Causes of the Revolution
The American Revolution occurred between 1765 and 1783 after the colonists within the thirteen American colonies declined the British aristocracy and monarchical rule. Beginning 1765, the American colonists refused to acknowledge the power of the British parliament to tax the American colonists while the latter did not have colonial representatives in the governments. The following years were marred by protests as American patriots sought to ventilate their disapproval of the authority of the British monarchy and aristocracy over the thirteen American colonies. Religion played an important role in ushering the revolution as the Christian revivalists in the Great Awakening began to question the rules of the state-supported religion of the Church of England. The revivalists argued that the rules set by the established religion were a hindrance to the true faith. The opposition to the English church aroused strong sentiments and evangelical sermons that stirred up masses to more passionate expression of faith leading to many deserting from the established churches. Through the understanding of the religious situation from the Great Awakening and its connection to the American Revolution, one is able to understand how the ordinary Americans started the resistance of the British monarchy, began to focus their efforts to republicanism and the cause of rebellion. The American Revolution was fostered by political and economic motives but religion served as an impetus to secede from the English monarchy. The expression of inalienable rights as ordained by God permeated throughout the language of the Declaration of Independence and the former marked the official attempt of the colonies to seek sovereignty.
Key figures and Philosophies of the Movement
During the Great Awakening, the dissenting protestant ministers accused the government-supported churches of being enemies of evangelism while also challenging the legitimacy of such churches given that they considered the rules of these churches to be against individual religious independence. Through the awakening, ordinary Americans managed to defy traditional authorities and began to develop new religious convictions. The development of new convictions was possible because the protestant ministers throughout the colonies were circulating sermons linking the biblical teachings to the revolution. Accordingly, the rebellious biblical ministers throughout the colonies began to incorporate revolutionary themes in their sermons, which was a departure from the teachings by the clergymen in the Church of England who continued to deliver sermons that encouraged people to pledge their loyalty to the King (Nelson, 1961, p. 186). As such, by the beginning of the American Revolution, the people who were at the center of it were those who had learnt the importance of self-determination and revolt against the established hierarchies. In particular, the rebellious ministers such as George Whitefield and Samuel Davies sought to dismantle the traditional hierarchies by preaching that according to the teachings of the holy bible all men are equal and that the true value of men depended on their moral behavior rather than their class (Bailyn, 1992, p. 303). Such sermons had already provided inspiration to the colonists to decide that the upset of the status quo was an important step towards self-determination. Having experienced a rebellious religious background, the Americans were motivated to fight tyranny on the basis of socioeconomic aspects that affected every American from the rich, poor, men, women, farmers, and even merchants (Bonomi, 2003, p. 186). Ultimately, the belief that the source of all human rights was God and the shared belief regarding virtue and divine intervention were the major causes of the unity between the evangelicals and the rationalists, an aspect that played a key role in motivating Americans to rebel against the empire (Kidd, 2010). By turning their backs on the Church of England and the Anglican establishment, the evangelical protesters not only challenged government authority but also questioned its relationship with the establishment. Further, by questioning the manner in which Church of England was running its affairs, the established social differences started becoming vague as the rich, poor, Blacks, Whites, slaves and free men began to hear that God loved every man and every woman equally (The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, 2016). Through such enlightenment from the sermons of evangelical ministers the status quo, which the English monarch depended on to demand submission from the Americans in the thirteen colonies, was under threat.
The objectives of the dissenting religious ministers often merged with the aspirations of the patriot leaders whose perspectives had been influenced by the scientific revolution and the enlightenment. The perspective of the patriots was that regardless of what or how God was, the mind of a human being was born free. In this regard, patriots such as James Madison and Thomas Jefferson were keen to incorporate the freedom of religion alongside the natural rights they were advocating for. Accordingly, the Presbyterians and the Baptists were influenced by the evangelical enthusiasm to practice their own religion without undue influence from the government or the rules set by the Church of England, collaborated with political scholars, who had been influenced by science, history, religion, and philosophy, to dismantle the establishment church in Virginia. Obviously, it would have been much more difficult to dismantle the establishment if the evangelicals, Baptists, Presbyterians, and political thinkers worked alone. Accordingly, it is important to note that in the colony of Virginia, the efforts of dissenters seeking to practice their religion without restraint were often parallel with the political decisions that brought about independence. Ultimately, the colonies achieved political independence at the end of the war in 1776 and the activities of the Virginia legislators around that period affected the Anglican Church negatively, an aspect that brought relief to the dissenters. However, the colony of Virginia achieved the freedom of religion in 1786 with the passing of the Statute for Religious Freedom that Thomas Jefferson sponsored (Virginia Historical Society).
Even though religion played an important role towards the revolution, it is worth noting that the declaration of independence in 1776 paid tribute to politics, especially the disputes regarding taxation, representation, and the impact of the imperial policy by the British in the colonies, as the reason for the war. Nevertheless, although some ministers were cautious regarding active participation in the revolution, it is apparent some clergymen were active protesters against the British authority in the colonies. Accordingly, the Church of England suffered considerably during the revolution because the King was the head of the church. In this regard, by fighting the Church of England, the evangelicals and other religious dissenters were also fighting the Crown. Consequently, immediately after the revolution ended, the federal government and every state made changes to the freedom of worship and separated government from managing religious affairs. In states like Virginia, Maryland, New York, as well as the South and North Carolina states eliminated the legal establishments of the Church of England. Notably, the first amendment to the federal constitution in 1791 acknowledged the role that religious beliefs played before, during, and after the Revolution (Gaustad, 1993). This aspect is evidenced by the fact that the Declaration justified the revolution and the separation of the colonies from the British monarchy by referring to the nature of God and the laws of nature.
It is evident that the ideological factions that are usually regarded as the American enlightenment, including the Great Awakening, were the major precursors leading to the American Revolution. The main ideas of the American enlightenment included concepts of republicanism, liberalism, and collectivity. These concepts helped the colonists to develop a political and social identity. The idea of liberty among the colonists was influenced by philosophers such as John Locke whose concepts of natural rights, social contract, and free and equal men, was a major influence to the protestant theology. The evangelicals as well as political thinkers in a bid to counter the narrative of total obedience, which the Church of England and the Crown were peddling in order to continue collecting taxes, delivered speeches and sermons that incorporated Locke’s idea that human beings are created equal and that government needs the consent of the people to govern.
With regard to the foregoing, it is clear that religion, and in particular the evangelicals, played a critical role in shaping the ideologies of the Americans regarding the importance of self-determination. In this regard, the great awakening began the moral sanction towards the opposition of the British monarch by providing assurances to the ordinary Americans that a revolution against the Crown was justified in the eyes of God. It is apparent that the clergy from the protestant churches were able to turn the resistance of colonialism into a righteous cause and by so doing, they were able to develop secular radicalism gradually leading to the Revolution. In order to have an overview of the role that religion played during and after the war, it is important to note that some evangelical ministers served in crucial capacities as members of state legislatures, constitutional conventions, military chaplains, and even in national congress. Ultimately, what religion accomplished, before, during, and after the Revolution is no mean feat.
References
Bailyn, B. (1992). The Ideological Origins of the American Revolution. Massachusetts: The
Belknap Press.
Bonomi, P. (2003). Under the Cope of Heaven: Religion, Society, and Politics in Colonial
America. New York : Oxford University Press.
Gaustad, E. S. (1993). Neither King nor Prelate: Religion and the New Nation, 1776-1826.
Grand Rapids, Michigan: W. B. Eerdmans.
Kidd, T. (2012). God of Liberty: A Religious History of the American Revolution. New York:
Basic Books.
Nelson, W. (1961). The American Tory. Oxford: The. Clarendon Press.
“Religion and Revolution”. The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation. 2016. Retrieved from
http://www.history.org/almanack/life/religion/religionrev.cfm
“Thomas Jefferson and the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom”. Virginia Historical Society.
Retrieved from http://www.vahistorical.org/collections-and-resources/virginia-history-explorer/thomas-jefferson
