American Religious History

The religious history of the United States began with the first Pilgrim settlers who came on the Mayflower in the year 1620. Their Protestant faith motivated their movement as a community to the New World from Europe where they could practice in peace. The Spanish set up a famous network of Catholic missions in California, but they had all closed long before 1848 when California became part of the US. There were a few French Catholic churches and institutions in Louisiana, especially New Orleans.

Most of the settlers came from Protestant backgrounds in Britain and the Continent, with a small proportion of Catholics (chiefly in Maryland) and a few Jews in port cities. The English and the German Americans brought along multiple Protestant denominations. Several colonies had an "established" church, which meant that local tax money went to the established denomination. Freedom of religion became a basic American principle, and numerous new movements emerged, many of which became established denominations in their own right.

Historians debate how influential Christianity was in the era of the American Revolution. Many of the founding fathers were active in a local church; some of them, such as Jefferson, Franklin, and Washington had Deist sentiments. Experts, researchers and authors have referred to the United States as a "Protestant nation" or "founded on Protestant principles," specifically emphasizing its Calvinist heritage.

The First Great Awakening, the nation's first major religious revival in the middle of the 18th century injected new vigor into Christian faith. Religion in the period of the Second Great Awakening became increasingly involved in social reform movements, such as anti-slavery. Most of the denominations set up colleges to train new generations of leaders and nearly all were founded as Christian institutions. Later the Roman Catholics also set up colleges and a separate parochial school system to avoid the Protestant tone of the public schools.

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