Ap Us History Dbq Sample Essay

1 A) From a historical perspective, the United States was a Christian nation from 1600 to around 1940’s despite efforts to enforce the notion that the state is separate from the church. The main reason for this was due to the characteristics of the Puritans which included being strict and religious. The Puritans were persecuted from Britain for going against the church of England and declaring a divine intervention for their faith known as “Errand in the wilderness”. During the Great Awakening from 1730’s to the 1740’s there was a call for the state to get rid of religious hierarchy and place a more egalitarian system in its place. The great awakening, an Evangelical movement, was marked my emotionally driven sermons, and yet was also marked

During the 1830’s, here was a political backlash on immigration, specifically because of the fact that most immigrants at that time were Catholic. This was troublesome because back in the 1500’s the protestants split from the Catholic Church, and this new wave of immigration sparked fear that the number of Catholics would grow. The reason that this fear was made possible was because even though the United States constitution does not explicitly mention god, religion has had influence on politics. An example of religion having influence over politics was the Anti-Saloon League in 1895, which was a protestant movement aimed at democratic government and local rights which also incorporated an anti-Catholic sentiment. This group was the first major religiously motivated to successfully have an impact on politics in the United States. The Anti-Saloon League was the cause for the 18th amendment which stated that the sale and production of alcoholic beverages would be illegal. Had the state truly been free of religion, this amendment would have not have been

The landmark case that changed that was the Cantwell v. Connecticut case in 1940 which cited that the due process clause makes the free exercise clause applicable to the state. Because the government was increasing at such a rapid pace, many cases in the 1940’s were proliferation of religious cases. Although federally, the United States is separated religion from the state, individual states have tax exemption for churches. While some people do believe that church and state should be completely separate, there are some who believe that without the state, the church can not