Tuesday, December 15, 2020

 

George Washington as President

Foreign Affairs & Domestic Concerns During the First Presidency

Jan 4, 2009 Michael Streich

George Washington assumed the presidency as Europe began a long period of strife begun by the 1789 French Revolution, events balanced by crucial domestic problems.

George Washington was inaugurated in April, 1789, as the first American President. Significantly, 1789 was also the start of the French Revolution. During Washington’s presidency, France would go through various phases of revolution, culminating in the infamous Reign of Terror in 1793. Confronted with significant domestic problems, President Washington wisely chose a policy of neutrality. The United States would not enter an entangling alliance but would put its own house in order.


Europe and the United States under Washington


The French Revolution unleashed a series of events leading to continental war. President Washington, however, followed a path of neutrality, insisting that the European powers honor and respect American commercial enterprises. France remained outraged that the United States refused to honor treaty commitments that went back to the Revolutionary War.


Great Britain also refused to treat the United States as neutral, boarding American vessels, seizing contraband cargoes, and impressing American seamen into British service. Although Jay’s Treaty as ratified in 1795 allowed small American ships to trade in the West Indies, the region was still closed to unlimited trade as it had been since 1783. Ultimately, Jay’s Treaty did very little to alleviate American complaints regarding British impediments in terms of neutral rights.


Pinckney’s Treaty, also in 1795, was a far more beneficial agreement. Forged with Spain, the treaty guaranteed the use of New Orleans as a port of deposit without tariff duties and gave Americans unhindered use of the Mississippi River. By clearly delineating a southern boundary in line with the northern border of Florida, American settlers could freely migrate to areas west of Georgia.



Pinckney’s Treaty is viewed by many historians as the greatest achievement of the Washington administration, eliminating a potential threat from Spain and encouraging an already steady westward movement. Ironically, Spain gave so much to the Americans because of the fear that Jay’s Treaty was somehow linked to an American-British alliance. British troops were already vacating some forts in the Ohio River Valley region, giving impetus to such fears.


Domestic Concerns under George Washington


As the new government sought to define itself in terms of national power, political factions coalesced around different views of how to interpret the Constitution. This would lead to bitter debates over such issues as the creation of a National Bank. Alexander Hamilton, leading the faction that saw a need for such a bank, reasoned the legitimacy of the bank on the basis of Constitutional implied powers. Those who opposed this view were led by Thomas Jefferson who believed in a “strict construction” of the Constitution.


These factions, despite Washington’s warning in his Farewell Address, would comprise the beginning of the two party system in American politics. Hamilton’s financial plan for the nation, designed to, in part, eliminate the debt load of the nation as well as those of individual states, would lead to the 1794 Whiskey Rebellion in Pennsylvania. The effect of an excise tax on distilled whiskey, the rebellion would be crushed and its leaders sentenced to death. (Washington later commuted the sentences)


By the time Washington returned to Mount Vernon in 1797, political factions could not be reconciled. Events in Europe had turned worse as France attempted to cut off trade with Britain by seizing American ships, resulting in the Quasi-War. Washington’s wisdom and leadership had kept the United States out of European struggles and overcame internal obstacles. His precedent left a lasting legacy on the Executive Branch.


Sources:


Samuel Flagg Bemis, Pinckney’s Treaty: America’s Advantage From Europe’s Distress, 1783-1800 (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1960)

Page Smith, The Shaping of America: A People’s History of the Young Republic Vol. 3 (New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company, 1980)


The copyright of the article George Washington as President in American History is owned by Michael Streich. Permission to republish George Washington as President in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
George Washington, Library of Congress George Washington
  

 Pontiac's Rebellion: First Major Attempt by Native Americans to Stop the Growing Incursion of Europeans.

Michael Streich

January 29, 2010

Pontiac’s War came out of French defeat during the Seven Years’ War or French and Indian War as it came to be called in America. Often referred to as an “uprising” or “rebellion,” the war was led by the Ottawa war chief Pontiac, a proud and vindictive leader whom historian Dale Van Every called the “Indian Hannibal.” Pontiac’s War claimed the lives of thousands of frontier settlers, prompting, in part, the Parliamentary “Proclamation Line” in 1763. Although Indian grievances were never fully addressed, the war demonstrated the vulnerability of the frontier and the colonists’ unwillingness to protect themselves.

 

Causes of Pontiac’s War

 

The defeat and withdrawal of the French presented a serious threat to the western Indians living around the Great Lakes and in the adjacent Northeast. French traders had supplied Indians with ammunition and gunpowder as well as clothing, blankets, and cooking utensils. Lt. General, Sir Jeffrey Amherst, British commander in America, curtailed the sale of power and guns making it difficult for Indians to hunt and trap. Amherst hated Indians, referring to them as “savages” and “disgusting creatures.”

 

Even after French capitulation at Quebec, French Governor Pierre de Vaudreuil sent secret communiqués to commanders of distant forts like Detroit to encourage Indian resistance and spread rumors that the French would shortly be returning. Pontiac had been close to the Marquis de Montcalm and took his death at Montreal personally. Finally, greater numbers of English settlers were moving west, taking traditional Indian lands. The overall population of the English in North America outnumbered the various Indian nations ten to one.

 

The War Begins

 

The British were ill-prepared for the Indian war. With the exception of Niagara, Fort Pitt (Pittsburg), and Detroit, frontier outposts were crude, poorly constructed, and weakly garrisoned. Pontiac had no difficulty destroying many of these forts and massacring the inhabitants. Both Fort Pitt and Detroit, commanded by the French-speaking Captain Campbell of the 60th Regiment, Royal Americans, held out against overwhelming odds, eventually being resupplied by sea from Niagara.

 

Although the war continued into early 1674, Parliament – already in debt from the Seven Years’ War, was reluctant to fund armies. Sir Jeffrey Amherst had to rely on hastily recruited colonial militias, men he disdained as much as he loathed Indians. This would not change until he was recalled and replaced by Major General Thomas Gage, who took a more proactive stance in seeking a peaceful solution.

 

Additionally, the efforts of Indian Agent Sir William Johnson and his first deputy George Croghan cannot be ignored. Johnson, an adopted member of the Iroquois, played a key role in dividing the Indians, turning the Five Nations against Pontiac. Croghan did the same with the Delaware and Shawnee after painstaking and lengthy conferences.

 

Pontiac Agrees to Peace

 

After a failed attempt by the Senecas to overrun Niagara and the resupply and strengthening of Detroit, Pontiac withdrew into the wildness, hoping to entice Indians of the Illinois Confederacy to join his cause. From Philadelphia, Henry Bouquet led a second relief column to Fort Pitt, complaining bitterly in his letters that the local population refused to participate in their own protection.

 

The success of officers like Brigadier Bouquet and Major Henry Gladwin, commanding Detroit in the last phase of the war, was due, in part, to their frontier experience. Gladwin had been with General Edward Braddock during the ill-fated march to take Fort Duquesne in 1755. In the spring of 1765 the war was finally over after Pontiac met with George Croghan and smoked the pipe of peace. The frontier was pacified, but only temporarily.

 

References:

 

Allan W. Eckert, The Conquerors (Little, Brown and Company, 1970)

Dale Van Every, Forth to the Wilderness: The First American Frontier 1754-1774 (New American Library, 1961)

Copyright Michael Streich; Reprints require written permission.

 

European Wars Impact and Involve the American Colonies

Colonial Wars Influenced Independence - kconnor/Morguefile photo
COLONIAL WARS INFLUENCED INDEPENDENCE - KCONNOR/MORGUEFILE PHOTO
Before the American Revolution, four European wars were fought in North America between France and Britain, influencing colonial relationships.

Between 1689 and 1763, four European wars involved conflict in North America. Because the great powers of Europe held colonies in the Americas, their European differences we frequently settled, in part, in the colonies. During the Seven Years’ War – or French and Indian War as it is known in America, for example, the future of French North American hegemony was decided in their American colonies. These wars changed colonial ownership and played a role in the development of an independence movement that, after 1763, would lead to the Revolutionary War.

King William’s War United Britain, Holland, and Spain against France

King William’s War, known in Europe as the War of the League of Augsburg, had European causes. Britain and Holland were united against France, in part, because the English monarch, King William III, had been the stadhalter – leader, of the Dutch before assuming the English throne with his wife Mary following the Glorious Revolution of 1688. Holland had been involved in a prolonged conflict with the French “sun king.”

Spain’s participation was in response to Louis XIV of France, who was seeking to extend French European interests and increase land holdings. In essence, the war was fought to maintain a fragile European balance of power. This particular war did not see much military action in colonial North America, excepting a 1690 British attack on French-owned Quebec.

Queen Anne’s War or the War of the Spanish Succession

As with King William’s war, this war, begun in 1702, had its roots in European diplomacy and politics. There were no major battles in North America. In this conflict, France and Spain were allied against Britain and Holland.

King George’s War begun Over the Austrian Succession

When Maria Theresa became the Austrian ruler, Austria’s neighbors attacked, believing her to be weak. Prussia’s Frederick the Great seized Silesia; France and Spain sought greater control of Europe at Austria’s expense. Austria was a polyglot kingdom comprised of several disparate states.

In North America, Britain, an Austrian ally, battled France and Spain. During the conflict, Britain captured Louisbourg, the French fortress guarding the St. Lawrence River approaches, effectively cutting communications between France and her Canadian colonies and curbing any reinforcement attempts.

The French and Indian War as a Worldwide Conflict

Known in Europe as the Seven Years’ War, unlike earlier conflicts, British goals included defeating French commercial interests in both North America and India. The European phase was fought primarily between Prussia and Hanover against Austria and Russia.

In North America, however, the British prevailed decisively after a dismal and costly start of the war. In 1759, British forces under Major General James Wolfe captured Quebec, effectively ending French control of Canada. The 1763 Peace of Paris ceded all of Canada and India to Britain.

Impact on American English Colonies

Colonial militia fought with British regulars in all of the wars but the French and Indian War involved the largest participation. Native Americans were also involved in all four of the wars. French departure was negatively interpreted by Native Americans that had been loyal French allies for many years, setting the stage for conflicts like Pontiac’s Rebellion in 1763.

Colonial soldiers, treated rudely by British officers and frequently looked down upon as ragamuffin provincials, developed an intense dislike for regular troops, a factor in colonial opposition to the posting of thousands of British troops in the colonies after the French and Indian War ended.

For their part, British officers were amazed at the living conditions of many urban merchants, artisans, and other professionals, a living standard unheard of in England apart from the landed gentry. In his book detailing the Navigation Acts, Professor Oliver Dickerson writes, “The wealth acquired by American merchants and planters was a real cause of jealousy on the part of residents in the mother country.”

Finally, there was the Indian question. The wars between Britain and France had opened new land for settlement. Former French frontier forts and outposts were now British. But westward expansion also meant conflict with resident Indian nations unwilling to give any more land to the ever growing army of settlers coming down the Ohio River or through Appalachian trails. Ultimately, the Native Americans would side with the British who supported their land claims and furnished them with weapons until the end of the War of 1812.

Sources:

Oliver M. Dickerson, The Navigation Acts and the American Revolution (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1951)

Francis Parkman, France and England in North America, Volumes I and II, (The Library of America, 1983)

Howard H. Peckham, The Colonial Wars 1689-1762 (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1964)

Holland, Tport

Michael Streich - Former Adjunct Instructor, History & Global Studies





 

Concentration Camps in Modern History

Internments From the Spanish War to the Japanese-Americans

The concentration camp has been used for over one hundred years by many nations at war including the British and Italians in Africa and the Germans during World War II.

Although the “concentration camp” is most always associated with Nazi Germany and the Holocaust of World War II, its uses began in the late 19th century, first by the Spanish in their attempt to bring to an end the Cuban insurgency that had begun in 1895, and then by the British in South Africa during the Boer War. The Italians employed concentration camps in Libya in the 1920s as part of General Graziani’s “pacification” program and in 1942 the United States put 112,000 persons of Japanese descent, most of whom were U.S. citizens, into camps.

Early Use of Concentration Camps

Concentration camps, derived perhaps from the Spanish term reconcentrado, refer to militarily supervised installations usually located in remote areas designed to contain or house thousands of civilians, usually anyone considered a threat to the regime. In the case of Spain and Britain, the concentration of civilians into camps was also accomplished to deprive the enemy in the field fighting a guerrilla war of local support. In some ways, the “Hamlet” strategy employed by the U.S. in Vietnam had the same goals in mind. Although not “concentration camps,” the strategic hamlets uprooted peasants and created indigenous antipathy.

The Spanish reconcentrados placed nearly all of Cuba’s native population into camps, causing U.S. President William McKinley to remark that this “was not civilized warfare…but extermination.” It can be argued that Senator Redfield Proctor’s March 17th, 1898 report to the U.S. Senate on the reconcentrados, personally witnessed during a fact-finding visit, was as much a cause for a war declaration as the sinking of the USS Maine.

One year later, Lord Kitchener, commanding the British forces in South Africa during the Boer War, ordered all Boer women and children placed in camps. According to Thomas Pakenham, “Between twenty thousand and twenty-eight thousand Boer civilians died of epidemics in these ‘concentration camps.’” Following substantial criticism and Parliamentary inquiry, the policy was reversed. Militarily, the policy was never successful as it only emboldened the Boer fighters. The same can be said of the Italian camps in Libya.

World War II Concentration Camps

The Nazis built their first concentration camp in 1933 near Munich to house political prisoners. The Dachau camp would serve as a model for future camps and many camp commanders received their initial training there. By the end of the war, the German camp system stretched throughout Europe and included a variety of camp types, from work camps and transport camps to the death camps like Auschwitz and Sobibor. What made the German camps so different was the variety of purpose: each type of camp was part of an integral and highly efficient master plan. The camp system was utilitarian in that it served as a direct contribution to the war effort (labor camps, for examples). Yet the camps also fulfilled Nazi ideological aspirations tied to the 1942 Wannsee Conference and the “Final Solution.”

In the United States, President Franklin Roosevent, by executive order (No. 9066), isolated all persons of Japanese descent living on the west coast and placed them into internment camps in the interior regions. Contemporary American History texts often refer to these as “concentration camps.” Despite two attempts through the Supreme Court to force a Constitutional appraisal (Hirabayashi v. U.S. 1943 and Korematsu vs. U.S. 1944), the camps remained until the war ended. The United States government apologized in the 1980s and granted cash reparations to those still alive at that time.

Historically, the use of concentration camps has done more to indict those nations responsible than to achieve any permanent military or political victory. Even in the twenty-first century, nations may be tempted to employ such means as a form of control yet, as history demonstrates, camps are always counter-productive. The current dilemma regarding the disposition of the Guantanamo detainees in Cuba is a microcosm of this problem. The United States continues to reap international condemnation for the existence of this camp, although the inmates are hardly innocent civilians and may be connected to terrorist organizations.

Sources:

G. J. A. O’Toole, The Spanish War: An American Epic 1898 (W.W. Norton & Company, 1984).

Thomas Pakenham, The Boer War (Random House, 1979).

James Ford Rhodes, The McKinley and Roosevelt Administrations 1897-1909 (The Macmillan Company, 1922).

Greg Robinson, By Order of the President: FDR and the Internment of Japanese Americans (Harvard University Press, 2001).




 

Using Titanic to Teach Late Victorianism

Creative Projects for History and Language Arts Teachers

Mar 30, 2010 Michael Streich

New York Herald on the Titanic Loss - Public Domain Image
New York Herald on the Titanic Loss - Public Domain Image
The sinking of the Titanic is often portrayed as an illustration of class consciousness during the late Victorian period. Creative projects can detail these conflicts.

In the 1979 television movie S.O.S. Titanic, second class passenger Lawrence Beesley (an actual 1912 passenger) comments that the ship was a microcosm of the British social class. The subject of several movies as well as countless articles and books, the story of RMS Titanic can be used in History and Language Arts classes to develop interesting and creative projects that illustrate late Victorianism.


A Night to Remember


In the early 1960’s, Walter Lord’s book A Night to Remember [NY: Henry Holt and Company, 1955] was part of the reading curriculum of many high schools during the freshman year and was even condensed in some English texts. Long since replaced by other, more contemporary titles, Lord’s account is still riveting and highly readable.

A traditional project assignment has students reading Lord’s book and comparing his writings to the accuracy of any number of Hollywood films. The 1958 film based on Lord’s book featuring Kenneth Moore as Second Officer Lightoller is faithful to the facts – with minor exception to accuracy, but subsequent films are not.

Non-Conventional Projects


Titanic research allows for a wide spectrum of social history discoveries. The Vermont Country Store, for examples, sells Vinolia soap with an advertisement that the “luxurious” soap “sailed first class on the Titanic.” In the film A Night to Remember, one of the first scenes has a railroad passenger commenting on Titanic amenities in First Class and points to a Vinolia advertisement. Projects geared toward the living conditions in First Class suites can be fun and educational.


In 1997 I Salonisti produced a CD titled And the Band Played On: Music Played on the Titanic. Projects linking popular music of the time with Titanic bridge history with the Arts. RMS Titanic: “Dinner is Served” by Yvonne Hume [Stenlake Publishing, 2010 – expected availability date April 14] is a cornucopia of menus gathered by the great niece of the ship’s first violinist. Last Dinner on the Titanic by Rick Archbold and Dana McCauley [Hyperion, 1997] also lists menus and comments extensively on ship-board meals. Students love to bring food into classrooms; here is an opportunity to use food as an enhancement of a lesson plan.


Other Areas of Focus


After the loss of RMS Titanic, inquiries were held in London and by the U.S. Congress. Some topics of interest that relate to other disciplines might include:

  • Addressing the lack of life boats and adequate safety in emergencies (Spectator, April 20, 1912, “The Lessons of the Titanic” was one of the first media outlets to address this)
  • Plight of surviving White Star Line survivors: the Whit Star Line stopped all employee salaries at the moment the ship sank
  • Future life boat policies
  • 24-Hour Marconi operations
  • Better iceberg detection and communication of threats

Avant Garde but Creative Projects


Clive Cussler’s 1976 novel Raise the Titanic [Viking Press, 1976] was a bestseller later turned into the disappointing 1980 film of the same name. Both efforts did not benefit from the later discovery of the ship on the bottom of the Atlantic. Irwin Allen’s 1966 TV series “The Time Tunnel” begins with the Titanic sinking as two mid 20th Century scientists are transported back in time and attempt to warn the captain, played by Michael Rennie.

Students with an interest in fringe topics can “get in on the action” by developing project topics that focus on time travel (like the “Time Bandits” in the 1981 film that also found themselves on RMS Titanic) or other related themes.

Illustrating Victorianism through Titanic Projects

Projects incorporating music, food, period dress, and replica artifacts all contribute to linking the disaster with a better understanding of Victorianism. One successful teacher simulated the U.S. Congressional Inquiry, assigning students roles as witnesses that included members of the crew, stewardesses like Violet Jessup (see Titanic Survivor: Memoirs of Violet Jessup, Sheridan House, 1997), and passengers (see Molly Brown: Unraveling the Myth, by Kristen Iversen, Johnson Books, 1999).


Using the Titanic as a visual backdrop, especially in April, the anniversary of the sinking, will enhance a broad, inter-disciplinary study of late Victorianism while linking key themes to transitional changes moving societies into the twentieth century.

Copyright Michael Streich. Contact the author to obtain permission for republication.



 

Pilgrimage to Canterbury and the Death of Thomas Becket

Feb 21, 2011 Michael Streich

People Still Visit Sacred Sites of the Middle Ages - Mike Streich Photo Image
People Still Visit Sacred Sites of the Middle Ages - Mike Streich Photo Image
The cult of Thomas Becket spread throughout Europe after his murder at Canterbury and the many miracles attributed to the English saint.

By the time the Parson was finishing his tale, Chaucer’s pilgrims had arrived at Canterbury, a very different group from those pilgrims that journeyed to England’s most famous pilgrimage site after the 1170 murder of Thomas Becket. Becket was canonized three years after his death yet even before being proclaimed a saint, word of his miracles spread throughout Europe. He was the great saint of the late 12th Century and would endure into the next. Once the king’s chancellor, Becket came to represent everything significant about the pilgrimage, miracles, and relics.

Religious Pilgrimages Provided Grace to the Faithful

Thomas Becket was murdered by knights of King Henry II. After being appointed archbishop, the highest Church office in the land, Becket experienced a spiritual conversion that led him to challenge Henry’s increasing power over the English Church. The final break resulted in Becket’s murder at Canterbury Cathedral.


As word of Becket’s murder spread, so did his miracles. The monks at Canterbury kept a cistern filled with water that was diluted with the slain archbishop’s blood. Pilgrims drank the sacred water and there were reports of blind persons having sight restored after the water was smeared across their eyelids.


Canterbury became the fourth most popular pilgrimage destination in Christendom after Jerusalem, Rome, and Santiago da Compostella. It was also the wealthiest. The cult of Becket may have been the last major devotion in the Middle Ages. After Becket’s canonization, the process leading to sainthood was greatly extended and so-called hearsay evidence of miracles was frequently excluded.

The Legacy of Thomas Becket

Chaucer’s pilgrims traveled to Canterbury at the end of the 14Th Century. It was a time of religious schism and heretics. Early Church reformers not only challenged Becket, but cast doubt on his miracles and the efficacy of his relics. For secular leaders, Becket was also an enemy, a powerful yet humble Church apologist who sought to maintain the power and control of the Church over the state.


Becket’s most vocal disagreements concerned the Constitutions of Clarendon, established by the king to weaken the power of the Church. The final point was most important: degrading a member of the clergy accused of an ecclesiastical offense and then turning over the churchman to secular authorities for punishment. This action was the root cause of the legal term “double jeopardy.”

Becket’s Power After his Murder and Canonization

Becket was said to appear to those who called upon him in prayer. In one case, he healed a falcon, connecting him to God’s creation in a similar way St. Francis was connected through his ministry to animals. In a case involving hearsay evidence, Becket brought back to life a dead child.


Medieval saints deemed extraordinary achieved great notoriety in death. Often, they emerged as champions of the downtrodden peasants. Saints like Becket rivaled popes and kings even in death. Much of this ended under King Henry VIII and the destruction of Becket’s elaborate tomb at Canterbury.

Sources:

  • Rosalind and Christopher Brooke, Popular Religion in the Middle Ages: Western Europe 1000-1300 (Thames and Hudson, 1984)
  • G.G. Coulton, Chaucer and His England (Methuen & Co LTD, 1970)
  • Jonathan Sumption, Pilgrimage: An Image of Mediaeval Religion (Rowman and Littlefield, 1975)
  • Brian Tierney and Sidney Painter, Western Europe in the Middle Ages 300-1475, Fifth Edition (McGraw-Hill Inc., 1992)

Copyright Michael Streich. Contact the author to obtain permission for republication



 

Religious Diversity in Colonial America

Protestants and Catholics Establish Roots in the Thirteen Colonies

Dec 26, 2008 Michael Streich

Moravian Gemeinhaus at Bethabara, NC - Mike Streich
Moravian Gemeinhaus at Bethabara, NC - Mike Streich
Early colonial history documents the diversity of faith traditions seeking to establish safe havens in which to practice their beliefs free from persecution.

From the earliest days of English colonization in the 17th Century, America was a land of many religious faith traditions. Out of this rich diversity, American notions of religious tolerance as well as the strong desire to separate church and state would emerge. At the same time, however, some early American faith traditions initially followed exclusionary policies that rejected ideals of religious equality, notably among New England Calvinists.

Religious Diversity in the American Colonies

Massachusetts was settled by Puritans and Separatist Pilgrims. Following John Calvin’s theological system, Puritans adhered to the “Covenant of Grace” and enforced a strict theocracy that rejected frivolous activities, Sunday recreation, and even holidays like Christmas. Puritans were to be a “visible kingdom” on earth, according to their governor, John Winthrop. Detractors were banished from the community or left of their own accord.

In the Chesapeake Bay colony of Virginia, the official religion was the Church of England. Sunday attendance was mandatory by everyone in the colony, whether they subscribed to Anglicanism or not. Here also the church held civil powers and received support from the state. Catholics could not act as judges in Virginia courts nor hold political offices. After the Revolution, the Church of England became the Episcopal Church, shedding its identity with British influences.

New Amsterdam was the chief colonial commercial center of the Netherlands until the Anglo-Dutch wars of the mid to late 17th century ceded it to Britain. Under the first Governor, Peter Stuyvesant, all Protestant faith traditions were welcome. A boatload of Jews seeking refuge, however, was turned away by the governor, his reasons couched in commercial considerations.


Pennsylvania was the land of Quakers. Founded by William Penn, the colony grew out of the city of “brotherly love,” Philadelphia. Protestants of all stripes, particularly those of Pietistic background, found a welcome in Penn’s Woods. This included the “sectarian” Pietists such as Mennonites, the Amish, Moravians, and Dunkers or Brethren. So-called “Churchly Pietists” like Lutherans.


Dr. Francis Daniel Pastorius brought significant numbers of German Protestants to Pennsylvania, founding Germantown. In 1688, he authored a declaration condemning slaveholding. This was the first such protest in the colonies against slavery in American History.

Other Religions in the Colonies

Following religious upheavals in France, Huguenots or French Calvinists fled to North America seeking a safe haven to practice their faith. Revolutionary War hero Paul Revere came out of the Huguenot tradition. In Maryland, Cecilius Calvert (Lord Baltimore), established a colony in 1634 for Catholics, although most settlers tended to be non-Catholic.


Scandinavian Lutherans settled in Delaware while Protestant Scots-Irish found their way into the back country of the Carolinas. At least six of the original colonial attempts were made in the name of religion: Plymouth, Massachusetts, Maryland, Connecticut, Rhode Island, and Pennsylvania.


By the early 18th century, the First Great Awakening would galvanize many colonists as revivals swept New England and the Middle Colonies. John Wesley traveled the colonies preaching a message that would build the Methodist Church in America. Puritanism would give way to the Congregationalist traditions. By the time of the Revolution, Mother Ann Lee arrived, building an Adventist community known as Shakers that would thrive well into the next century.

Legacy of Colonial Religious Diversity

From these earliest expressions of faith, a long religious tradition emerged and expanded over the next two hundred years of American history. Frequently changed or redirected during periods of “Awakenings” or spiritual revivals that were nationally universal, the unique and peculiar nature of American faith traditions can be traced back to the earliest days when persecuted Europeans seized an opportunity to practice their beliefs without the fear of reprisal.

Sources:

Alan Taylor, American Colonies (New York: Penguin/Viking Press, 2001)

Copyright Michael Streich. Contact the author to obtain permission for republication.