BACKGROUND INFORMATION:

         Religion has been an important part of American life, even since before America was a country.  All students should be familiar with the Pilgrims who landed in Plymouth Rock and gave way to our modern Thanksgiving celebration.  These pilgrims, who were viewed as "Puritans," came to the colonies of America to get away from what they felt was a corrupted Church of England.  The term "Puritan" comes from the idea that they wanted to 'purify' the Church.  They came to escape persecution in England and help lay important foundations for the political and social structures that we live within today. 

The very strict, religious ways of life that the first generation of Puritans sought did not solidify the religious fervor of all those in the colonies.  Many people had also come to the colonies to make money, to work, and to start a new life.  These people, and the children and children's children of the original Puritans, had lost some of the passion and dedication to strict religious faith that others had.  About this time, a period known as the Great Awakening took place.         This was a time when two major things were taking place.  First, people were brought back to faith and God.  Men such as George Whitfield and Jonathon Edwards were master preachers during this time.  They converted people to Christianity who were not already believers.  Also, those who knew of the faith or had followed the faith were re-awakened to the 'word of God.'  Secondly, there had been a lot of division amongst different groups of Christians.  They had divided up into different denominations (or group) and each had slightly different rules and explanations of their faith.  Men like Whitfield and Edwards helped close the divide amongst the different types of Christians.  In a sermon, Whitfield once said,      "Father Abraham, whom have you in heaven? Any Episcopalians? No! Any Presbyterians? No! Any Independents or Methodists? No, No No! Whom have you there? We don't know those names here. All who are here are Christians...Oh, is this the case? Then God help us to forget your party names and to become Christians in deed and truth."             Whitfield and Edwards traveled, along with other "evangelical" preachers, up and down the East Coast of the colonies.  Sometimes up to 20,000 people would gather to see Whitfield speak.  Edwards was known for using his analogies to pull people into his sermons and make people understand them.  This Great Awakening helped revitalize religion for those people living in the Americas.

An artistic drawing of George Whitfield giving a sermon in front of hundreds.

            The Great Awakening was one of several different "revivals" that came about in America's history.  There was the Second Great Awakening, and Civil War Revivals that you will read about below in greater detail.  There were other important events that have had an effect on religion in America.  Religion was so important to the founding our our nation that the Founding Fathers specifically mentioned it in the Constitution.  As mentioned in Section 2 of this Learning Period, "The First Amendment specifically states that the government shall not establish, or make, any one religion as the religion of the nation.  This is known as the "Establishment Clause."  Also regarding religion, the First Amendment has the "Free Exercise Clause."  This guarantees that all Americans are free to believe in, or not believe in and worship which ever religion they want."

            Even with these protections about practicing religion, and with the government not making any "official" religion for the country, the case of religion has not always been happy and peaceful.  Despite America being founded by people seeking escape from religious persecution, ironically there has been a great deal of discrimination and persecution of people of certain faiths in America.  Much of it stemmed from a rise in immigration during the 19th Century (the 1800s).  Large numbers of immigrants, predominantly Irish and German, came to America to seek a better life.  The majority of these immigrants were Roman Catholic coming into a mainly Protestant country.  It was not just religion that made people in America dislike these newcomers.  They were also fighting for work with people who considered themselves "American" and had been here for a generation or more.  In the cities especially, Irish immigrants would come in and be willing to work for less money than Americans in factories and mines.  This, coupled with their Roman Catholic religious beliefs, often led to violence and discrimination for Irish immigrants.  In the readings below you will read about the experiences of Mormons, Roman Catholics, and Jewish Americans.