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The American rebellion, the British believed—lumping together Congregationalists and their fellow former Puritans—was a "Presbyterian war." In the view of many of their clergy, the Patriot attack on enlightened religion and English culture was proof of the conflict's perversity.
As Katherine Carté argues, British imperial protestantism proved remarkably effective in advancing both the interests of empire and the cause of religion until the war for American independence disrupted it. That Revolution forced a reassessment of the role of religion in public life on both sides of the Atlantic.
16 mar 2022 · In Religion and the American Revolution, historian Katherine Carté interprets changing relationships in religion between Britain and its American colonies from the Toleration Act (1689) and the Acts of Union (1706–1707) to the 1790s through the concept of “imperial Protestantism,” a political theology that defined the British Empire as a ...
Through the period, the overwhelmingly predominant religion was Christianity; among Christians, Protestantism possessed a near monopoly and among Protestants, English-speaking Protestants made up a majority. They played the most visible role in the Revolution and in the shaping of national life.
Religion played a major role in the American Revolution by offering a moral sanction for opposition to the British--an assurance to the average American that revolution was justified in the sight of God.
John F. Wilson. Religion and Revolution in American History. Depending upon how defined and opened, "religion and revolu-tion in American history" serves as a case study illuminating the general topic: how shall we interpret religion as a historial subject?
By tracing the origins, progress, and consequences of the American Revolution through the lens of imperial protestantism—through the destruction of the scaffolding that bound distant protestants to one another and to the empire—new perspectives on religion and the American Revolution come into view.
