Empire of Liberty: A History of the Early Republic, 1789-1815

The middling sorts in the early Republic used religion to make sense of the world whereas many of the political leaders and gentlemen used science and the arts.

Religiosity of the middling sorts gained more prominence as American society became more democratic and these Americans rose to positions of authority.

The American Revolution severed the ties between region and government that had existed.

In Europe the spread of rationalism diminished the ties the people had with religion but in America religion’s authority actually increased.

Founders don’t fit into a neat box when it comes to religious beliefs.

Some like Samuel Adams and John Jay were devout.

Few were deists.

Many of them passively supported organized religion but even so many viewed overly enthusiastic Christians as falling prey to a type of madness.

Washington purposely avoided talking about a belief in the Christian gospel.

Jefferson hated organized religions, made references to the “priestcraft”, believed a “pure religion” had been made into “mystery”, and that the Trinity was “hocus-pocus”.

State constitutions made in 1776 declared religious freedom and the Anglican Church was disestablished everywhere.

Toughest fight over disestablishment took place in Virginia whose state co situation guaranteed the “free exercise of religion” but the Anglican Church wasn’t actually disestablished until 1786.

Due to developments during the Revolutionary era it seemed like religion’s importance was decreasing.

Politics overwhelmed religion.

The established churches of the time were not in a position to accommodate a rapidly growing population that was constantly moving.

Most religious leaders didn’t worry about the expressions of religious freedom because of their hatred for the Anglican Church.

Enlightened liberalism diminished the premises of Calvinism and orthodox Christian though as liberalism stated man wasn’t naturally bad and that it was only corrupted institutions that made men evil.

To look at how religion was viewed in America during the Revolutionary era misses a key point: the majority of Americans were still religious.

Church membership may have been low but attendance wasn’t.

Popular displeasure towards aristocratic church leaders wasn’t the same as displeasure towards religion specifically.

The number of congregations doubled between 1770 and 1790 and new denominations such as Methodists and Baptists grew rapidly.

New religious groups such as Shakers, Universalists, and others were also created.

The Second Great Awakening, as it came to be known, was much more evangelical, personal, and optimistic than the First Great Awakening.

Very large numbers of people were mobilized and became members of religious groups.

Religions spread to remote areas of the country.

It was only the federal government that was prohibited from interfering with religious exercise.

States still maintained establishments and legislated religious matters.

Connecticut and Massachusetts maintained a Congregational establishment; other states created a multi-establishment with a variety of different religious groups; some states required officeholders to be Christians while others required them to believe in God, heaven, and hell.

Washington emphasized religion as president.

He was very ecumenical and attended services of different denominations.

Spoke of toleration for different Christian groups, Jews, and Muslims.

Spoke of religion in his first inaugural address.

Proclaimed a National Day of Prayer and Thanksgiving.

Spoke of the importance of religion in his Farewell Address and the religious obligation of oath taking.

Jefferson, who had never had good opinions on organized religion, was an Anglican and then Episcopalian and did attend church from time to time.

Because of past comments he was labeled an infidel by political opponents and to win over religious Americans to the Republican cause he spoke highly of Christianity in his first inaugural address.

He attended church services in the House chamber (he even did so two days after writing a letter mentioning a wall between church and state which likely didn’t mean to him what it does to modern jurists) and made executive buildings available to church services.

Jefferson, as well as many Founders, were incredibly wrong about religion in America dying out as they didn’t understand the political forces at play with certain developments such as religious freedom being implemented in the country.

In Virginia, for example, evangelical Presbyterians and Baptists so feared the Anglican establishment they desired toleration and freedom to destroy any threat from the Anglican Church.

As the years went on a number of political elites, realizing the importance of religion, began to take it seriously themselves and made efforts to be seen as individuals in line with the religious feelings of ordinary Americans.

Roman Catholics in America had always been a small minority leading up to the Revolution and while they were discriminated against in every state the Revolution created a more open atmosphere for them.

The Catholic Church of America adapted to the surrounding environment as it became independent of the Vatican, created a college in Georgetown as well as other educational institutions, used English in the liturgy, and allowed the laity to take an active role in managing and organizing the church.

Catholics in America began to see themselves as just another Christian denomination.

Evangelicals understood that in America there was to be no traditional establishment of a church and that the people were free to choose their churches but this didn’t mean they thought there was no role for religion in politics.

Evangelicals repeatedly called for Congress to declare America’s Christian roots by having chaplains available in Congress, getting the postal service to not work on the Sabbath, and getting Congress to declare days of fasting and prayer.

As America democratized it also evangelized.

With Republicans defeating Federalists politically they realized they could also take on the elite, genteel religious establishments and promote their own evangelical views.

Evangelical Christianity spread through the entire nation but it was strongest in areas where authority and social ties were the weakest.

The societal and commercial changes of the time created disorder and in the areas with the greatest amount ordinary people were looking for new ways to understand the world creating an opening for the new forms of Christianity.

This created opportunities for people who had been left out with the previous religious establishments: the poor, women, etc.

Women played a substantial part in this new religious atmosphere with some radical sects even allowing for women leadership.

African Americans, including slaves, quickly Christianized and both groups were able to become preachers in their churches.

The religious changes also led to acts previously seen as superstitious and scandalous (like astrology) becoming more common as well as folk beliefs which, when combined with Christian beliefs, created an atmosphere where syncretic religions like Mormonism could be established.

Congregational clergy in New England had hoped to harness evangelical Christianity so Federalists could limit the social disorder of the time.

However, the biggest threat to the Congregationalists was within their church as liberal ministers gained positions of authority.

This threat led to a temporary alliance between mainstream Calvinists and New Divinity Calvinists, who had a very conservative brand of Calvinism, in 1808 but the alliance would not last.

Unable to meet the religious needs of the people, Congregationalists and Presbyterians tried to adopt some methods of the evangelical denominations like revivals with no success.

Circumstances were different in the Old South because the evangelical denominations thrived in an atmosphere with loose social structures but the system of slavery depended on a rigid and hierarchical social structure.

The evangelical denominations, at first, were anti-slavery as well which hurt their chances in the South but they eventually made accommodations with slavery.

Even so their growth and popularity was limited.

With the old hierarchical and aristocratic churches coming apart (Roman Catholicism was an exception) the leaders of the evangelical denominations urged their followers to recreate their religious world as more democratic than it was in the past.

With the Arminian message that Christians could be saved so long as they willed their own salvation the Calvinist message of predestination turned off many.

Calvinist Presbyterians and Separate Baptists began to soften their teachings on predestination as a result.

Religion in America became much more personal and voluntary and it became common for people to change churches frequently creating a very competitive environment between the churches.

The fragmented and fluid nature of Christianity in America led many religious leaders to try to find common ground by having a literal understanding of the New Testament be the common denominator among all the different evangelical Protestant groups.

This was an extension of the Enlightenment’s need for documentary proof; whereas the Constitution would be the documentary proof of democratic politics the New Testament would be the documentary proof of democratic religion.

Fragmentation of Christianity could not be stopped though especially as a more literate public got more access to bibles.

Churches became much less of an institution that could add structure to a community and instead began to be seen as little more than just buildings.

With little institutional ability to organize its community and members churches began to focus on saving individual souls.

With churches unable to embody the entire community specific churches came to be associated with specific classes where the Episcopalians and Unitarians being associated with the elite and the evangelical denominations being associated with the middling and lower sorts of society.

Even though religion became separated from society many religious leaders still saw religion as the only way to hold society together. Christian love and charity coupled with modern civility could be used to foster a greater sense of social unity and communitarianism.

The new religious movements based on individualism also created an environment that made it easier to legitimize participation in an individualistic and commercial marketplace.

Evangelicalism created a type of counter-culture with many elites viewing the ways of the newly popular denominations with scorn evangelicals began to wear it as a badge of honor.

As such it’s not surprising that many evangelicals become Jeffersonian Republicans.

To strengthen their position many evangelicals began to see a need to bring their more anarchic tendencies under control and have a learned and trained ministry.

Additionally many began getting involved in movements against social ills they saw as the result of aristocratic frivolity like horse racing and drinking which also effected the most desperate in society and in doing so started creating a sense of a middle class respectability.

With profound disruptions to everyday life during the late 18th century and early 19th century many believed the only explanation was that the world was on the verge of the Second Coming of Christ and millennial beliefs spread rapidly.

Traditionally, Christian belief stated that Christ’s coming would happen after the apocalypse followed by a thousand year reign but, popularized by Jonathan Edward’s in the 18th century, was a new belief that Christ’s coming would start the thousand year reign which would precede the apocalypse.

This became a very popular view among Americans who now lived in a society progressing towards the ideals of liberalism.

As such, many saw America as being the country where the age of perfection, the coming of Christ, would begin.

The Edwardsian view of millenialism (post-millenialism) went hand in hand with secular progress in the United States as it argued that perfection came incrementally as humanity progressed towards perfection.