last two thousand years of history and continues to do so today. This holds true in the case of European development and exploration of the New World. As exploration in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries flourished, many countries set out to declare land on behalf of their country, and in an effort to bring honor to their God. When English settlers first developed colonies in New England, one of their goals was to share the word of God with the Native Americans they encountered. This drastically conflicted with the views of the Native Indians, and completely altered the development of North America. European religious views in early North American exploration set the tone for America’s development into a commodification driven society that exploited the environment as a means of economic potential.
Religion plays a major role in the day to day lives of the early settlers in America. So much so, that early colonial writers use it as a form of literary persuasion. John Smith and William Bradford were two such writers.
Religion was the back-bone for the pilgrimage. Saying so, this allows one to ponder the argument that the United States is in existence today due to religion. I agree with Patricia Bonomi’s argument that the colonies transferred the importance from that of the group to that of the individual. This enabled each and every colonist. They were not only working for the whole but themselves now. Importance was placed upon the individual and self-reliance, by means of spirituality, was becoming more the common place. A type of individual freedom took place which ...
Religion set the standard for future rebellion against authority, through individualism. The concept of rebirth that Reverend George Whitefield preached resonated with many people in the colonies
Religion is the one element of life that has connected the races and societies of the world for hundreds of years. It has given meaning to lives that may seem otherwise hopeless. Religion has provided for a universal language and culture among those who believe in a higher power. The spirit or being receiving the worship and praise may not be the same, but the practices are usually similar and serve the same purpose--to give direction, insight, courage, and a divine connection.