How did the Protestant Reformation affect the Americas?

Answer 1

This is relevant to the creation of the US because it is the backdrop in which we were created. Beginning in the 16th century, Europe was entrenched in religious warfare. Martin Luther had sparked the battle in Germany. German worked out their troubles by separating into Catholic and Protestant counties. In Britain, the Catholics and Protestants were battling quite bloodily and you've probably heard the stories of Bloody Queen Mary (the Catholic who lost) and her sister Queen Elizabeth I (the more bloody Protestant queen who ended up winning so she doesn't have the nasty nickname). Spain remained Catholic, Calvinism split Switzerland and France and the Netherlands.

In short, lots of people in Europe were arguing about what to believe. Some people wanted to stay Catholic, others wanted to become one of a variety of Protestant faiths. Some wanted to make society more man-centered (secular humanism), others wanted to make society more truly religious (Puritans). These battles weren't just philosophical. People were dying for their beliefs. Churches were being destroyed; even the dead couldn't be buried because of all the arguing!

So when Columbus discovered this new continent, it created the opportunity for a new sort of social experiment. The Pilgrims, for instance, were Protestant separatists from the Church of England. Because of all the squabbling in Britain, the Church of England was trying to strike a middle ground between Catholics and Protestants - an arrangement which really pleased no one! The Pilgrims wanted to purge all Catholic elements from the church and were dissatisfied with what they could do in England. Therefore, to please God, they left for America to try and create a new religious colony which would please God as they imagined Him.

The concept of religious tolerance, which was not existent in Europe before the Reformation, was an outgrowth of all the arguing of the age. It got a lot of practice in the Netherlands, which consequently, was where the Pilgrims tried living before they came to the US. They left because religious tolerance was too great there and they couldn't force people to practice all of the restrictions they thought society would benefit from. In any case, the principles of religious tolerance created during this time period would later be enshrined in our constitution: Freedom of Religion.

A philosopher named John Locke was schooled in humanism and created a philosophy on which the American government was based. Locke's system of government was basically that, instead of supposing that people behaved to please God and fulfill religious obligations, he figured that people behaved because they knew it offered them safety. If we all agree not to murder each other, then we ourselves do not get murdered. This thought process was not common in Europe before Locke and virtually unthinkable before the humanist movement which was a part of the Reformation. The founding fathers were all huge fans of Locke's philosophy and based much of our constitution on his writings.

Additionally, the spirit of church splitting which Americans had learned in the Protestant Reformation was alive and well in the American church. There are currently more than 10,000 American-born varieties of Christianity. This habit of leaving churches whose pastors you don't like, or whose ideology you disagree with even slightly, was learned in the Reformation.

Answer 2

There was a lot of fighting over who believed what so when Columbus found the new continent, the Christians moved there to practice their beliefs and escape religious persecution.

Answer 3

The impact of the Protestant Reformation was that it enhanced the freedom of worship without limitations. This is what resulted into some many religions coming up due the liberty it promoted.