Native Americans And Christianity During Nineteenth Century America

In the early 1600’s, English people, attempting to escape the economic crisis that had plagued England, began migrating to the Americas and establishing colonies. The New England colonies and the Chesapeake region were both settled largely by populations of people of English origin. Despite this similarity, by 1700 the regions had evolved into two distinct societies. The difference in the kind of people that settled, the shared communal values, and the profitability of the land in these areas are what shaped these regions into contrasting societies.

William Cronon’s Changes in the Land: Indians, Colonists, and the Ecology of New England is all about the changing condition of the land, New England in the newly discovered world. It talks about the ecosystem, plants, and animal communities and how they were affected by the new settlers. As the inhabitant of the distant world were introduced to the New England drastic changes took place and both world eventually started to become same, as William states in his thesis “the shift from Indian to European dominance in New England entailed important changes—well known to historians—in the ways these peoples organized their lives, but it also involved fundamental reorganizations—less well known to historians—in the region’s plant and animal communities”

The Native Americans of the Great Plains Religion was all about the Sundance and dreams they had. There were people dancing around a fire ,starting the Sundance with a lady cutting down a tree to start it off. During it they would make sacrifices with people and continually hurt themselves for their horse god. So the gods they worshipped were the horse and buffalo gods because they were the animals they saw the most ,they also had the most benefits from them too. They used pipes and other materials during the Sundance to show where they should go next on their journey and who should they become in the future of their lives like vishions . The Great plains indians were very different from other indians with their horse gods and such violence

In the 1700’s the New England and Chesapeake regions prospered in agriculture and commerce, but it was the period of time before this that helped develop these regions into what they were at the time. The development of these regions were diversified by the religion that they practiced, native policies, and the social structure of the area. The religion brought to these regions helped alter their way living from one another.

Religion was the foundation of the early Colonial American Puritan writings. Many of the early settlements were comprised of men and women who fled Europe in the face of persecution to come to a new land and worship according to their own will. Their beliefs were stalwartly rooted in the fact that God should be involved with all facets of their lives and constantly worshiped. These Puritans writings focused on their religious foundations related to their exodus from Europe and religions role in their life on the new continent. Their literature helped to proselytize the message of God and focused on hard work and strict adherence to religious principles, thus avoiding eternal damnation. These main themes are evident in the writings of

The Europeans changed the land of the home of the Indians, which they renamed New England. In Changes in the Land, Cronon explains all the different aspects in how the Europeans changed the land. Changing by the culture and organization of the Indians lives, the land itself, including the region’s plants and animals. Cronon states, “The shift from Indian to European dominance in New England entailed important changes well known to historians in the ways these peoples organized their lives, but it also involved fundamental reorganizations less well known to historians in the region’s plant and animal communities,” (Cronon, xv). New England went through human development, environmental and ecological change from the Europeans.

The first Europeans who saw the coast of pre-colonial New England thought of it as untapped virgin lands that had infinite resources. Cronon talks about how Henry Thoreau described the woods where Native Americans lived as “more open and parklike appearance to the first English settlers, without the underbrush and coppice growth so common in nineteenth-century Concord” (Cronon, pg 5). They didn’t realize that there were Native American inhabitants on the land as well. These Indians were already changing the environment by burning parts of forests to grow crops. The interaction of

Both The First Great Awakening and The Enlightenment generated an instant trend in the revival of religious influences. Started by Jonathan Edwards and George Whitefield, the Great Awakening was most commonly understood to have its greatest religious impact between the 1730s and 1740s. American colonists had begun to become more devoted to various religions, which resulted in the toleration of many of them. Another cause of this revival dated back to the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries when a German movement, called Pietism, emphasized closely distinct personal connections with God (Gullotta, 2016). This movement spread as a result British, German, Scottish, Scotch-Irish immigration that then influenced British and Dutch religion (Gullotta, 2016). As a consequence, American colonists had begun to become more devoted to various religions, which resulted in the toleration of many of them.

What is your definition of an immigrant? My definition of an immigrant is a person who moves to a foreign country and brings with them traditions and cultures, which they assimilate into their new country. During the nineteenth century, the United States was predominately a protestant nation, which experienced high levels of immigration. From countries such as Poland, Ireland, Russia, and Germany. Many of these ethnic groups were Catholic and Jewish parishioners. Immigration impacted American’s religious life in the nineteenth century be result of immigrants religious traditions, the establishment of new laws coinciding with religion, and biblical criticism, which affected

The Great Awakening and Enlightenment of the colonial America originated in Europe spreading through Europe and eventually the American Colonies during the middle of the 18th century. The product of the Enlightenment was the Great Awakening, and began to show concern that church member had lost the quest for religious fulfillment (USHistory.org, 2017). Creation of evangelism or preaching to the masses was made common place during this time as well. One of the first congregational ministers of the Great Awakening was Jonathan Edwards, his strong spiritual sermons stressed the need of God and God’s grace in the life of man. However, Jonathan Edwards was not a minister that wanted to conform to the Church of England, and refused the thinking

Through American history, we are told over and over that America was based upon a foundation of God fearing men, but without the knowledge that we are who we are because of God himself, we would be nothing. In the book, America 's Christian History: The Untold Story, it speaks upon the moral foundations of the government that were established by the Pilgrims/Puritans and the Founding Fathers of America.

Initially, America did not have a Christian foundation in the sense of creating a theocracy. However, it was shaped by Christian moral truths, and the forefathers created a hospitable environment that supported this religion. The relationship linking the state and religion grew strong as most of the people in the nation became Christians. This research paper outlines how Christianity came to be one of the major religions in the United States of America.

Europeans settle the America continent as their focus is the conversion of the natives into Europeans. The white population grow rapidly as deals is made. The westward movement push the Indian more distant from the Atlantic shore. As a result, the Indians land are no longer untouchable and the final invasion of Indians homeland begin with the Daves Act of

Similar to Cronon’s discussion of Indians and colonists in Changes in the Land: Indians, Colonists, and the Ecology of New England Hyde discusses the many differences between Indians and European settlers. He places a significant

Changes in the Land analyzes the changes in ecosystem that was created by the introduction of Europeans into England. It shows the shift of life from Natives to Europeans and many of the changing circumstances. More than the environment being affected, the author goes into detail about how the lives of the Natives and Europeans heavily differed. The European contact drastically altered the land and ecosystem in the environment once settlers were introduced into the picture.