Review Sheet: Religious Movements, Religious v. Secular Debate
New World Exploration- 1500s

Exploration was in part, religiously motivated. Spanish and French missionaries came to the
New World to convert and assimilate Native Americans.
Colonial Religious Groups- 1600s

Pilgrims : Religious separationists from the Church of England. The Mayflower Compact ensured religious and political autonomy and religious freedom .

Puritans : Led by John Winthrop. In MA Bay Colony, church and state were synonymous .
Dissenters to Puritan doctrines (Anne Hutchinson or Roger Williams) were exiled. In Salem, those accused of witchcraft were hung.

Quakers: Led by William Penn. They believed in separation of church and state , granting women greater rights, communal self-discipline, abolitionism and pacifism.

Many immigrants retained their culture through their choice and practice of religion.
First Great Awakening-1720-1765: Splintered religious denominations

Pietism: An evangelical Christian movement brought by German immigrants that stressed the individual’s personal relationship with God.

Deism: The belief, not established religion, that a Supreme Being created the world, then allowed it to operate by natural laws. Most notable deist- Ben Franklin.

Calvinism: Jonathan Edwards revived the Calvinist belief that men and women were helpless, completely dependent on God.

New Lights v.
Old Lights: George Whitefield attracted many followers who called themselves New Lights.
o In the North, New Lights undermined the power of established churches and ministers by forming “separationist” churches and emphasizing the importance conversion experience
(common man) over theological knowledge (ministers). Also, they established colleges in
New England. o In the South, the New Light’s attracted many slaves and empowered yeomen, which threatened the status of the gentry.
AND: 1817- Bishop Richard Allen founded the African Methodist Episcopal Church
Second Great Awakening- 1790-1820: Fostered cooperation among denominations

1786- Jefferson enacted Bill for Establishing Religious Freedom in VA- made all churches equal under the law, and didn’t grant financial support to any. Many states followed suit.

Many Americans believed religion brought morality to government.

Evangelicals and Baptists gained popularity because they emphasized republicanism and the active participation of the common man in church in contrast to the hierarchy of church.

Evangelicals attracted many slaves who believed God would liberate them from slavery.

Charles Grandison Finney : common man who converted and became minster, gained support because he preached that God would accept any repentant sinner.

The Benevolent Empire: Led by Lyman Beecher and other ministers, to improve society
(institutional reform, restore importance of the Sabbath, temperance)

o Women took an active part in interdenominational societies. Consequences: they became a majority of members in the New England Congregational churches, increased abstinence, advances in female education, women became school teachers
Radical Religious Groups- Late 1700 to Mid 1800s

Oneidians, Shakers or Fourierists were significant because of their radical questioning of sexual/social norms (sexual equality) and capitalist principles.

Mormons : established by Joseph Smith and later led by Brigham Young, migrated to Utah, where they gained many followers and continued to practice Mormonism.