Religious Factor in the American Revolution and Founding of the USA
https://doi.org/10.22394/2073-7203-2024-42-2-101-117
Abstract
The article is devoted to an analysis of the religious factor in the American Revolution and the founding of the USA. Based on a wide range of sources and scholarly literature, the author shows a combination of secular and Protestant influences in the process of institutional formation of the American independent statehood. The author further reveals the significant role of polemical arguments and historical examples related to the Bible in the American political thought of this period. The majority of key actors of the American Revolution of the 18th century were convinced that religion served as the basis for civic virtue necessary for a republican form of government. The worldview shared by the Founding Fathers implied a theistic source of law and legislative process. At the federal level, the separation of church and state established by the 1787 Constitution and the 1789 Bill of Rights was largely a consequence of the organizational fragmentation of American Protestantism. A conclusion is drawn about the dual nature of the US statehood at the end of the 18th century, which combined both secular and religious elements and was reflected in the symbolism of the Great State Seal (1782).
About the Author
P. Kosmach
Belarusian State University
Belarus
Belarus
Pavel Kosmach - Associate Professor, Department of History of New and Modern Times
Minsk
References
1. Вуд Г. С. Идея Америки. Размышления о рождении США. М.: Изд. «Весь Мир», 2016.
2. Гамильтон А. Федералист № 6 // Федералист. Политические эссе А. Гамильтона, Дж. Мэдисона и Дж. Джeя: пер. с англ. / Под общ. ред., с предисл. Н. Н. Яковлева, коммент. О. Л. Степановой. М.: Прогресс, Литера, 1993. С. 52–59.
3. Генон Р. Царство количества и знамения времени. М.: Беловодье, 1994.
4. Декларация независимости (1776 г.) // Соединенные Штаты Америки: Конституция и законодательные акты: пер. с англ. / Сост. В. И. Лафитский; под ред. и со вступ. ст. О. А. Жидкова. М.: Прогресс, Универс, 1993. С. 25–28.
5. Джей Дж. Федералист № 2. // Федералист. Политические эссе А. Гамильтона, Дж. Мэдисона и Дж. Джeя: пер. с англ. / Под общ. ред., с предисл. Н. Н. Яковлева, коммент. О. Л. Степановой. М.: Прогресс, Литера, 1993. С. 33–38.
6. Конституция Массачусетса (1780 г.) // Соединенные Штаты Америки: Конституция и законодательные акты: пер. с англ. / Сост. В. И. Лафитский; под ред. и со вступ. ст. О. А. Жидкова. М.: Прогресс, Универс, 1993. С. 50–97.
7. Конституция Соединенных Штатов (1787 г.) // Соединенные Штаты Америки: Конституция и законодательные акты: пер. с англ. / Сост. В. И. Лафитский; под ред. и со вступ. ст. О. А. Жидкова. М.: Прогресс, Универс, 1993. С. 29–49.
8. Монтескье Ш. О духе законов // Избранные произведения. М.: Государственное издательство политической литературы, 1955. С. 159–733.
9. Мэдисон Дж., Гамильтон А. Федералист № 51 // Федералист. Политические эссе А. Гамильтона, Дж. Мэдисона и Дж. Джeя: пер. с англ. / Под общ. ред., с предисл. Н. Н. Яковлева, коммент. О. Л. Степановой. М.: Прогресс, Литера, 1993. С. 345–351.
10. Мэдисон Дж. Федералист № 14 // Федералист. Политические эссе А. Гамильтона, Дж. Мэдисона и Дж. Джeя: пер. с англ. / Под общ. ред., с предисл. Н. Н. Яковлева, коммент. О. Л. Степановой. М.: Прогресс, Литера, 1993. С. 103–109.
11. Пейн Т. Здравый смысл // Избранные сочинения / Пер. с англ. А. С. Богомолова и др.; под. ред. проф. М. П. Баскина. М.: Изд-во АН СССР, 1959. С. 21–64.
12. Покок Дж. Г. А. Момент Макиавелли: Политическая мысль Флоренции и атлантическая республиканская традиция. М.: Новое литературное обозрение, 2020. 766 с.
13. Пятигорский А. Кто боится вольных каменщиков? Феномен масонства. М.: Новое литературное обозрение, 2009.
14. Cтатьи конфедерации / История Соединенных штатов Северной Америки (1765–1865 гг.) // Э. Чаннинг. СПб.: Типография Контрагентства жел. дор., 1897. С. 339–350.
15. Уланов А. Н. Финансово-правовой статус религиозной организации в правовой системе США. М.: ЛЕНАНД, 2016. 80 с.
16. Франклин В. Как из великой империи сделать маленькое государство// Избранные произведения. М.: Государственное издательство политической литературы, 1956. С. 347–355.
17. Хофстедтер Р. Американская политическая традиция и ее создатели. М.: Наука, 1992.
18. Adair, D. G. (1968) “Experience Must Be Our Only Guide: History, Democratic Theory, and the United States Constitution”, in J. P. Greene (ed.) The Reinterpretation of the American Revolution, 1763–1789, pp. 397–416. New York: Harper and Row.
19. Adams, S. (1970) “American Independence”, in Louie R. Heller (ed.) Early American Orations, p. 67–84. Freeport, New York: Books for Libraries Press.
20. Baldwin, A. (1928) The New England Clergy and the American Revolution. Durham: North Carolina.
21. Banner, S. (2021) The Decline of Natural Law: How American Lawyers Once Used Natural Law and Why They Stopped, p. 6. New York: Oxford University Press.
22. Boucher, J. (1960) “To the Honble the Deputies in Congress from the Southern Provinces”, in H. S. Smith, R. T. Handy, L. A. Loetscher (eds.) American Сhristianity: a Historical Interpretation with Representative Documents V. I. (1607–1820), pp. 439–442. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons.
23. Bullock, S. (1996) Revolutionary Brotherhood: Freemasonry and the Transformation of the American Social Order, 1730–1840. Chapel Hill and London: University of North Carolina Press.
24. Cornett, D. C. (ed.) (2011) Christian America? Perspectives on Our Religious Heritage. Nashville: B&H Publishing Group.
25. Corwin, E. (1988) The “Higher Law” Background of American Constitutional Order. Ithaca and London: Cornell University Press.
26. Davies, D. H. (2000) Religion and the Continental Congress 1774–1789: Contributions to Original Intents. Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press.
27. Farrand, M. (ed.) (1996) The Records of the Federal Convention of 1787. V. III. New Haven and London: Yale University Press.
28. Fea, J. (2016) Was America Founded as a Christian Nation?: A Historical Introduction. Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press.
29. Ford, W. C., Hunt, G. (eds.) (1914) Journals of Continental Congress, 1774–1789. Vol. XXII: 1782, January 1 — August 9. Washington: Library of Congress.
30. Frohnen, B. (ed.) (2002) “The Declaratory Act”, The American Republic: Primary Sources, pp. 135–136. Indianapolis: Liberty Fund.
31. Frohnen, B. (ed.) (2002) “Declaration and Resolves of the First Continental Congress. October 14, 1774”, The American Republic: Primary Sources, pp. 154–156. Indianapolis: Liberty Fund.
32. Galloway, J. (1780) Historical and Reflections on the Rise and Progress of the American Rebellion. London: Printed for G. Wilkie.
33. Gaustad, E. (2004) Faith of the Founders: Religion and the New Nation, 1776–1826. Waco: Baylor University Press.
34. Green, S. K. (2010) The Second Disestablishment: Church and State in Nineteenth-Century America. New York: Oxford University Press.
35. Hall, M. D. (2019) Did America Have a Christian Founding? Separating Modern Myth from Historical Truth. Nashville: Nelson Books.
36. Hamilton, A. A. (1961) “Full Vindication of the Measures of the Congress”, in H. C. Syrett, J. C. Cooke (eds) The Papers of Alexander Hamilton I (1768–1778), pp. 45–78. New York and London: Columbia University Press.
37. Himmelfarb, G. (2005) The Roads to Modernity: The British, French, and American Enlightenments. New York: Vintage Books.
38. Hutson, J. (1998) Religion and the Founding of the American Republic. Washington: Library of Congress.
39. Jay, J. (1970) “Address to the People of Great Britain”, in H. P. Johnston (ed.) The Correspondence and Public Papers of John Jay V.I (1763–1781), pp. 17–31. New York: Burt Franklin.
40. Jefferson, T. (2004) “Report on a Seal for the United States. August 20, 1776”, in L. Brenner (ed.) Jefferson & Madison on Separation of Church and State. Writings on Religion and Secularism. Fort Lee.
41. Lambert, F. (2003) The Founding Fathers and the Place of Religion in America. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
42. Lutz, D., Hyneman, C. (1984) “The Relative Influence of European Writers on Late Eighteenth-Century American Political Thought”, The American Political Science Review 78: 189–197.
43. Madison, J. (2004) “General Defense of the Constitution, Virginia Ratification Convention (June 12, 1788)”, in L. Brenner (ed.) Jefferson & Madison on Separation of Church and State. Writings on Religion and Secularism, pp. 96–97. Fort Lee: Barricade Books.
44. Malbin, M. (1978) Religion and Politics. The Intentions of the Authors of the First Amendment. Washington: American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research.
45. Miller, J. C. (1959) Origins of the American Revolution, pp. 186–187. Stanford: Stanford University Press.
46. Patrick, J. J., Long, G. P. (eds.) (1999) “Zorach v. Clauson (1952)”, Constitutional Debates on Freedom of Religion: A Documentary History, pp. 151–156. Westport (Connecticut), London: Greenwood Press.
47. Rhoden, N. (1999) Revolutionary Anglicanism: The Colonial Church of England Clergy during the American Revolution. London: Macmillan Press LTD.
48. Richard, C. J. (1995) The Founders and the Classics: Greece, Rome and the American Enlightenment. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
49. “Selected State Declarations of Rights and Constitutions with Respect to Religion, 1776–1799” (2004), in E. Gaustad Faith of the Founders: Religion and the New Nation, 1776–1826, pp. 159–174. Waco: Baylor University Press.
50. Shalev, E. (2013) American Zion: The Old Testament as Political Text from the Revolution to the Civil War. New Haven and London: Yale University Press.
51. Bureau of Public Affairs (2003) The Great Seal of the United States. Washington: U. S. Department of State.
52. The Necessity for Taking Up Arms. In Congress, July 6, 1775 (2000), in D. H. Davies. Religion and the Continental Congress 1774–1789: Contributions to Original Intent, pp. 231–237. Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press.
53. Veit, H. E., Bowling, K. R., Bickford, C. B. (eds.) (1991) “The Congressional Register, 15 August 1789”, Creating the Bill of Rights: The Documentary Record from the First Federal Congress, pp. 157–179. Baltimore and London: The Johns Hopkins University Press.
54. Vincent, P. (1988) “Masons as Builders of the Republic: The Role of Freemasonry in the American Revolution”, in S. Ickringill (ed.) The Early Republic: The Making of a Nation — The Making of a Culture, pp. 132–150. Amsterdam: Free University Press. Washington, G. (1985) “Farewell Address, 1796”, in D. J. Boorstin (ed.) An American Primer, pp. 211–229. Ontario: Meridian Classic Printing
55. Wilson, J. (1990) “Religion under the State Constitutions, 1776–1800”, Journal of Church and State 32(4): 753–773.
56. Witte, J., Nichols, J. A. (2016) Religion and the American Constitutional Experiment. New York: Oxford University Press.
Review
For citations:
Kosmach P. Religious Factor in the American Revolution and Founding of the USA. State, Religion and Church in Russia and Worldwide. 2024;42(2):101-117. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.22394/2073-7203-2024-42-2-101-117
Views:
67
Email this article 