ABSTRACT
Chapter 4 continues to address the larger question of whether the United States was founded as a Christian nation by looking more specifically at the role of religion in the years immediately following the American Revolution in the creation of the new nation. In particular, it looks at the movement toward the separation of church and state and the free exercise of religion, as well as the views of some of the major Founding Fathers commonly referenced in any conversation over “original intent.” Finally, it focuses on the second major episode of religious revivalism in the nation’s history, the Second Great Awakening, and its impact on the course of religion and democracy in America.
