Early American history is replete with examples of people coming to this land for religious reasons. To be sure, it would not be accurate to assume that all the early settlers came for that reason. Many came for economic and other purposes, but a significant number sought refuge in a new land, away from oppression in Europe, to practice their religion in the way they deemed it should be practiced.
Perhaps the most widely known group to come to America for religious freedom was the Puritans. Every school boy and girl is familiar with the Puritans. The goal of the Puritans was to cleanse the Church of England of residues of Roman Catholicism, but there was no consensus among them how far reform should go. First, they left England and settled in Holland for a few years. From there, they sailed to Plymouth, Massachusetts, arriving in 1620. There, they quietly lived in a corner of Massachusetts in “sweet communion” with God.1 It has been estimated that as many as 20,000 Puritans poured out of England by 1642, the majority congregating in New England and others spreading as far south as the West Indies.2 The purpose of the Puritans was described by John Winthrop aboard a ship heading for Massachusetts in 1630 in the following words: “We shall be as a city upon a hill. We are commanded this day to love the Lord our God and to love one another to walk in His ways and to keep his Commandments and his Ordinance and his laws . . . that we may live and be multiplied, and that the Lord our God may bless us in the land whether we go to possess it.”3
Once in control in New England, the Puritans relentlessly suppressed any dissent. It is ironic that once here the Puritans denied their neighbors the very religious freedom that brought them to the shores of North America. The most famous dissenter, Roger Williams, was driven out of Massachusetts when he would not retract controversial opinions that he held. Williams founded Rhode Island as a “shelter for persons distressed for conscience.” The new colony protected even those whom Williams regarded as dangerously misguided, for nothing could change his view that “forced worship stinks in God's nostrils.”
Not all who flocked to this new land were Christians. In 1658, Jews, who were objects of perennial persecution, came to Rhode Island to enjoy religious liberty. They were preceded four years earlier by a group of twenty-three brethren who landed in New Amsterdam fleeing persecution in Brazil. For some decades, Jews had flourished in Dutch-held areas of Brazil, but a Portugese conquest of the area in 1654 left them unwelcome in that country. A shipload of Jewish refugees from Dutch Brazil landed in New Amsterdam in the fall of 1654, and they threw themselves on the mercy of the community, which helped them survive the winter. Despite opposition from the Dutch governor, Peter Stuyvesent, they began to hold regular religious services the following year.4
Further down the Atlantic Coast, Pennsylvania was settled by Quakers, or the Religious Society of Friends as they prefer to be called. Under the leadership of William Penn, the charter of Penn's government gave religious freedom. He promoted a public relations campaign that flooded the European continent with books and pamphlets in Dutch, German, and French. His initial targets were sects sharing Quaker principles, who had long been persecuted in Europe. Penn assured this audience that Pennsylvania offered “liberty to all peoples to worship God according to their faith and persuasion.” However, never one to underestimate the power of economic incentives, Penn also touted his colony as a place to make a good living. He was comfortable in mixing piety and the profit motive, believing that “while we sow spiritual seed, we shall reap carnal things in abundance.”
Catholics flocked to the colony of Maryland. To a much lesser extent, religion played a part even in the establishment of the colony of Virginia. Virginia was settled for the most part, not by the religious visionaries who were in command in the northern colonies, but by businessmen operating through a joint stock company, the Virginia Company of London, who wanted to get rich. The colony looked very different from its American neighbors. Unlike New England and Pennsylvania, which were settled by families, Virginia was populated by single young men down on their luck. One Virginian, William Byrd II, writing about his countrymen early in the eighteenth century wrote, “Like true Englishmen they build a church that cost no more than 50 pounds and a tavern that cost 500.” However, the businessmen of the Virginia Company kept their colony well supplied with ministers. One of these was Alexander Whitaker, who established a ministry to the Indians—fulfilling a goal written into the colony’s first charter by James I. His most famous convert among the Indians was Pocahontas.5
Religion played a major role in the American Revolution by offering a moral sanction for opposition to the British—an assurance to the average American that opposition to the mother country was justified in the sight of God. Ministers of the gospel served the American cause in many capacities during the Revolutionary War: as military chaplains, as penmen for committees of correspondence, and as members of state legislatures, constitutional conventions, and the National Congress. Some even took up arms, leading continental troops in battle.
The Revolutionary War split some denominations, notably the Church of England, whose ministers were bound by oath to support the King, and the Quakers, who were traditionally pacifists. Prior to 1789, when the Constitution of the United States was adopted, America was governed by the Continental Congress, which operated under a charter called the Articles of Confederation. These articles did not officially authorize Congress to concern itself with religion, but there was no objection from the public about religious activities. It appears that both legislators and the public alike considered it appropriate for the national government to promote a kind of nondenominational Christianity. For example, Congress appointed chaplains for itself and the armed forces, sponsored the publication of a Bible, imposed Christian morality on the armed forces, and granted public lands to promote Christianity among the Indians. National days of thanksgiving or of “public humiliation, fasting and prayer” were proclaimed by Congress more than a dozen times during the Revolutionary War.6
The Continental Congress was guided by “covenant theology,” a Reformation doctrine, especially dear to New England Puritans, which held that God bound Himself in an agreement with the nation and its people. This agreement stipulated that “a people should be prosperous or afflicted, according as their general Obedience or Disobedience thereto appears.” Wars and revolutions were accordingly considered afflictions as divine punishments for sin from which a nation could rescue itself by repentance and reformation.
Many states joined with the Continental Congress in its Thanksgiving and Fast Day proclamations. The Massachusetts Constitution of 1780 declared that “the happiness of a people, and the good order and preservation of civil government, essentially depend on morality, religion, and piety.” In Massachusetts, Connecticut, and New Hampshire, religious taxes were laid on all citizens, each of whom was given the option of designating his share to the church of his choice.7
When the Articles of Confederation proved to be inadequate, the Constitution of the United States was drafted and adopted in the summer of 1787. At the Constitutional Convention, the sessions were not opened or closed with prayer, apparently for the reason that the convention had no funds to engage the services of a chaplain. However, at one point in the convention, when the delegates seemed to be making little progress and were strongly divided over what this new government should look like, one of the delegates from Pennsylvania, Benjamin Franklin, made some remarks which have become perhaps the most famous made in that convention. After noting the deadlock and the searching for correct answers, Franklin said: “In this situation of this Assembly, groping as it were in the dark to find political truth, and scarce able to distinguish it when presented to us, how has it happened, Sir, that we have not hitherto once thought of humbly applying to the Father of Lights to illuminate our understandings?”8 Franklin here reminded the convention how at the beginning of the Revolutionary War the Continental Congress had prayers for divine protection:
Our prayers, sir, were heard, and they were graciously answered. All of us who are engaged in the struggle must have observed the frequent instances of a Superintending providence in our favor. To that kind providence we owe this happy opportunity of consulting in peace on the means of establishing our future national felicity. And have we now forgotten that powerful friend or do we imagine that we no longer need his assistance? I have lived, Sir, a long time, and the longer I live, the more convincing proofs I see of this truth—that God governs in the affairs of men.9
Franklin continued:
If a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without his notice, is it probable that an empire could arise without his aid? We have been assured, Sir, in the sacred writings that “except the Lord build the House they labour in vain that build it.” I firmly believe this; and I also believe that without his concurring aid we shall succeed in this political building no better than the Builders of Babel.10
No mention was made of religion in the original Constitution except in Article VI, which states that “no religious tests shall ever be required as a qualification” for federal office holders.11 Because of the reluctance of some states, particularly Virginia, to adopt the Constitution without a bill of rights, the first ten amendments to the Constitution were promulgated by the first Congress meeting under the new constitution. In the very first amendment, two important guarantees of religion were provided. First, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion” and, secondly, Congress shall not prohibit “the free exercise thereof.”12 With those constitutional guarantees, which we refer to generally as freedom of religion, the people of America have for the most part been a religious people and have been supportive of the church of their choice. Although many of the old established religions practiced in Europe were brought to America, new religions which are purely American sprang up here. Churches today are found in every city, town, and hamlet. Billions of dollars are voluntarily contributed annually for their building and maintenance.
Many of this nation’s leaders after the colonial period have referred to the influence of religion in their lives and in their administration. Abraham Lincoln, upon leaving his home in Springfield, Illinois, in February 1861 to travel to Washington to become the president, expressed his reliance upon God to guide him in his administration. South Carolina and other Southern states had seceded from the Union, and the nation was in crisis. Lincoln said, upon leaving Springfield:
I now leave, not knowing when, or whether ever, I may return with a task before me greater than that which rested upon Washington. Without the assistance of that Divine Being who ever attended him, I cannot succeed. With that assistance, I cannot fail. Trusting in Him who can go with me and remain with you and be everywhere for good, let us confidently hope that all will yet be well. To His care commending you, as I hope in your prayers you will commend me, I bid you an affectionate farewell.13
There can be no doubt that religion has contributed significantly in the building of America and does so even today. I hope that these introductory comments will set the stage for many visitors, listeners, and future readers who find themselves drawn into this exhibition and lecture series on the role of religion in the founding of the American Republic.
