Summary NHL American Studies Lecture 8

American Studies
Religion in America

History

The colonial period
Christian Protestants

Dissenters
A dissenter is one who disagrees in matters of opinion, belief, etc.
 Disagreed with the established church
 Created new communities
 Escaped persecution

Pilgrim Fathers (1620)
The Pilgrims’ leadership came from the religious
congregations who had fled the volatile political
environment in England for the relative calm and
tolerance in The Netherlands.
 From England, lived in Holland for a while
 Their ship was called Mayflower
 120 people, inc. 35 Puritans



Puritans (1630)
A group of English Reformed Protestants.
 Massachusetts (state)
 They sought to purify the Church of England from its Catholic practices.

Puritan Work Ethic
 Critical of the church of England (and all other denominations)
 New Eden
 Manifest Destiny
 Not religiously tolerant
 Hard work = a means of pleasing God
 Prosperity given by God, a reward

American trait: ambition to succeed materially

Religious diversity and religious hostility
 Welsh and Dutch Calvinists
 Scottish Presbyterians
 Swedish and German Lutherans
 Baptists
 English Quakers
 Roman Catholics
 Jews