Golden Age of Freethought

The Golden Age of Freethought describes the socio-political movement promoting freethought that developed in the mid 19th-century United States. The period roughly from 1875 to 1914 is referred to as "the high-water mark of freethought as an influential movement in American society". It began around 1856 and lasted at least through the end of the century; author Susan Jacoby places the end of the Golden Age at the start of World War I.

Freethought is a philosophical position that holds that ideas and opinions should be based on science and reason, and not restricted by authority, tradition, or religion. The Golden Age was encouraged by the lectures of the extremely popular agnostic orator Robert G. Ingersoll, the popularization of Charles Darwin’s Origin of Species, the push for women’s suffrage, and other political, scientific, and social trends that clashed with religious orthodoxy and caused people to question their traditional ideas about the world.

With this movement came a devoted group of “freethinkers”. A Freethinker is someone who does not believe in the driving force of religion or the strict word of the bible. They may be considered agnostic and do not believe in specific religious hierarchy. A freethinker of the late 19th century could have been someone from any of the varied religious and political backgrounds.

Charles Knowlton, D. M. Bennett, and Robert G. Ingersoll were influential freethinkers in the Golden Age of Freethought in the mid-late 19th century.

Robert Green Ingersoll (1833–1899) was one of the more prominent freethinkers of his time. He was known as the “Great Agnostic”. An agnostic person would be one who neither believes nor disbelieves in a religious deity. Ingersoll, a lawyer, an orator and a Civil War veteran, is famous for his skeptical approaches to popular religious beliefs. He would speak in public about orthodox views and would often poke fun. Guests would pay $1 to hear him speak. A dollar in his day was a hefty sum. Ingersoll was the leader of the American Secular Union, successor organization to the National Liberal League.

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