Religion in Colonial America: A Short History

By Doug West

Do you want to learn about the development of religion in Colonial America but don’t have the time or patience for a thick book? Then this is the short, concise book for you!!

The book “Religion in Colonial America: A Short History” looks at the formation and spread of the different religions in colonial America. To illustrate the story there are pictures of the people, places, and events that are part of this historic movement. In addition, the book contains a list of reference books for further reading, a timeline of the development of religions in that period, and short biographical sketches of the key individuals in the book.

In the early seventeenth-century explorers, adventurers, and settlers came to America to build a new life.
-- Some came from Europe seeking religious freedom, such as the Puritans and Quakers.
-- Anglicans, or members of the Church of England, came primarily for economic reasons and settled mainly in the southern and middle colonies.
-- Englishman William Pen established Pennsylvania as a homeland for his fellow Quakers so they could worship without harassment.
-- A wave of religious revivalism swept the colonies in what has been called the First Great Awakening which led to the growth of the evangelical faiths, such as Baptists and Methodists.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Doug West
• Release date: Jan 12, 2021
• ISBN: 9781005175962

Doug West

Doug West is a retired engineer, small business owner, and an experienced non-fiction writer with several books to his credit. His writing interests are general, with expertise in science, history, biographies, numismatics, and “How to” topics. Doug has a B.S. in Physics from the Missouri School of Science and Technology and a Ph.D. in General Engineering from Oklahoma State University. He lives with his wife and little dog “Millie” near Kansas City, Missouri.

Book preview

Religion in Colonial America

A Short History

By Doug West, Ph.D.

C&D Publications

Religion in Colonial America

A Short History

By Doug West, Ph.D.

Smashwords Edition, License Notes

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Copyright © 2020 Doug West

All Rights Reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without written permission from the publisher. Reviewers may quote brief passages in reviews.

Table of Contents

Preface

Introduction

Chapter 1 - Catholics and Methodists in Maryland

Chapter 2 - Puritans and the Congregational Church

Chapter 3 - Quakers and Anglicans

Chapter 4 - New Netherland: A Melting Pot of Different Religions

Chapter 5 - The Great Awakening

Chapter 6 - The Baptists and Deists

Chapter 7 - Aftermath of the Great Awakening

Timeline of Religions in Colonial America

Biographical Sketches

References and Further Reading

Acknowledgements

About the Author

Additional Books by Doug West

Preface

Welcome to the book, Religion in Colonial America: A Short History. This book is volume 49 of the 30 Minute Book Series and, as the name of the series implies, if you are an average reader this book should take less than an hour to read. Since this short book is not meant to be an all-encompassing history of religion in the colonies of America, you may want to know more about the religious life in colonial America. To help you with this, there are several good references at the end of this book. I have also provided a Timeline, in order to link together the important religious events in the American colonies, and a section titled Biographical Sketches, which includes brief biographies of some of the key individuals in the book.

Thank you for purchasing this book. I hope you enjoy your time reading about this important aspect of the history of America’s colonial period.

Doug West

September 2020

Introduction

America’s relationship with Christianity goes back to virtually the first few steps of the explorer Christopher Columbus onto the New World. After a month and a half journey in three small ships across the Atlantic Ocean, or the Ocean Sea as they called it, he and his men set foot on a small island in the Bahamas. To that island, he gave the name San Salvador, or Holy Savior, thus making the religious renaming of the New World landscape one of the voyage’s first objectives. Columbus, a deeply religious man, interpreted his expedition as divine providence, writing: God made me the messenger of the new heaven and the new earth of which he spoke in Apocalypse of St. John, after having spoken of it through the mouth of Isaiah; and he showed me the spot where to find it. The discovery of the New World by Columbus ushered in a stream of countless brave souls who would soon follow.

While the French and Spanish were exploring parts of North and South America, the English began their intrusion into the New World in what is now Virginia and Massachusetts. The founders of the New England colonies believed that religious uniformity boosted moral and political harmony; for those who did not conform, or at least make an appearance of conformity, the penalties were steep, including fines, jail time, or whippings. The penalties varied from colony to colony. New England was the most homogeneous region in the colonies for its beliefs; towns enforced the Sabbath, which restricted activity to home and church, and violators were subject to fines or even arrest. One English visitor found the New England Sabbath adherence the strictest kept that ever I saw.

South of New England, the religious landscape was a patchwork of denominations, with the Quakers in Pennsylvania,