Early America and Christianity

Christianity in Early America

Brooke Baglietto

Abstract

            This post will delve into the origins of American Christianity and its impact on the American government. In recent years, major debates have arisen among many scholars regarding whether American theology is structured around Christian values and morals. However, more evidence is arising that this country was structured to bring into fruition the necessity for God to be at its foundation. The question posed was whether there should be a connection between church and state (commonwealth). The Founding Fathers did this by enacting rules, laws, and regulations within the confines of the Constitution, Bill of Rights, and Declaration of Independence. Reverend Jasper Adams wrote The Relation of Christianity to Civil Government in the United States: A Sermon, Preached in St. Michael’s Church, Charleston, which provides additional evidence that America was founded by placing Christ at the center and that church and state should be intermingled with one another.

Church and State

            The religion of Christianity has been around a long time, but the idea of its relationship to the government has always been a controversial topic. Some fears developed from the years of persecution that Christians faced or even caused due to the local or national governments placing laws into place as to which religion was to be followed. This is exactly why the colonists left England to pursue a new life in a foreign land and generate their own beliefs without the threat of consequences from the government. When developing colonies, Christianity was at the core, but there were to be no laws restricting one to a particular belief.

The rightful solution of these questions has become important to the religion, the morals, the peace, the intelligence, and in fact to all the highest interests of this country. It has been asserted by men distinguished for talents, learning and station, and it may well be presumed that the assertion is gradually gaining belief among us, that Christianity has no connexion with the law of the land, or with our civil and political institutions.^[1]

While law and faith should not be placed together in the colonies, it does not mean that the law should not base its laws on Christian morals and beliefs. The Christian religion was intended by them to be the corner stone of the social and political structures which they were founding.^[2]

America was Founded on Christianity

            Today, Christianity is frowned upon by a select few as the rights of the religious beliefs of others rise. In the world of the humanities and arts, the thought of someone believing in God the Father will turn stomachs and produce a heated debate, but there is truth in how this country was founded. It must first be examined through the eyes of those who lived during the times of the American Revolution.

The Colonies then from which these United States have sprung, were originally planted and nourished by our pious forefathers, in the exercise of a strong and vigorous Christian faith. They were designed to be Christian communities. Christianity was wrought into the minutest ramifications of their social, civil, and political institutions.^[3]

The origin of America comes from the colonists’ desire to escape the confines of the Catholic Church, which held control over the government and society in England. Those who founded this country with the establishment of government documents after the conclusion of the American Revolution were ingrained in the faith from which they were raised.

The laws of Moses were given to a community emigrating from their native country into a land which they were to acquire and occupy, for the great purpose of maintaining in simplicity and purity the worship of the one true God. The founders of New England came hither for the self-same purpose.^[4]

Conclusion

            The United States does not have an expansive history compared to the rest of the world, but more evidence is coming to the surface to provide deeper roots that go farther back than when the colonists landed here. The first battle was to understand the debate from a Christian perspective of why Christianity should be at the basis for creating laws and morals but keeping church and state separate. The next battle would be understanding the roots of just how and why this country was founded by Christian morals, since this is a highly debated topic among many scholars today. Jasper Adams and Leonard Bacon give an understanding that this country was founded on Christian morals, beliefs, and understandings. While they understood the reasoning behind the separation of church and state, so as not to fall back into the ways of England, they also felt that it was important to construct the legalities of this country under God’s laws. “For truly in this city there were gathered together against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, to do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place” (Romans 4:27-28, English Standard Version).

Bibliography

Adams, Jasper. The Relation of Christianity to Civil Government in the United States: A Sermon

Preached in St. Michael’s Church, Charleston, February 13^th, 1833, Before the Convention of the Protestant Episcopal Church of the Diocese of South-Carolina. Charleston, SC: A.E. Miller, 1833. Sabin Americana: History of the Americas, 1500-1926, link.gale.com/apps/doc/CY0102787302/SABN?u=vic_liberty&sid=bookmark-SABN&xid=56b30359&pg=6.

Bacon, Leonard and New England Society. An Address Before the New England Society of the

City of New York, on Forefathers’ Day, December 22, 1838. Sabin Americana: History of the Americas, 1500-1926 (accessed September 4, 2025). https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/CY0101182725/SABN?u=vic_liberty&sid=bookmark-SABN&xid=5abc06a5&pg=19.

^[1] Jasper Adams, The Relation of Christianity to civil Government in the United States: A Sermon Preached in St. Michael’s Church, Charleston, February 13^th, 1833, Before the Convention of the Protestant Episcopal Church of the Diocese of South-Carolina (Charleston, SC: A.E. Miller, 1833), 7, Sabin Americana: History of the Americas, 1500-1926, link.gale.com/apps/doc/CY0102787302/SABN?u=vic_liberty&sid=bookmark-SABN&xid=56b30359&pg=6.

^[2] Jasper Adams, The Relation of Christianity to civil Government in the United States: A Sermon Preached in St. Michael’s Church, Charleston, February 13^th, 1833, Before the Convention of the Protestant Episcopal Church of the Diocese of South-Carolina (Charleston, SC: A.E. Miller, 1833), 9, Sabin Americana: History of the Americas, 1500-1926, link.gale.com/apps/doc/CY0102787302/SABN?u=vic_liberty&sid=bookmark-SABN&xid=56b30359&pg=6.

^[3] Jasper Adams, The Relation of Christianity to civil Government in the United States: A Sermon Preached in St. Michael’s Church, Charleston, February 13^th, 1833, Before the Convention of the Protestant Episcopal Church of the Diocese of South-Carolina (Charleston, SC: A.E. Miller, 1833), 11, Sabin Americana: History of the Americas, 1500-1926, link.gale.com/apps/doc/CY0102787302/SABN?u=vic_liberty&sid=bookmark-SABN&xid=56b30359&pg=6.

^[4] Leonard Bacon and the New England Society, An Address Before the New England Society of the City of New York, on Forefathers’ Day, December 22, 1838 (New York, NY: E. Collier, 1838), 20, Sabin Americana: History of the Americas, 1500-1926 (accessed September 4, 2025). https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/CY0101182725/SABN?u=vic_liberty&sid=bookmark-SABN&xid=5abc06a5&pg=19.