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Catholic Spaniards begin to establish missions in New Mexico. Some Native Americans accept the new faith but many reject it, Religion was a source of tension with Native Americans and the soon to arrive English Protestants would not like the Catholic Spaniards.
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In an attempt to curb Spanish influence in the New World King James sends settler to establish colonies, among their tasks described in the King James charter was to propagate the Christian Religion. In their attempt to establish influence the English used religion.
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At Cape Henry, Virgina the First Angilicam Church was established in a reaction to the spread of Spanish Catholicism. The church also established the English Crown in America.
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Puritans come to seek religious freedom from the supposedly corrupt Church of England and establish the Massachusetts Bay Colony. This sets America as a place of religious freedom although, ironically the Puritans did not tolerate other religions.
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Roger Williams is exiled from the Massachusetts Bay Colony after questioning its religiou rigidity and establishes Rhode Island. Rhode Island would be an eample of true religious tolerance and freedom.
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Anne Hutchinson questions Puritan belief in the Massachusetts Bay Colony and is labeled a heretic and exiled. Through this she, like Roger Williams, became a symbol for religious dissidence as well a a symbol fro women.
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Tensions between Spanish Catholics and Pueblo Indians finally erupt when the Spaniard enforce the strict belief in Catholicism. Tension caused by religion causes war, the Native Americans don't have the best impression of Europeans.
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William Penn, a Quaker, establishes Pennsylvania.
Pennsylvania is a place of tolerance to all people of any religion and race, they were even tolerant to Native Americans, not something common. -
Slaves from Africa combine African tradition and rituals with Christianity. This gives African-Americans a distinct culture. Religion would later be used to justify slavery.
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Preachers such as George Whitfield and Johnathan Edwards hold religous revivals that create a personal and intense connection to God. It changed how people thought of religion and caused the division of many denomination.
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Severing ties with England it also sets the ideal of liberty and freedom. Of course those liberties would include religious freedom but it doesn't promise that.
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There was a debate on how to address slavery. Those who defended slavery used the Bible to justify it.
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Another religious revival, it creates more denominations as well as utopian communities. It increased religious diversity in America.
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The 1st Amendment includes the Establishment Clause and the Free Excercise Clause. The Establishment Clause prevented Congress from making laws regarding religious establishments and the Free Excercise Clause allowed for the free practice of religion without government interference.
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The Second Great Awakening inspires evangelists to reform institutions like prison, open orphanages, and promote education.
Religion played was one of the major reasons for reform. -
Joseph Smith publishes the Book of Mormon. Another new religion, it added to tension among denominations.
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Tension between Mormons and non-Mormons result in violence causing many deaths and the expulsion of Mormons from most cities. Mormons eventually settled in Utah in 1847. Utah became a haven as a result of Mormon settlers.
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Ralph Waldo Emerson criticizes Christianty for becoming a projection of personality rather than being a doctrine of the soul, shaping the beginnings of the Transcendentalist movement. Transcendentalism would heavily influence American literature, with concepts like an oversoul.
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Charles Darwin publishes On the Origin of Species which proposed a theory of evolution. It directly challenged the beliefs of many churches not only in America but in other places as well.
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The KKK was founded in Tennesse trying to revers many Reconstruction policies. Later in the early 20th century they would continue to uphold Protestant Traditionalism.
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John Scopes is arrested for teaching evolution, which was banned by law. Science begins to challenge the fundamentalist beliefs of Christianity.
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"In God We Trust" becomes the national motto for America. Faith was used to combat the supposedly godless Communism.
