The History of America
 
Chapter I - Rebels and Witches
Rebels and Witches 1635 - 1692
Puritan leaders' efforts to maintain rigid social discipline and strict conformity to doctrine constantly generated friction in a population increasingly filled with newly arriving outsiders. Two of the more famous "troublemakers" were Roger Williams and Anne Hutchinson. Williams, a separatist, migrated to Massachusetts Bay in 1631. As an assistant pastor at Salem, Williams boldly endorsed the unconventional ideas that the king had no right to give away Indian land, that the church and state should be kept entirely separate from one another, and that Puritans should not impose their religious beliefs on others. He described the Puritan churches as "ulcered and gangrened" and felt that heavy-handed Puritan leaders were demolishing the "city upon the hill." Banished from Massachusetts in 1635, Williams founded the town of Providence on Narragansett Bay in what is now Rhode Island.
Anne Hutchinson also rebelled against the Puritan elite's repressive control. Vocal and strong-willed, Hutchinson, the mother of thirteen children, openly defied Puritan doctrine by insisting that she had received revelations directly from God rather than through the mediation of Puritan ministers. Thus, according to Hutchinson, these ministers were unnecessary for communication with God. Recognizing the serious threat to their control, Puritan leaders hauled her before the General Court in 1637 and charged her with slandering the clergy. Governor Winthrop found Hutchinson to be a woman of "haughty and fierce carriage, of a nimble wit, an active spirit and a very voluble tongue." Even so, exhausted by the lengthy trial and her fourteenth pregnancy Hutchinson was convicted. Banished in 1638 as "a woman not fit for. . . society," she fled to Providence, where her baby was stillborn. Her denouncers in Massachusetts proclaimed that the "monstrous birth" was God's punishment for her vile sins. After the death of her husband in 1642, Hutchinson moved to Long Island where she and her remaining family were killed by Indians. Hearing of her death, Governor Winthrop smugly declared that her fate was a "special manifestation of divine justice."
Puritan leaders meted out another form of what they called "justice" by prosecuting women for witchcraft. The rigid order of Puritan society required the submission of women to men, and those who threatened that order received punishment. Prior to 1690, three thousand predominantly middle-aged, lower-class women were accused of witchcraft; more than thirty were hanged. In 1692 hysteria over witchcraft reached its peak in the small farming town of Salem Village. The outbreak of this wide-spread panic resulted in part from the political, economic and religious disorder generated when Massachusetts was abruptly changed from a chartered colony to a royal colony in 1691. In addition, the values of the subsistence farmers in the small community conflicted with those of the merchants in the growing port of Salem. These tensions made many disgruntled farmers receptive to the notion that witchcraft was to blame for any puzzling events or unusual behavior. Finally, the repressive demands of the Puritan religion denied individuals the expression of many ordinary human needs and drives, and psychologists now explain that repressed desires can often reappear as strange behavior or delusions.
Perhaps this was the case when a small group of teenage gals began to shout, bark and grovel after listening to a West Indian slave's voodoo stories. A bewildered doctor who could find no physical cause for such behavior concluded that they had been bewitched by the slave woman Tituba and her associates, two white women. At the news of the bizarre behaviors townspeople panicked and quickly spread the word that the devil himself was responsible. At the trial, during which the girls continually writhed in convulsions, Tituba not only confessed to witchcraft but also swore that many others in the community were "handmaidens of the Devil," and her terrifying announcement provoked mass hysteria. Before this frenzy had dissipated, nineteen people had either been hanged or pressed to death with stones, and more than one hundred others, including men and children, had been accused of witchcraft. Witchcraft offered a compelling rationale for the disorder resulting from the rapid economic, social, political and religious upheavals which were taking place. To the Puritan mind, the devil and his witches were the obvious culprits. These reactions to change, as well as ongoing tensions between Puritans and Indians, undermined the foundations of the "city upon a hill."
Despite or perhaps because of the unsettling changes in their society, Puritans expanded their colonization. A group of Massachusetts Puritans led by the devout Thomas Hooker founded Connecticut in 1637 while seeking better land and access to the lucrative fur trade. However, Pequot Indians deeply resented the intrusion of these determined Puritans on their lands, and skirmishes broke out between the two groups. In retaliation for the Indian raid in Wethersfield in 1637, English settlers attacked a Pequot town along the Mystic River and slaughtered four hundred Indian men, women and children. Thus the infant colony of Connecticut was baptized in both Indian and English blood. Later, other Puritans, including some who were sympathetic to Anne Hutchinson's beliefs, advanced north to an area which was to become New Hampshire and Maine.
HISTORIC SUMMARY NOTES: Religion was an important part of life in the colonies. In New England the Puritan Congregationalist influence was greatest, while the Anglican church was established in most of the southern colonies. The middle colonies saw many religious groups settle in the region. Although many of the colonists were very religious, many were far from God in the early 1700s. But the Great Awakening brought a revival to parts of the colonies, and many were saved. Even so, other Americans turned away from God to the ideas of the Enlightenment, embracing Deism and Unitarianism.
The Great Awakening - As the years passed in the colonies, the people suffered more and more spiritual poverty. Puritan churches had lost their spiritual strength, and fewer churches in the southern or middle colonies preached the gospel. Many ministers were unsaved; colleges lost their spiritual emphasis; the people grew less interested in spiritual things. The nation stood in need of revival. That revival began in the 1720s. It was so powerful that even non-Christian historians call it "The Great Awakening."
Effects of the Great Awakening - The Great Awakening produced far-reaching results. It has been said that the Great Awakening knew no boundaries -- political, social, or geographic. The most obvious result was the great number of converts. Between 1740 and 1742 more than thirty thousand were added to churches in New England alone -- out of a total population of only three hundred thousand.
Second, the Great Awakening increased the number of American missionary works. The best known missionary to the Indians following the Great Awakening was David Brainerd, who worked in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Massachusetts. He died from tuberculosis in 1747 at the age of twenty-nine. Brainerd's diaries have continued to inspire others to devote their lives to missionary service. Another missionary, Samuel Kirkland, began his work in 1764 with the Iroquois tribes. Simon Horton, a Presbyterian, worked among the Indians on Long Island. The Moravians carried on works among the Indians throughout the colonial era.
Third, the Great Awakening affected American higher education, for as orthodox Christians parted company with religious unbelievers, they established new schools to train their pastors and missionaries. The College of New Jersey (Princeton) -- an outgrowth of Tennent's "log college" -- was established by Presbyterians in 1747, Kings' College (Columbia) by Anglicans in 1754, Queen's College (Rutgers) by the Dutch Reformed in 1766, and Brown University by the Baptists in 1764. Dartmouth was founded in 1770 to train young men to reach the Indians.
Fourth, the Great Awakening helped increase the gap between church and state. Roger Wllliams and others had already helped establish the principle of separation between church and state. Now many people realized that their churches could exist without the support of government. Although a few government-sponsored churches remained in some colonies, the end of established state churches would come after the War for Independence.
Fifth, the revival increased the colonists' desire for political freedom. Pastors and evangelists stressed man's worth and personal responsibility before God. If individuals were so important in God's plan that Christ died for them, then they were important enough to the state to be equal under the law. If an individual man was responsible to accept or reject Christ, then he should also be responsible to guide his government. It is significant to note that in atheistic communistic countries, the individual is not important and is subjected the wishes of the government.
Finally, the Great Awakening strengthened the moral fiber of the American people. This strength helped them to withstand the perils of two upcoming wars.
Opponents of the Great Awakening - The Great Awakening changed the religious thinking of many Americans, but it was not the only influence on eighteenth-century minds. Many Americans, especially those educated in Europe, were influenced by a movement called the "Enlightenment." This movement exalted rational thinking and critical reasoning. Unfortunately, man's ability to think often became more important than God's truths as revealed in Scripture. If a man could not understand God's truths, he discarded them. Although such men prided themselves in casting off "old prejudices," they merely showed man's inability to understand the wonders of God. "Hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world?" (I Cor. 1:20).
Deism - One important philosophy that grew out of Enlightenment thinking was Deism. Deism taught that God created the universe in a perfect and balanced manner. But then He left the world to function under certain laws of nature and never intervened in man's affairs again. Deists pictured God as the great Watchmaker who made the watch (the earth), started it running, but then just let it run without touching it again. Thus there was no way to know God or have fellowship with Him. God was just a distant power without any concern for man's present needs. But according to the Bible, God does intervene in our lives. His Holy Spirit convicts of sin, and He offers salvation through His Son, Jesus Christ. God also guides and protects us day by day.
Deism argued that miracles in the Bible did not take place because they violated the "unchangeable laws" of God's created universe. For instance, Christ could not have walked on the water as Matthew 14:25 states, because a man is heavier than water and will sink. Such a belief, however, fails to recognize that a powerful and wise God who could create the world and the basic laws of nature can also overrule those laws when it suits His divine purpose. Nevertheless, Deists denied the inspiration of the Scriptures. They believed that their own reason showed them all they needed to know about God and their own moral duties. By the end of the colonial era, many prominent men -- Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, Ethan Allen, and others -- were Deists. Although their view of God was un-Biblical, many Deists did have high moral principles that aided them as they helped to found a new American nation.
Unitarianism - A second un-Biblical philosophy that originated during this time was Unitarianism. This religious movement asserted the "unity" of God by denying the doctrine of the Trinity. Unitarians denied the deity of Jesus Christ, insisting that He was only a great man. Although Unitarians claimed to believe the Bible, they denied man's need of salvation through the blood of Christ. According to Unitarianism, people needed only to live a moral life. The influence of Unitarianism continued to grow even after the War for Independence. Unitarianism became especially strong among some American Intellectuals, and it influenced American writers for many years.
Truth Is, Thomas Jefferson displayed many Unitarianism qualities; so was he a Deist? I think rather he was a combination of both "Enlightenment Philosophies"; both Deist and Unitarian, not to mention one of the "Greatest Statesmen in the founding of this American nation." Through the morals, ethics and efforts of Thomas Jefferson and many other great colonist statesmen God has Blessed this American nation. I feel these men truly understood the difference between "Faith and Religion"; something that very few men have figured out. I leave you to ponder that depth of concept . . .
False Teachings have always been part of history. Studying such teachings, however, can remind us of our responsibility to test the new ideas of every age to be certain that they are consistent with the Word of God. Paul cautions us to "beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ" (Col. 2:8).
Educational Opportunities grew, especially in New England, where grammar schools were often ordered by law and government. Colleges multiplied mainly from the efforts of the Religious Colonist Separatists in many cases, particularly in Higher Education Universities. Many colonists served as apprentices to learn trades. America soon developed many talented craftsmen and educated leaders.
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