The History Of American Religion: 1600 - 2017 - Part 1 of 4
When did the first Catholics arrive in America? When did Pentecostalism first develop? When was Jerry Falwell's church finally desegregated? When did Televangelist Oral Roberts announce that God would "call him home" if he did not raise USD $8 million? All of these and more listed here.
The 17th Century (1600 to 1699)
April 29, 1607
At Cape Henry, Virginia, the first Anglican (Episcopal) church in the American colonies was established.
June 21, 1607
America's first Protestant Episcopal parish was established in Jamestown, Virginia.
July 22, 1620
Under the leadership of John Robinson, English Separatists began to emigrate to North America - eventually, they came to be known as the Pilgrims.
September 16, 1620
The Mayflower left Plymouth, England with 102 Pilgrims aboard. The ship would arrive at Provincetown on November 21st and then at Plymouth on December 26th.
March 05, 1623
The Virginia colony enacted the first American temperance law.
September 06, 1628
Puritan colonists landed at Salem and started the Massachusetts Bay Colony
June 30, 1629
Samuel Skelton was elected the first pastor of Salem, Massachusetts. The church covenant created by Skelton made his congregation the first non-separating congregational Puritan Church in New England.
February 05, 1631
Roger Williams first arrived in North America. He would soon question the rigid religious policies in the Massachusetts colony, leading to his being banished to Rhode Island five years later. There he would create the first Baptist church in America.
May 18, 1631
The General Court of the Massachusetts issued the decree that "no man shall be admitted to the body politic but such as are members of some of the churches within the limits" of the colony.
March 25, 1634
The Roman Catholic Church made its first steps in North America when the colony ships "Dove" and "Ark" arrived in Maryland with 128 Catholic colonists. The members of this group had been chosen by Cecilius Calvert, second Lord Baltimore and the colony itself would be led by Leonard Calvert, Lord Baltimore's brother.
October 09, 1635
Roger Williams was banished from Massachusetts. Williams had argued against civil punishments for religious crimes and, as a result of his expulsion from the colony, he founded the town of Providence and the new colony of Rhode Island, specifically as a place of refuge for those seeking religious freedom.
September 08, 1636
Harvard College (later University) was founded by the Massachusetts Puritans at New Towne. It was the first institution of higher learning established in North America and was originally created to train future ministers.
March 22, 1638
Religious dissident Anne Hutchinson was expelled from the Massachusetts Bay Colony as punishment for heresy.
June 21, 1639
American theologian Increase Mather was born.
September 01, 1646
The Cambridge Synod of Congregational Churches convened in Massachusetts, deciding upon the correct form of government which all Congregational Churches in New England would agree to follow.
April 21, 1649
The Maryland Assembly passed the Toleration Act, providing protection to Roman Catholics against Protestant harassment and discrimination, a problem which had been on the increase due to the growing power of Oliver Cromwell in England.
October 16, 1649
The colony of Maine passed legislation creating religious freedom for all citizens, but only on the condition that those of "contrary" religious beliefs behave "acceptably."
July 01, 1656
The first Quakers (Mary Fisher and Ann Austin) to arrive in Boston are arrested. Five weeks later they were deported back to England.
August 05, 1656
Eight Quakers arrived in Boston. They were immediately imprisoned by the Puritan authorities because Quakers were generally regarded as politically and religiously subversive.
March 24, 1664
Roger Williams was granted a charter to colonize Rhode Island.
May 27, 1664
At the age of 24, colonial theologian Increase Mather became the minister of Boston's Second (Congregational) Church. He would serve there until his death in 1723.
May 03, 1675
Massachusetts passed a law that required church doors to be locked during services - evidently to keep people from leaving before the long sermons were finished.
September 28, 1678
John Bunyan's famous book Pilgrim's Progress was published.
March 10, 1681
William Penn, an English Quaker, received a charter from Charles II which made him the sole proprietor of the colonial American territory of Pennsylvania.
May 11, 1682
After two years, two key laws were repealed by the General Court of Massachusetts: one which prohibited people from observing Christmas and another that set capital punishment for Quakers who returned to the colony after being banished.
August 30, 1682
William Penn sailed from England to established the colony of Pennsylvania.
June 23, 1683
William Penn, a Quaker and founder of the colony of Pennsylvania, signed a famous treaty with the Indians of that region. This treaty was never broken by the Quakers.
February 29, 1692
The Salem Witch Trials began when Tituba, the female slave of the Reverend Samuel Parris, Sarah Goode, and Sarah Osborne were all arrested and accused of witchcraft.
March 01, 1692
The Salem Witch Trials in the Massachusetts colony were officially launched with the conviction of Tituba, the West Indian slave of Rev. Samuel Parris.
June 10, 1692
Bridget Bishop became the first of twenty people executed for witchcraft during the Salem Witch Trials.
October 03, 1692
In Massachusetts, Increase Mather published his "Cases of Conscience Concerning Evil Spirits," effectively ending the Salem Witch Trials which had begun earlier that year.
April 01, 1693
The four-day-old son of Cotton Mather died. Mather, who had written about the existence of demonic and spectral phenomena in the world, suspected that witchcraft might have been the cause of his first-born son's demise.
January 15, 1697
Citizens of Massachusetts spent the day fasting and repenting for their role in the 1692 Salem Witch Trials.
The 18th Century (1700 to 1799
May 07, 1700
Quaker leader William Penn began a series of monthly meetings for blacks advocating emancipation from slavery.
October 05, 1703
Jonathan Edwards, American theologian and philosopher, was born.
1708
Gobind Singh, tenth Sikh guru, died
December 12, 1712
The colony of South Carolina passed a "Sunday Law" which required everyone to attend church each Sunday and to refrain from both skilled labor and traveling by horse or wagon beyond what was absolutely necessary. Violators received a fine and/or two hours in the village stocks.
August 06, 1727
French Ursuline nuns first arrived at New Orleans and establish the first Catholic charitable institution in America, consisting of an orphanage, a hospital and a school for girls.
April 08, 1730
America's first synagogue, Shearith Israel, was dedicated in New York City.
February 26, 1732
In Philadelphia, Mass was celebrated for the first time at St Joseph's Church the only Roman Catholic church built and maintained in the American colonies before the Revolutionary War.
February 29, 1736
Anna Lee, founder of the Shaker movement in America, was born in Manchester, England.
July 08, 1741
Jonathan Edwards preached his classic sermon, 'Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God,' a key step in the beginning of New England's Great Awakening.
June 22, 1750
Jonathan Edwards was dismissed from his post as minister of the Congregational church in Northampton, MA. He had been there for 23 years, but his ultra-conservative theology never wavered and over time both it and his inflexibility on administrative matters had become too much for the congregation.
February 14, 1760
Richard Allen, the first black ordained in the Methodist Episcopal Church, and founder of the African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church, was born a slave in Philadelphia.
March 29, 1772
Emanuel Swedenborg died.
August 06, 1774
English religious leader Ann Lee and a small group of followers arrived in America. Her sect became known to others as the "Shakers."
July 29, 1775
The American Army began employing chaplains, making theirs the oldest branch of the army after the Infantry.
September 02, 1784
Thomas Coke was consecrated as the first "bishop" in the Methodist Episcopal Church by the founder of Methodism, John Wesley. Coke was later instrumental in the development and growth of Methodism in North America.
April 12, 1787
Richard Allen, the first black ordained in the first Methodist Episcopal Church, founded the Free African Society.
June 11, 1789
Richard Allen was ordained a deacon of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Allen would later go on to found the African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church and become the first African-American bishop in the United States.
November 06, 1789
Father John Carroll was elected the first Roman Catholic bishop in the United States.
December 25, 1789
During the first Christmas under America's new Constitution, the Congress was in session. This fact may seem odd today, but at the time Christmas was not a major Christian holiday. As a matter of fact, Christmas had a bad reputation among many Christians as a time of un-Christian excess and partying. Between 1659 and 1681, celebrating Christmas was actually illegal in Boston and anti-Christmas sentiment in the North prevented the day from becoming a national holiday until 1870.
March 03, 1794
Richard Allen founded African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church.
April 09, 1794
Richard Allen, the first black ordained in the Methodist Episcopal Church, opened the Bethel African Church.
April 09, 1799
With the help and leadership of Richard Allen, the first black ordained in the Methodist Episcopal Church, the African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church was created in Philadelphia by six black Methodist congregations.
April 11, 1799
The African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church consecrated Richard Allen as its first bishop.
The 19th Century (1800 to 1899)
May 09, 1800
John Brown, American abolitionist, was born.
July 01, 1800
The earliest known Methodist camp meeting in America was held in Logan County, Kentucky.
February 16, 1801
The African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Zion Church officially separated from its parent, the Methodist Episcopal Church.
June 01, 1801
Brigham Young is born.
August 06, 1801
One of the most famous Camp Meetings occurred at Cane Ridge, Kentucky. This lead to the 'Great Religious Revival of the American West'.
March 29, 1819
Rabbi Isaac Mayer Wise, founder of the Union of American Hebrew Congregations and the Hebrew Union College, was born.
June 21, 1821
The African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Zion Church was founded in New York City.
July 16, 1821
Mary Baker Eddy, founder of Christian Science, was born.
July 19, 1825
Liberal members of Congregational churches in New England founded the American Unitarian Association.
February 13, 1826
The first The American Temperance Society was founded in Boston. It would later be renamed the American Temperance Union and would become a national cause. Within a decade there were over 8,000 like-minded groups with more than 1.5 million members.
March 26, 1830
At the age of 24, Joseph Smith first published his famous book "The Book of Mormon."
April 06, 1830
James Augustine Healy, first black Roman Catholic bishop in America, was born on a plantation near Macon, Georgia. He was the son of an Irish planter and a slave.
March 26, 1831
Richard Allen, the first black ordained in the Methodist Episcopal Church, and founder of the African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church, died.
March 24, 1832
Mormon leader Joseph Smith was beaten, tarred and feathered in Ohio.
February 01, 1834
Henry McNeal Turner, bishop for the African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church, was born in Newberry Courthouse, South Carolina.
March 27, 1836
The first Mormon temple was dedicated in Kirtland, Ohio.
July 17, 1836
William White, the first American Anglican bishop, died at the age of 88. White was the person who coined the term "Protestant Episcopal" for the new Anglican denomination.
February 05, 1837
American evangelist Dwight L. Moody was born.
June 13, 1837
Mormon missionaries set off to proselytize in England.
June 1838
A group of Mormons formed an organization that would obey Joseph Smith "in all things" and in "whatever he requires. Originally called the Daughters of Zion, they later adopted the name Sons of Dan. As a formal group, it only lasted a few weeks.
June 06, 1838
Mormons beat non-Mormons with clubs during elections in the small Missouri town of Gallatin. Several non-Mormons were seriously injured.
October 25, 1838
As tensions between Mormons and non-Mormons increased, the first battle of the "Mormon War" in Missouri occurred at Crooked River when LDS forces raided a camp of the state militia and captured a number of horses.
October 30, 1838
Outraged over Mormon attacks on the state militia, members of the militia attacked Haun's Mill, a community of Mormon refugees. Eighteen men and boys were shot dead.
October 31, 1838
Joseph Smith surrendered to Missouri officials and was charged with high treason. He escaped after five months in jail, however, and fled to Illinois.
April 1839
Joseph Smith, having escaped from jail in Missouri, joined other Mormons in the town of Quincy, Illinois. Smith renamed the town to "Nauvoo," which he claimed was Hebrew for "beautiful location".
February 1841
Mormons in Illinois founded the Nauvoo Legion, an independent local militia tasked with defending Mormon interests. Joseph Smith was named its lieutenant general, the first American to claim that rank since George Washington.
March 21, 1843
Preacher William Miller of Massachusetts predicted the world would end on this date. Obviously, the world did not end, but Miller's ideas led to the creation of the Adventist churches in America.
July 12, 1843
Mormon leader Joseph Smith said that God approved of polygamy.
January 18, 1844
Senator (later President) James Buchanan introduced a resolution in the United States Senate that the United States be declared a Christian Nation and acknowledge Jesus Christ as America's Savior. The resolution was rejected, but man similar resolutions would be introduced during the following years, including at least one that would have amended the Constitution.
June 22, 1844
Joseph Smith, accused of instigating a riot when Mormons smashed the presses of a newspaper critical of his secret doctrines on polygamy, fled from arrest.
June 24, 1844
Joseph Smith and his brother Hyrum were arrested by Illinois authorities. Smith had previously attempted to use the Nauvoo militia to suppress church dissidents and to protect the city.
June 27, 1844
Joseph Smith and his brother Hyrum were lynched by a mob in Carthage, Illinois. Smith was the founder of the Mormon Church and the mob was outraged, in part, over Smith's recent authorization of polygamous marriages.
August 08, 1844
Brigham Young was chosen to lead the Mormons.
October 22, 1844
The "Great Disappointment" occurred when the return of Christ, predicted by William Miller, failed to happen once again. At least 100,000 disillusioned followers returned to their former churches or abandoned Christianity completely - but many went on establish what would become known as the Adventist Churches.
May 01, 1845
In Louisville, Kentucky, disaffected members of the Methodist Episcopal Church organized the Methodist Episcopal Church, South as a new denomination.
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