Did the revolutionary war have anything to do with religious ideals?

by [deleted]

We're talking about the American Colonies and someone suggested that the revolutionary war was completely removed from religious idealism. Did the revolutionary war have anything to do with religious beliefs? For some reason I thought most things in the early Americas had to do with the religions of the people! she'd any light on this?

kiltsandrevenge

Not really, no. The war was mainly fought for political and economic reasons, rather than religious. The internal politics of the colonies themselves were often religious, however. In Virginia, no one could vote if they were not Protestant (among other things) and Catholics were denied the right to bear arms. The established religions in the 13 Colonies were pretty much all offshoots of the Church of England, Scotland or various other sects of which the British government (but not necessarily fellow colonial government) was tolerant, so long as such people were not in England, such as Quakers, or even sects that. There were some more fringe sects in Southeastern Pennsylvania, such as Anabaptists like the Amish and Mennonites, but according to their beliefs, they couldn't be involved in politics. There were even a smattering of Catholics throughout the colonies, in more tolerant areas like Virginia and Pennsylvania, but they were very few in number and were more likely to be loyal to the British government during the Revolutionary War than not. While Maryland was established as a haven for Catholics, during the Revolution of 1688 when King James II (a Catholic) of England was replaced by King William III (a Protestant) the hard-line Protestants in Maryland kicked the Catholics out, which is not to say there were not secret Catholics in Maryland (and other colonies, too), but open practice of the Roman religion was not looked upon favorably.

Getting back to your original question, the religious difference between Britain and its colonies were not so great as to lead to war. Certainly, in the colonies, there were religious leaders who supported the war, and even told people to enlist and fight from the pulpit. So occasionally religious fervor was a factor in people getting involved in the war, but it is far from the only reason.

There was a question not too long ago about the exact causes of the American Revolution, you can find it here: http://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/1tlw85/what_are_the_phd_level_causes_of_the_american/