ABSTRACT
The first “fieldworker” to describe American society, Alexis de Tocqueville, in the early 1800s, found a people who were optimistic, practical, materialistic, egalitarian in spirit, energetic, a little unsophisticated, and unusually religious. In fact, he wrote, “The religious atmosphere of the country was the first thing that struck me on arrival in the United States” (1969: 295). He was surprised not only by the general religiosity of the society but also at the diversity of religion, the “innumerable multitude of sects” (Tocqueville 1969: 290). All of these sects, he thought, shared the same basic worldview and morality, including a commitment to freedom and equality; the original settlers, he opined, “brought to the New World a Christianity which I can only describe as democratic and republican” (Tocqueville 1969: 288). Among their values was a voluntary separation of religion and politics; even the priests and ministers declined to “lend their support to any particular political system. They are at pains to keep out of affairs and not mix in the combinations of parties” (Tocqueville 1969:
291). He also noted the propensity for religious extremism, especially in the sparsely settled western frontier: “Here and there throughout American society you meet men filled with an enthusiastic, almost fierce, spirituality such as cannot be found in Europe. From time to time strange sects arise which strive to open extraordinary roads to eternal happiness. Forms of religious madness are very common there” (Tocqueville 1969: 574).
