Establishment and Diversity
Religion in America
Church of England
u Beginnings
in Virginia
u Hierarchy
and order; elite control vestry
u Poor
quality of clergy, under Bishop of London
u Society
for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts (SPG): From converting
Indians to sustaining Anglicanism
u By
1750 strong, well-established across the South
African American Religion
u African
religions fail to survive in America
u Little
interest in converting slaves
u Can Christians be
enslaved?
u The literacy issue
u Anglicanism does
not appeal to most slaves
Unintended Diversity
u New
Amsterdam: Dutch Reformed Church, 1624
u Jews
to New Amsterdam, 1654
u Sephardic
Jews from Spain via Brazil
u Newport,
R.I., 1677
u Maryland,
1635
u Refuge
for Catholics
u Religious
freedom, 1649-1691
u Huguenots,
1685
u South
Carolina, New York
Model of Toleration
u William
Penn establishes Pennsylvania, 1681
u Refuge for Quakers
u No established
church,
no persecution
Pennsylvania Diversity
u Scotch-Irish
Presbyterians along the frontier
u German
Pietist sects immigrate
u The
Moravian brethren
u Personal
relationship with God
u Strict discipline
of moral piety
u Vigorous
evangelizing about need for conversion
u But
Pennsylvania was a disappointment to Quakers
Baptists
u From
out of Separatism
u Early
appearance in Rhode Island: Roger Williams
u The
Great Awakening: spectacular growth
u Emphasis
on conversion & evangelism
u Farmer-preachers,
not educated; no “hireling preachers”
u Discipline:
focus on individual sins (dancing, drinking, etc.)
u Constant
battles with Congregational authorities
u Found
Brown University in Rhode Island, 1764
u Expansion
into the South, 1750s
u Growth
despite violence and persecution in Virginia