American Society and Culture

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American Society and Culture

U.S. History 1


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Colonial Religion

Puritan Colonies

New England

Non-Denomiational Middle ColoniesBut strong Quaker influence in Penn. and N.J.

Catholic Colonies

Md., and Spanish/French regions Anglican Colonies

The South


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Puritan Religion in Massachusetts

In every town, the community church had"complete liberty to stand alone,"

Not bound to Anglican hierarchy or ritual

Each congregation chose its own minister and

regulated its own affairsCongregational church Ministers worked closely with government

Ministers had no formal political power, but exertedgreat influence on church members

Only church members could hold government office

Government protected the ministers, taxed members andnon-members alike to support the church, and enforcedthe law requiring attendance at services


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Roger Williams

Williams a controversial young Puritan minister

a Separatist

proclaimed that the land the colonists occupiedbelonged to the natives

advocated sexual equality

Colonial government considered Williams adangerous man and voted to deport him

escaped before they could send him back to England

1635-1636, he took refuge with the Narragansetts

1636, he bought a tract of land from them, and with afew followers, created the town of Providence


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Rhode Island

Williams advocated complete freedom of worshipand denied government any authority overreligious practice.

1644, he obtained a charter from Parliament

empowering him to establish a single governmentfor the various settlements around Providence

Rhode Island

Based government on the Mass. pattern, but did

not restrict the vote to church members nor tax thepeople for church support.

For a time, Rhode Island was the only colony inwhich all faiths (including Judaism) could worship

without interference.


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Anne Hutchinson

Emigrated to Mass. in 1634 1635, began to hold Sunday

prayer discussions after church

argued that all persons couldbe saved, not just thechosenantinomianism

She was tried by the Churchand found guilty of heresy,sedition and role reversal

Told that, You have ratherbine a Husband than a Wife,and a Preacher than a Hearer,and a Magistrate than asubject.


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Connecticut

1635, Thomas Hooker, led his congregation outof Mass. to establish the town of Hartford.

1639, Fundamental Orders of Connecticut established

New Haven was established by Puritans upset

with what they considered the increasing religiouslaxity in Massachusetts.

Fundamental Articles of New Haven (1639) establisheda Bible-based government even stricter than that of

Massachusetts Bay. New Haven remained independent until 1662,

when it came under the control of the Hartfordcolony, renamed Connecticut


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Crises in Puritan New England

Puritan (or Congregational) churches

suffered a number of crises in late-17th c.

Declining church membership

Halfway Covenant

Lack of doctrinal conformity

Church synods in Mass.Opposition to established status

Salem Witch Trials


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Religion in the Middle Colonies

No established church dominated in the

Middle Colonies

Diverse population and doctrines of religioustoleration allowed many denominations

1750, region had more congregations per

capita than any other colonial region, evenNew England


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The Quaker Colonies

Pennsylvania was born out of the efforts of TheSociety of Friends to find a home

William Penn, the son of a British admiral, and a

landlord of Irish estates, was the patron Converted to Quakerism, Penn became an evangelist,was sent repeatedly to prison, and became convinced ofthe need of a Quaker colony

In 1681, after the death of his father, he inheritedhis fathers lands and also his father's claim to alarge debt from the king.

Charles II paid the debt with a grant of territory

Penn was both landlord and ruler of the colony


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Religion in the Southern Colonies

Anglicanism the established religion in all S. colonies

Had official government sanction, and public funds paid theclergy

Those not members of the Anglican Church were labeled as

dissenters

Problems for the Anglican church in the South

Shortage of trained clergy

Lack of leadership

no Anglican bishop in N. America

Parishes that were vast and sparsely settled.

Frontier regions often lacked Anglican churches

A breeding ground for dissenting sects


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Catholicism in the Colonies

French and Spanish influence

Louisiana, Florida and New Mexico

Conversion of the Indians

Maryland and Pennsylvania had largest

Catholic populations in the English colonies


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Maryland

Maryland emerged from desire of EnglishCatholics to escape discrimination.

The colony was the dream ofGeorge Calvert

March 1634, two ships bearing about 300passengers established the village ofSt. Mary's

Calvert soon realized that Catholics would always

be a minority in the colony.

Act Concerning Religion, (1649) assured freedom ofworship to all Maryland Christians


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Denominationalism

Most colonies had established churches

But civil and ecclesiastical authorities had a difficult

time enforcing religious authority by 1700

Denominationalismthe spread of competing

churchesarose in the colonies in the 18th century

Baptists, Methodists, Moravians, Reformists,Moravians, Lutherans all competed with established

churches for members


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The First Great Awakening

Transatlantic religious revival, which first touchedthe Middle Colonies in the 1730s.

George Whitfieldcatalyst of Great Awakening English preacher who came to America in 1738.played on feelings of his audiencereligious

emotionalism

Fire and Brimstone sermons

tent revivals

Whitfields style copied by others

Jonathan Edwards Sinners in the Hands of an AngryGod


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Impact of the Great Awakening Divisions in American Protestantism

Old Lightsopponents of Great Awakening

New Lightssupporters of Great Awakening

New Protestant sects created increased need for religious toleration in America

Institutions of higher education created

needed to develop an educated, American clergy

Empowered women

Introduced revivalism into American religion

Stressed egalitarianism

Influenced political behavior


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Religion and the Revolution On the whole, the war and its revolutionary ideals

greatly weakened organized religion in the US

emphasized reason over faith, individual overcommunal, temporal over spiritual

No sect suffered more than the Anglicans

Revolutionary regimes disestablished state churchesand eliminated tax subsidies

Anglicans had also benefited from aid from England,

which ceased with the outbreak of war.

By end of the war ended, many Anglican parishes nolonger had clergymen

Quakers were also weakened, as pacifism was

unpopular during the war


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Catholicism and the Revolution

War improved the position of the Catholic church On the advice of Charles Carroll, a Catholic

Maryland statesman, most American Catholicssupported the Patriot cause.

The French alliance also did much to erode oldhostilities toward Catholics

After the war the Vatican provided the UnitedStates with its own Catholic hierarchy.

Fr. John Carroll (of Maryland) was named headof Catholic missions in America in 1784 and, in1789, the first American bishop


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Religious Freedom in the New Republic

New states moved towards religious freedom afterthe war

Stripped established churches of their privileges

No tax money for churches, ministers

No more laws requiring church attendance

although some laws still barred Catholics and atheists

1786, Virginia enacted the Statute of ReligiousLiberty, which called for the complete separation

of church and state, and the right to worship asone chose

Religious toleration/freedom became U.S. law in1791 with the passage of the 1st Amendment


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Second Great Awakening

Traditional religion staged a dramatic comeback inthe form of a wave of revivalism known as theSecond Great Awakening.

Basic ideas of the Second Great Awakening were:

Individuals must readmit God and Christ into theirdaily lives

must embrace a fervent, active piety

must reject the skeptical rationalism that threatened

traditional beliefs Rejected predestination

Social Gospel


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The Mormons


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Women in Early American Society


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Seneca Falls Convention, 1848

Womens suffrage movement in U.S. dates from1848 Womens Rights Convention held at SenecaFalls, New York

Suffrage movement had its roots in the 19th centuryreform movements for abolition, temperance, andwomens rights

Conference called by Elizabeth Cady Stanton

and Lucretia Mott 300 women and men, including Frederick Douglass,

attended the convention


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The Great Awakening

Transatlantic religious revival, which first touched the

Middle Colonies in the 1730s.

George Whitfieldcatalyst of Great Awakening

English preacher who toured America in 1738.

played on feelings of his audiencereligious emotionalism

tent revivals

New England Awakening led by Jonathan Edwards

Stressed personal conversion experiences

Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God


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The Great Awakening Great Awakening characterized by

religious emotionalism

Fire and Brimstone sermons

individual religious experiences

Revival meetingsoften in tens or open fields

removed formality, and class structure of established churches

Acceptance ofeven preference foruntrained/uneducated clergy

In the South, the appeal of the Great Awakening was verymuch as a reaction against the Anglican hierarchy

appealed to the lower classes

Methodists, Baptists, and Presbyterians all benefited


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Impact of the Great Awakening

Divisions in American Protestantism

Old Lightsopponents of Great Awakening

New Lightssupporters of Great Awakening

New Protestant sects created increased need for religious toleration in America

Institutions of higher education created

needed to develop an educated, American clergy

Empowered women Introduced revivalism into American religion

Stressed egalitarianism

Influenced political behavior


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Slave Religion

Before Great Awakening, few American

slaves had been converted to Christianity

Few owners were very religious

Few slaves wanted to become Christian

Most retained West African religious rites

Owners feared conversion would spark rebellion


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Afro-American Christianity

Evangelical churches welcomed black members

free and slave

African Americans influenced the new Christianity Christianity an Americanizing institution for slaves

Christianity seen by masters as means to control slaves

Christianity also a means for slaves to resist Black churches illegal in colonial South


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Women and the 2nd Great Awakening

Women converts outnumbered men 3:2

Called by the converted to convert others

Pushed women into roles outside their home

Bible, missionary, charitable, and maternal societies;Sunday school assns.

Ministered to the poor, the sick, orphans, women in need

Consciousness-raising experiences for women

Gave them political savvy; political skills Public speaking, fund raising, lobbying for change;

organizing movements


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Seneca Falls Convention, 1848

Organized by Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott 300 men and women attended conference on womens rights

Declaration of Sentiments, authored by ElizabethCady Stanton presented to the convention

Called for female equality before the law and the right to vote Protested the exclusion of women from higher ed., profitable employment,

the pulpit, & the professions

Called for property rights and guardianship of their children

Demanded an end to the sexual double standard

Protested the psychological effects of the oppression of women on women

Declaration received a lot of media attention most of it negative

Exposed ideas of womens right to larger audience
http://www.closeup.org/sentimnt.htmhttp://www.closeup.org/sentimnt.htm


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Declaration of Sentiments

At the Seneca Falls Convention, Cady

Stanton issued theDeclaration of

Sentiments, which called for:Legal equality for women

Rights to property and wages

Access to educationRight to Vote

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