The first Americans immigrated from so many different cultures. Yet over time the unity of the cultures came together to create the Anglo-Protestant culture. This culture was strict, demanding and confining for many who did not want to give their lives to a new set of beliefs. The core beliefs of the culture were not confining and ultimately, “benefited them and the country” (pg. 61). I believe that the practices of the Anglo-Prostatism culture were lenient enough to cause a stronger society that could unify under one less confining religion, creating a “evangelical empire”.
In the Anglo-protestant culture it was your duty to have a relationship with god. There were no priest to be the middle man with God. Priest who had previously ruled the world, because they were your only connection to God, what they said was the rule of the land. Priests were worshiped and treated and the only sons of God. Thus, this new culture that was created caused a less unhealthy relationship in the church “Protestantism became increasingly populist and less hierarchical and increasingly emotional” (pg. 65). In the Anglo-Protestant way they tried to get rid of this issue, where not one man could tell you how to practice. If you are your own connection to God, then you are your own punisher when you have wronged. Therefor people would give themselves less penance to do. They would believe that God wouldn’t want them to suffer but live how they are.
Without a national religion people were allowed to make their own churches that conformed to their personal beliefs. You would be saved by your actions not through suffering in the name of God. It was up to you and your neighbors to create the faith you wanted, and it would procced the way you desired with the “sacred rights for the individual” (pg. 67) . Without priests you were left with the bible. Which to many served as their only connection to God and the life they should be living. This allowed for people to practice where they wanted and when they wanted. This religious freedom of the time let people focus on moving forward not to the past.
Since there was no single conforming religion this culture allowed for almost 200 years of great awakenings in America. People radically changed their beliefs due to the new freedom to do that they wanted, creating “the single most formative events in America’s political history” (pg 63). These Great Awakenings led to women’s rights movements, abolitionist movements and many more that shaped our country into one that is more enlightened and accepting. Without this perfect climate for change the country could possibly still in its old ways. The Anglo-Protest way emphasized the ideals that every man is created equal and has the right to their freedom, which led to the proclamation to demolish slavery.
In the early years of America, the peoples were confined to a certain culture that didn’t allow for individuality. The Anglo-Protestant culture allowed for people to practice and preach they way they saw fit. With this religious freedom people branched out to new ideas and grew the country to the strength that it is today. The Anglo-Protestant culture took away all of the confining variables of previous cultures at the time and allowed for true freedom to practice religion, for those who had suffered religious persecution.
8 replies on “Short Essay #2”
I agree with Sophie in how the Anglo-Protestant religion is a better refrain from those who were ruled in europe. However, this did not stop the unhealthy relationship within the Church. There continued to be a fight with the question of religion in society. With living in the colonies in America, you were supposed to be able to create a religion that meant the most to you and related to your life the most. Being one of the main reasons, Europeans traveled across the sea. However, if you did not fully practice the rules and views within the Anglo-Protestant religion, you were victimized against. As America grew the hopes of converting and creating religion that you wanted became more acceptable. Even today though, the challenge still occurs of what the right religion is.
This essay was well written and I agree with a bunch of your ideas. More specifically, you use good quotes that support your ideas as well as good analysis. Additionally, you touched on the importance of the Great Awakenings, which was interesting but may have been better if you added more details. Another interesting part of the essay was when you described some important values of the Anglo-Protestant culture like relationships with God.
Overall, I find that you did a great job highlighting how religious freedoms shape the beliefs of Americans. I liked how you highlighted that the freedom of religion allowed people to further shape society and promote change as you stated, “This religious freedom of the time let people focus on moving forward not to the past.” Although, in contrast, I do disagree as not everything was left behind. It was necessary for people to not forget the past to promote change in their society, as this is what motivated them to promote change in their newfound land.
I thought your essay was very interesting, and I agreed with some key points, including some of how the freedom or religion allowed people to shape their own society more. It is also interesting who you bring up the strong anglo- protestant religion presence, but talk about how it is less constraining than the religions of Europe. I do think you need to talk about the drawbacks of Anglo- protestant culture a little more, because as we know, it wasn’t fully freedom of religion.
You take an interesting position on the prompt and provide evidence. There was some spelling and grammar errors. So, I suggest proofreading more such as reading out loud to someone. A suggestion I have is to make a counter-argument to the prompt, so arguing why your side of prompt is valid and the other isn’t. It could be a good add-on to your essay. Your use of Huntington’s evidence is good and followed by convincing analysis. I think you should expand more on the Great Awakenings because they were big moments in American history. You present a good knowledge of the Anglo-Protestant culture. An introduction is key to an essay as it gives background about the topic, states the argument, and attracts the reader. I think a good suggestion would be to improve your introduction by more specificity and proofreading. Overall, it is a good essay and with revisions it could be a stronger paper.
I liked your essay and agree with the points you brought up. You brought up important text from Huntington’s text that contributed to your ideas. You elaborated on the ideas Huntington presented about the Anglo-Protestant culture which was important. You gave a good example about how there wasn’t a specific hierarchy in Protestantism which made worshiping more enjoyable.
Great ideas overall, the counterargument of the prompt is a compelling one and the respect and value that his essay places on Anglo-Protestant culture thoroughly reinforce your ideas. I think that with a little extra elaboration and some clarification of the connections of your claims would go a long way in bringing this to a portfolio level piece. I also just wanted to highlight the insightful connection between the anglo-protestant culture and religious values and civil rights movements. That is definitely not something that you think of at first but once you read this concept it definitely makes sense.
I think overall you have a good foundation in expressing your ideas and responding to the prompt. I feel like your essay could be strengthened with a slight revision to the introductory paragraph. Having an attention grabbing opening sentence is a really good way to draw in the reader. My only other note on the introductory paragraph is that the third and fourth sentences seem to kind of contradict each other, so maybe if you fix the wording your point will come across more clearly. All in all, I like how you went against the prompt and support it with the text.