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The founding fathers and the debate over religion in revolutionary America : a history in documents / edited by Matthew L. Harris and Thomas S. Kidd.
LIBRA BR520 .F69 2011
Available from offsite location
- Format:
- Book
- Language:
- English
- Subjects (All):
- Christianity and politics--United States--History--18th century--Sources.
- Christianity and politics.
- Founding Fathers of the United States.
- Religious life.
- History.
- Church history.
- United States--Church history--18th century--Sources.
- United States.
- Christianity and politics--United States--History--19th century--Sources.
- United States--Church history--19th century--Sources.
- Founding Fathers of the United States--Religious life--History--Sources.
- Genre:
- Sources.
- Physical Description:
- ix, 196 pages ; 21 cm
- Place of Publication:
- New York : Oxford University Press, [2012]
- Summary:
- Whether America was founded as a Christian nation or as a secular republic is one of the most fiercely debated questions in American history. Historians Matthew L. Harris and Thomas S. Kidd offer an authoritative examination of the essential documents needed to understand this debate. The texts included in this volume-writings and speeches from both well-known and obscure early American thinkers-show that religion played a prominent yet fractious role in the era of the American Revolution.
- In their personal beliefs, the Founders ranged from profound skeptics like Thomas Paine to traditional Christians like Patrick Henry. Nevertheless, most of the Founding Fathers rallied around certain crucial religious principles, including the idea that people were "created" equal, the belief that religious freedom required the disestablishment of state-backed denominations, the necessity of virtue in a republic, and the role of Providence in guiding the affairs of nations. Harris and Kidd show that through the struggles of war and the framing of the Constitution, Americans sought to reconcile their dedication to religious vitality with their commitment to religious freedom. Book jacket.
- Contents:
- Introduction : the founding fathers and religion
- Religion and the Continental Congress
- Religion and state governments
- Constitution and ratification
- Religion and the federal government
- Disestablishment and the separation of church and state
- The founding fathers' own views on religion.
- Notes:
- Includes bibliographical references (pages 187-192) and index.
- ISBN:
- 9780195326505
- 0195326504
- 9780195326499
- 0195326490
- OCLC:
- 704907775
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