Religion In Colonial America

Religion has always been of importance in America. During the colonial and Revolutionary eras, religion was spread throughout the lives of Americans. There were even laws that kept the Sabbath holy and influenced consumption laws that limited the actions of the people. Christianity was one of the few links that bound the American society together. The bible served not only as a word of God helping people through life but as a textbook for history. It gave people something to go to so they could learn how to do certain things such as teaching children, showing morals, and ways to view and understand human nature. Although many colonists were often emigrating to get away from religious persecution or intolerance, many new Americans were discriminating
The demand by some for an American Anglican bishopric raised fears of heightened controls similar to civil control being mandated by Parliament at this time. The American Revolution ultimately led to a significant separation of church and state. Religion was increasingly being thought about as a personal opinion that not be dictated by the government. Of the nine states that had established religions during the colonial period, three separated church and state in their new constitutions. In the remaining states that did not put this into their constitutions there were concessions made for allowing support of more than one church publicly. Virginia went on to disestablish the Anglican church merely by not specifically retaining the church-state relationship. The last provision of the Virginia Declaration of Rights provided: "That religion, or the duty which we owe to our CREATOR, and the manner of discharging it, can be directed only by reason and conviction, not by force or violence, and therefore all men are equally entitled to the free exercise of religion, according to the dictates of conscience; and that it is the mutual duty of all to practice Christian forbearance, love, and charity, towards each other." After this, Patrick Henry, Edmund Pendleton and Richard Henry Lee joined with Anglican ministers in an effort to provide public financial support for all Christian denominations ultimately
A majority of the ratifying conventions recommended that an amendment guaranteeing religious freedom be added to the Constitution. In recommending a bill of rights in the first Federal Congress on June 8, 1789, Madison proposed that the civil rights of none shall be abridged on account of religious belief or worship, nor shall any national religion be established, nor shall the full and equal rights of conscience be in any manner or any pretext infringed. He also proposed that no state shall violate the equal rights of conscience. The prohibition on states was removed by the senate, while restrictions on the Federal Government were combined and recast into what would become the First Amendment: combined and recast into what came to be the First Amendment: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.” The exact meaning of this prohibition was not easy to ascertain. Thomas Jefferson interpreted this it best in a response to the Baptist Association of Danbury, Connecticut on January 1, 1802. He said: Baptist Association of Dan- bury, Connecticut, on January 1, 1802. "Believing with you that religion is a matter which lies solely between man and his God, that he owes account to none other for his faith or his worship, that the legislative powers of government reach actions only, and not opinions, I