User:Thomas Lazuli Quickdagger/History of religion in the United States

To my understanding, this is where I will display my current bibliography and eventually draft changes for the article in the subject line for Dashboard.wikiedu.com. If this is the incorrect location, please let me know and redirect me.

Other sources not part of Bibliography Assignment

 * History.com Editors. (2009, October 29). The Puritans. History.com. Retrieved September 10, 2021, from https://www.history.com/topics/colonial-america/puritanism.
 * Britannica, T. Editors of Encyclopaedia (2021, August 31). Roger Williams. Encyclopedia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/biography/Roger-Williams-American-religious-leader
 * Britannica, T. Editors of Encyclopaedia (2021, January 5). Anne Hutchinson. Encyclopedia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/biography/Anne-Hutchinson

(I Haven't been able to confirm this source as 'credible but I still think it could provide inspiration, if not citations)

Winship, M. P. (2019). Hot Protestants a history of Puritanism in England and America. Yale University Press. https://doi.org/10.12987/9780300244793

My Plan for improving the Article
At this point my main plan is to improve the puritanism section which contains very little content and very little citation. I also intend to look at other sections to improve in smaller ways and I may even propose a new section about the religion of the American presidents as I find the statistics to be interesting but I'm not certain if that's relevant so I will no doubt ask for advise about that in the talk section.

Draft
(quick facts to be sourced and turned into a cohesive paragraph

Main Puritanism section.

Puritanism was not a religion of it's own, but rather was a movement, started in England, to reform Protestantism1. The first Puritans in America who were called such, however, came to America between 1629 and 1640 and settled New England, specifically the Massachusetts Bay area. These did not consider themselves completely separated from the English Church, however, and originally believed that they would one day return to purify England2.

Puritans are often confused with a distinct, but similar sect of protestants, called Separatists, who also believed that the Church of England was corrupt. However, Separatists believed that nothing more could be done to purify England itself. Separatists were persecuted, and their religion was outlawed in England, so they resolved to form a pure church of their own. One group of these, the Pilgrims, left England for America in 1620, originally settling in Plymouth, Massachusetts3. These are the settlers who founded the tradition of Thanksgiving in America4. They are also the group that many people attempt to pay homage to by dressing in dull colors and buckled hats. However, the pilgrims did not really dress as such5.

Together, the Pilgrims and the Puritans helped to form the Massachusetts Bay Colony1. While is difficult to define a distinct time that Puritanism ended or a reason why it ended, one of the reasons most cited is that they became less committed to their religion6. Also, while there is some disagreement on an exact end point, most sources agree that puritanism had declined by the beginning of the 18th century7.

Puritan valued, among other things, soberness, diligence, education, and responsibility. They believed in predestination and were intolerant of all that they considered impure, including, but not limited to, Catholicism. While they intended to purify England, they nevertheless chose their ministers and members independently8.

Puritan values may have had some influence on American ideals such as individualism. For example, the puritan concept of justification-by-faith emphasized the personal values of the individual. Moreover, their physical break from the Church of England(although they did not consider themselves fully separate) proves their independence8. The Pilgrims may have had an influence as well. In fact, upon their first arrival in America, the Pilgrims signed the Mayflower Compact, a document which set up a government independent of England's control(albeit, a temporary government) which could be thought of as a predecessor to the non-temporary Declaration of Independence8.

Puritan persecution section.

Puritans also began the Salem Witch trials, named after the city that they were held in, Salem, Massachusetts. Starting with seizures of the local reverend's daughter as well as her subsequent accusations, more than 200 people were accused of practicing witchcraft, and 20 were executed. The colony eventually realized that the trials were a mistake and tried to help the families of the convicted members9.

Jews Section

The first record of Jews in America cites their origin as passengers aboard the Dutch ship, St. Catrina. These records were kept by Jan Pietersz Ketel who was a skipper aboard the Peereboom, which was an Amsterdam ship that arrived near the same time as the St. Catrina. According to Jan Pietersz Ketel, 23 Jewish refugees, fleeing persecution in Dutch Brazil, arrived in New Amsterdam (soon to become New York City) in 165410. By the next year, this small community had established religious services in the city. Around 1677, a group of Sephardim had arrived in Newport, Rhode Island, also seeking religious liberty and, by 1678, they had purchased land in Newport11. Small numbers of Jews continued to come to the British North American colonies, settling mainly in the seaport towns. By the late 18th century, Jewish settlers had established several synagogues.

Catholicism section splicing

For their political opposition, Catholics were harassed and had largely been stripped of their civil rights since the reign of Elizabeth I. Driven by "the sacred duty of finding a refuge for his Roman Catholic brethren," George Calvert obtained a charter from Charles I in 1632 for the territory between Pennsylvania and Virginia. This Maryland charter offered no guidelines on religion, although it was assumed that Catholics would not be persecuted in the new colony. His son Lord Baltimore, was a Catholic who inherited the grant for Maryland from his father and was in charge 1630–45. In 1634, Lord Baltimore's two ships, the Ark and the Dove, sailed with the first 200 settlers to Maryland. They included two Catholic priests. Lord Baltimore assumed that religion was a private matter. He rejected the need for an established church, guaranteed liberty of conscience to all Christians, and embraced pluralism.

Catholic fortunes fluctuated in Maryland during the rest of the 17th century, as they became an increasingly smaller minority of the population. After the Glorious Revolution of 1689 in England, the Church of England was legally established in the colony and English penal laws, which deprived Catholics of the right to vote, hold office, or worship publicly, were enforced. Maryland's first state constitution in 1776 restored the freedom of religion. Maryland law remained a major center, as exemplified by the pre-eminence of the Archdiocese of Baltimore in Catholic circles. However, at the time of the American Revolution, Catholics formed less than one percent of the white population of the thirteen states. Religiously, the Catholics were characterized by personalism, discipline, and a prayer life that was essentially personal, demanding only a small role for priests and none for bishops. Ritualism was important, and focused on daily prayers, Sunday Mass, and observance of two dozen holy days.

A running list of the sources that I have used


 * The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica (2020, May 15). Puritanism. Encyclopedia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/topic/Puritanism
 * History.com Editors. (2009, December 2). The pilgrims. History.com. Retrieved October 8, 2021, from https://www.history.com/topics/colonial-america/pilgrims.
 * Moore, J. (2020, December 3). Pilgrims, Puritans, and the importance of the unexceptional. Washington University St. Louis, Arts & Sciences. Retrieved October 9, 2021, from https://artsci.wustl.edu/ampersand/pilgrims-puritans-and-importance-unexceptional.
 * Ushistory.org. (n.d.). William Bradford and the first Thanksgiving. ushistory.org. Retrieved October 9, 2021, from https://www.ushistory.org/us/3b.asp.
 * Miller, P., & Johnson, T. H. (2005, January 23). The Puritans: A Sourcebook of Their Writings. Introduction: The Puritans. Retrieved October 9, 2021, from http://academic.brooklyn.cuny.edu/english/melani/english2/puritans_intro.html.
 * Kidd, T.S. (2005). What Happened to the Puritans?Historically Speaking 7(1), 32-34. doi:10.1353/hsp.2005.0084.
 * History.com Editors. (2009, October 29). The Puritans. History.com. Retrieved October 9, 2021, from https://www.history.com/topics/colonial-america/puritanism.
 * Kang, N. (2009, December 1). Puritanism and its impact upon American values. Review of European Studies. Retrieved October 9, 2021, from https://ccsenet.org/journal/index.php/res/article/view/4585.
 * Blumberg, J. (2007, October 23). A brief history of the Salem Witch Trials. Smithsonian.com. Retrieved October 9, 2021, from https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/a-brief-history-of-the-salem-witch-trials-175162489/.
 * Hershkowitz, L. (n.d.). By chance or choice: Jews in New Amsterdam 1654. Americanjewisharchives.org. Retrieved October 9, 2021, from https://sites.americanjewisharchives.org/publications/journal/PDF/2005_57_01_02_hershkowitz.pdf.
 * Smith, E. S., & Sarna, J. (n.d.). Introduction The Jews of Rhode Island. brandeis.edu. Retrieved October 9, 2021, from https://www.brandeis.edu/hornstein/sarna/introscommnets/Archive/TheJewsofRhodeIsland.pdf.
 * Kleiman, K. (n.d.). Touro Synagogue - History and Learning. Touro 2.5 joomla. Retrieved October 9, 2021, from https://www.tourosynagogue.org/history-learning/synagogue-history.