The American History up to 1877
Throughout the history, the American’s political issues have been in the center of the interest. However, religion has also been one of the major aspects shaping the nation’s livelihood. Many people and groups came to America expecting religion tolerance because the country was known for safeguarding freedom of worship. Apparently, the religious aspects play and still hold a significant role in the social-political life of the entire British colonies. Moreover, when the political revolution commenced, the religious groups were not left behind with the evangelical revivals being widely evidenced in the eighteenth century. Therefore, this study will discuss the core role of religion and the factors that promoted or limited its freedom from its origin to the period of 1877.
In each of the British colonies, religious groups played very significant roles. For the black Americans, religion acted as an arena where public critiques could take place against dehumanizing acts driven by individual institutions. Moreover, the religious platform was essential in offering a moral ground where colonies could oppose the British rule. As a result, each province actively engaged in the revolution, which was justified in God’s sight (Foner 588). Besides, most ministers acted as committee respondents, members of the Congress, and military chaplains in the quest for liberalized state. Another role played by the church was promoting public morality (Foner 600). Therefore, the democratic society and the entire government became strengthened by the participative role played by the church.
Nonetheless, religion did not adequately provide unity. Instead, each group believed in its practices and lived by particular unique values. Due to these differences, there was a need to foster rules and regulations that would protect every group from being persecuted by the other assemblies. As a result, amendments were made to ensure that freedom of religion was fully upheld (Foner 2). In essence, the religious liberty was propagated by several factors. In this aspect, the first element was the willingness of both political and religious leaders to establish a boundary between the church and the state. Another feature was that both state and religious leaders were in consensus that it was important to include religious idea and practices in the civic life of all American citizens (Foner 143).
However, the resolve to structure several factors limited a liberalized religious nation. First, America was marked by instances of Christian irregularities and lack of proper communication between the settlers. In addition, the gender inequality was prevalent with fewer women participating in religious activities (Foner 62). Another reason that limited the government from granting religious freedom was the widespread practice of witchcraft, alchemy, and astrology. In fact, the American state had very many religious groups with different perspectives. Due to these differences, unifying religious reforms became impossible for the entire colony (Foner 112). Indeed, the state was given the whole responsibility of changing the spiritual platform. However, the issue of religious reforms became overshadowed by more pressing matters that were weakening the government, including debts brought by wars, the need to strengthen Northern America empires, as well as the Indian resistances (Foner 70).
Since its origin, America has always faced the issue of religious controversies. Nonetheless, the church played a significant role in promoting public morality and ending racism. Nevertheless, religious freedom is considered as one of the building blocks of America today. It is worth noting that religious freedom was propagated by several factors, which include the need to establish a boundary between religion and the state. In addition, there was the need to integrate religious ideas with the civic society. However, acts of witchcraft, gender inequality, inadequate communication, the existence of different religious groups, and a weakened federal government limited the success of religious freedom.
