American History & Religion

The first libraries were instituted by the immigrants from New England. The first immigrants had little libraries filled with books from London. In the 1680s, Boston booksellers sold various books of different genres such as classical literature, history, politics, philosophy, science, theology and belles-lettres. The English colonies created the first printing press in Harvard College in 1939.

In Pennsylvania, the first school was established in 1683. The lessons taught in the school at that time were reading, writing and account keeping. Another school called Friends Public School offered advanced lessons in classical languages, history and literature. This school is now known as William Penn Charter School. The lessons were free to those who cannot afford to pay. Parents who could afford were required to pay tuition fees.

A number of private schools also sprung up in Philadelphia. These private schools did not have religious affiliations. They trained students in languages, mathematics and natural science. For adults, night schools were available for them. Women had the opportunity to study too but the lessons taught to them were limited to those they could use at home. There were private teachers however that could teach women especially from those of the rich Philadelphia families lessons in dancing, music, French, singing, painting, grammar and bookkeeping.

Two leading men in Philadelphia had profound influence on the quality of education of the place. These men were James Logan and Benjamin Franklin. Logan held the position of secretary of the colony. Young Franklin used his library for his scientific discoveries. Logan housed his book collection in a building he donated to the city in 1745.

Franklin was the foremost contributor to Philadelphia’s intellectual society. He created a debating club which became the basis of the American Philosophical Society. His works led to the creation of a public academy now known as University of Pennsylvania. He also established the subscription library which he referred as “the mother of all North American subscription libraries.”

The wealthy people from the Southern colonies hired private tutors all the way from Ireland or Scotland to teach their children lessons. Some sent their children to England. Due to these reasons, those in the upper classes did not promote public education. Also, farms and plantations were widely dispersed, making it difficult to establish a community school. A few free schools however were built in Virginia in 1647, Syms School and in 1659, Eaton School.

In 1704, the colonies in Cambridge, Massachusetts launched the first newspaper. In 1745, 22 other newspapers were sold in the entire colonies.

Freedom of the press was established in New York in the case of Johann Peter Zenger who created the New York Weekly Journal in 1733. Zenger opposed the government. Into the two years of the newspapers existence, the governor could not stand Zenger’s barbs. He had him put to prison on the charge of seditious libel. Zenger edited his paper in jail for nine months which caused great furor throughout the colonies. Andrew Hamilton, Zenger’s lawyer pointed out in his defense that Zenger’s barbs were true therefore not libelous. The jury gave a verdict to not guilty and Zenger was set free.

In the 1730s, a reformation movement called the Great Awakening was sweeping the entire colonies. This movement is a religious revival which began in Philadelphia and then spread to New England. George Whitefield and Jonathan Edwards spearheaded this spiritual movement.

Whitefield preached to an estimated 20,000 people using emotional oratory and gestures. It captured the audience’s attention and the religious revival spread like wildfire throughout New England and the middle colonies. Edwards, one of those influenced by Whitefield, gave the most memorable speech during the Great Awakening “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God”. His speech stressed the importance of emotional content of Christianity.

The Great Awakening became the foundation for evangelical denominations and revivalism which are still considered important in American religious and cultural life to this day. It encouraged believers to depend on their conscience and led to the creation of different religious sects and denominations which in turn formed the basis of the principle of religious toleration.