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Jan 1, 1519
Calvinism
Major branch of Protestantism that follows the theological tradition and forms of Christian practice of John Calvin and other Reformation-era theologians. Its basic harmonization principle is that the Bible is to be interpreted by itself: the parts that are harder to understand are examined in the light of other passages where the Bible is more explicit on the matter. -
John Winthrop
Was an English Puritan lawyer and one of the leading figures in founding the Massachusetts Bay Colony, the second major settlement in New England, following Plymouth Colony. Winthrop led the first large wave of immigrants from England in 1630 and served as governor for 12 of the colony's first 20 years. -
Anne Hutchinson
Anne Hutchinson disagreed with the Puritan beliefs and believed that God did not solely speak only to the elder but to everyone. The Massachusetts Colony saw here as a threat and claimed that she committed heresy and banished her. She then started a new colony called New Hampshire. -
Puritans
Religious group that separated from the Church of England and later fled to the Massachusetts bay area because of persecution. -
Roger Williams
He was a Puritan, an English Reformed theologian, and later a Reformed Baptist who was expelled by the Puritan leaders from the colony of Massachusetts because local officials thought that he was spreading "new and dangerous ideas" to his congregants. -
Jamestown Founded
First colony to colonize the Americas. They were members of the Church of England. -
Pilgrims
Early European settlers of the Plymouth Colony in present-day Plymouth, Massachusetts, United States. The Pilgrims' leadership came from the religious congregations of Brownist English Dissenters who had fled the volatile political environment in England for the relative calm and tolerance of 16th–17th century Holland in the Netherlands. -
Pietism
Was an influential movement within Lutheranism that combined Lutheran emphasis on Biblical doctrine with the Reformed emphasis on individual piety and living a vigorous Christian life. Although the movement was active exclusively within Lutheranism, it had a tremendous impact on Protestantism worldwide, particularly in North America and Europe. -
Maryland Colony
The province began as a colony of the English Lord Baltimore, who wanted to create a haven for English Catholics. Although Maryland was an early pioneer of religious toleration in the English colonies, religious strife among Anglicans, Puritans, Catholics, and Quakers was common in the early years, and Puritan rebels briefly seized control of the province. -
Baptists
Baptists appeared in the American Colonies in the early 17th century among settlers from England. Theologically all Baptists insisted that baptism was the key ritual and should not be administered to children too young to understand the meaning. -
Lutherans
Major branch of Protestant Christianity which identifies with the theology of Martin Luther, a German friar, ecclesiastical reformer and theologian.The first Lutheran pastor who set his foot on American soil in August, 1619, was Rasmus Jensen of Denmark. He was chaplain of a Danish expedition numbering 66 Lutherans under Captain Jens Munck, who took possession of the land around the Hudson Bay in the name of the Danish crown. -
Presbyterianism
Presbyterians trace their history to the Protestant Reformation in the 16th century. The Presbyterian heritage, and much of its theology, began with the theologian and lawyer John Calvin. -
Deism
Type of religion that believed that God does not interfere or intervene with our lives but simply just made the universe in which it is run by natural laws. Was a religious belief maintained by many early United States politicians. -
Maryland Toleration Act
Also known as the Act Concerning Religion, was a law mandating religious tolerance for Christians. Passed by the assembly of the Maryland colony, in St. Mary's City. -
Praying Towns
Native Americans would have been gathered in these towns by the new settlers in order to learn the Puritan faith. -
Mary Dyer
Mary Dyer was an English and colonial American Puritan turned Quaker who was hanged in Boston, Massachusetts Bay Colony, for repeatedly defying a Puritan law banning Quakers from the colony. She is one of the four executed Quakers known as the Boston martyrs. -
Seperatists
Wanted to Separate from the church of England and create their own church because they didn't like some of the things that the Church of England did. -
Quakers
A charter for the area that was to become Pennsylvania. Penn guaranteed the settlers of his colony freedom of religion. He advertised the policy across Europe so that Quakers and other religious dissidents would know that they could live there safely. -
William Penn
He was an early Quaker, and founder of the Province of Pennsylvania, the English North American colony and the future Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. He was an early advocate of democracy and religious freedom. -
Salem Witch Trials
Were a series of hearings and prosecutions of people accused of witchcraft in colonial Massachusetts between February 1692 and May 1693. The trials resulted in the executions of twenty people, fourteen of them women, and all but one by hanging. Five others (including two infant children) died in prison. -
John Wesley
He was an Anglican cleric and theologian who, with his brother Charles and fellow cleric George Whitefield, founded Methodism. -
Jonathan Edwards
He was a revivalist preacher, philosopher, and Congregationalist Protestant theologian. Like most of the Puritans, he held to the Reformed theology. -
The First Great Awakening
The Great Awakening or First Great Awakening was an evangelical and revitalization movement that swept Protestant Europe and British America, especially the American colonies, leaving a permanent impact on American Protestantism. -
Old Lights v. New Lights
Those who did not change during a religious split were referred to as the "Old Lights", and the ones who changed are referred to as the "New Lights". -
Sentimentalism
Sentimentalism emerged in eighteenth-century Europe as a moral philosophy founded on the belief that individuals are able to form relationships and communities because they can, by an effort of the imagination, understand one another’s feelings. American authors of both sexes who accepted these views cultivated readers’ sympathy with others in order to promote self-improvement, motivate action to relieve suffering, reinforce social unity, and build national identity. -
Methodists
Dates back to the mid-18th Century with the ministries of early Methodist preachers such as Laurence Coughlan and Robert Strawbridge. -
Mother Ann Lee and the Shakers
Commonly known as Mother Ann Lee, was the leader of the United Society of Believers in Christ's Second Appearing, or the Shakers. In 1774 Ann Lee and a small group of her followers emigrated from England to New York. -
Enlightenment
The period in the history of western thought and culture, stretching roughly from the mid-decades of the seventeenth century through the eighteenth century, characterized by dramatic revolutions in science, philosophy, society and politics; these revolutions swept away the medieval world-view. Challenged the concept of deity and religion. -
Founding of Rhode Island
Roger Williams settled at the tip of Narragansett Bay after being banished from the Massachusetts Bay Colony for his religious views, on land granted to him by the Narragansett tribe. He called the site "Providence Plantation" and declared it a place of religious freedom. -
Charles Grandison Finney
Also known as the "father of modern revivalism," Finney was a pioneer of the coming together of other Protestant denominations instead of appealing to the audience's reason he tried to appeal more to their emotions. He believed that birth of new lives were more human creations than of the works of God, and that people's destinies were controlled by their own hands. -
Joseph Smith
Founder of Mormonism who was visited by an angel who gave him golden plates. He was opposed by many and was killed by the a mob after being put in jail on false charges. -
Mormonism
The principal branch of the Latter Day Saint movement of Restorationist Christianity, which began with Joseph Smith in upstate New York during the 1820's. After Smith's death in 1844, the Mormons followed Brigham Young to what would become the Utah Territory. Today, most Mormons are understood to be members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. -
YMCA
It was founded on 6 June 1844 by George Williams in London and aims to put Christian principles into practice by developing a healthy body, mind, and spirit. -
Republican Motherhood
Is an attitude toward women's roles in the emerging United States before, during, and after the American Revolution. It centered on the belief that the patriots' daughters should be raised to uphold the ideals of republicanism, in order to pass on republican and christian values on to the next generation. -
Social Gospel Movement
It was a religious movement that arose during the second half of the nineteenth century. Ministers, especially ones belonging to the Protestant branch of Christianity, began to tie salvation and good works together. They argued that people must emulate the life of Jesus Christ. -
Women's Christian Temperance Movement
Is an active temperance organization that was among the first organizations of women devoted to social reform with a program that linked the religious and the secular through concerted and far-reaching reform strategies based on applied Christianity. It was influential in the temperance movement, and supported the 18th Amendment. -
Billy Graham
He was an American evangelical Christian evangelist, ordained as a Southern Baptist minister, who rose to celebrity status in 1949 reaching a base of middle-class, moderately conservative Protestants. -
Scopes Monkey Trial
Was an American legal case in May 1925 in which a substitute high school teacher, John T. Scopes, was accused of violating Tennessee's Butler Act, which had made it unlawful to teach human evolution in any state-funded school. The trial was deliberately staged in order to attract publicity to the small town of Dayton, Tennessee, where it was held. Scopes was unsure whether he had ever actually taught evolution, but he purposely incriminated himself so that the case could have a defendant. -
Minersville v. Gobitas
Was a decision by the Supreme Court of the United States involving the religious rights of public school students under the First Amendment to the United States Constitution. -
Southern Christian Leadership Conference
Christian civil rights group related to by Martin Luther King jr. with the goal of redeeming America through non-violent resistance. -
Braunfeld v. Brown
It was a case decided by the United States Supreme Court. In a 6-3 decision, the Court held that a Pennsylvania law forbidding the sale of various retail products on Sunday was not an unconstitutional interference with religion as described in the First Amendment to the United States Constitution. -
Fourth Great Awakening
It was a Christian religious awakening. The terminology is controversial, with many historians believing the religious changes that took place in the US during these years were not equivalent to those of the first three great awakenings. -
Roe v. Wade
Ruled that the 14th amendment of privacy extended to a women's right to an abortion. Many religious figures found abortion immoral and a sin, so the religious community was appalled by the outcome of the case. -
McDaniel v.Patty
In this case, the court ruled that a state law forbidding ordained ministers from running for office was unconstitutional. -
Religious Fundamentalism
Religious movement whose objectives are to return to the foundations of the faith and to influence state policy.This decade is marked by the rise of Christian conservativism.