America has always known its' times of turmoil. The 19th century is certainly no exception. And religion has always played a key role in American culture and politics. One of the first periods to cover is the Louisiana Purchase. The United States already had territory butting against the Mississippi River, though much of that was the territory of Native American tribes, and the Louisiana Purchase doubled the territory of the US. It also added a new dynamic to the nation's spiritual topography, because the residents of the area around New Orleans was of French citizenship, and many of them were Catholic.
While Catholicism was present in the US prior to that, it was nowhere near a driving force. Now Catholics represented a sizable portion of our demographics, with further such gains to come. The Louisiana Purchase also represents the beginning of Westward Expansion. One of the driving forces behind Westward Expansion was a philosophy known as Manifest Destiny, in which many people believed they had a Divine calling to take possession of much if not all of the North American Continent. As you can see, it was spiritual idealism driving the push west, while the series of gold rushes were the fuel.
American expansionism constantly drove people out to new frontiers. With them living lives almost constantly in danger, it is only natural that religious forces would follow. On top of that, immigration from Europe began to grow rapidly. With the Napoleonic Wars, the political instability of Italy and Germany, and the oppression of peoples in Central and Eastern Europe, thousands of people set out for the new Land of Opportunity. Anti-Semitic sentiment was growing fast in Europe, prompting hundreds of thousands of Jews to move to the US. As the 19th century progressed, Large numbers of Chinese immigrants would move to the West Coast, bringing with them Daoism and Buddhism.
So now a nation which had begun as a predominantly Deistic-Christian nation, mostly protestant, had new forces at play. As I continue this, I will cover Catholicism, Orthodoxy and Buddhism, and the overall effect each of these had on the growth and development of American Culture.
While Catholicism was present in the US prior to that, it was nowhere near a driving force. Now Catholics represented a sizable portion of our demographics, with further such gains to come. The Louisiana Purchase also represents the beginning of Westward Expansion. One of the driving forces behind Westward Expansion was a philosophy known as Manifest Destiny, in which many people believed they had a Divine calling to take possession of much if not all of the North American Continent. As you can see, it was spiritual idealism driving the push west, while the series of gold rushes were the fuel.
American expansionism constantly drove people out to new frontiers. With them living lives almost constantly in danger, it is only natural that religious forces would follow. On top of that, immigration from Europe began to grow rapidly. With the Napoleonic Wars, the political instability of Italy and Germany, and the oppression of peoples in Central and Eastern Europe, thousands of people set out for the new Land of Opportunity. Anti-Semitic sentiment was growing fast in Europe, prompting hundreds of thousands of Jews to move to the US. As the 19th century progressed, Large numbers of Chinese immigrants would move to the West Coast, bringing with them Daoism and Buddhism.
So now a nation which had begun as a predominantly Deistic-Christian nation, mostly protestant, had new forces at play. As I continue this, I will cover Catholicism, Orthodoxy and Buddhism, and the overall effect each of these had on the growth and development of American Culture.
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