So Help Me God
eBook - ePub

So Help Me God

The Founding Fathers and the First Great Battle Over Church and State

  1. 548 pages
  2. English
  3. ePUB (mobile friendly)
  4. Available on iOS & Android
eBook - ePub

So Help Me God

The Founding Fathers and the First Great Battle Over Church and State

About this book

The author of The American Creed tells "the story of our nation's historical encounters with God and culture" (Peter J. Gomes, New York Times bestselling author).
Today's dispute over the line between church and state (or the lack thereof) is neither the first nor the fiercest in our history. In a revelatory look at our nation's birth, Forrest Church recreates our first great culture war—a tumultuous, nearly forgotten conflict that raged from George Washington's presidency to James Monroe's.
Religion was the most divisive issue in the nation's early presidential elections. Battles raged over numerous issues while the bible and the Declaration of Independence competed for American affections. The religious political wars reached a vicious peak during the War of 1812; the American victory drove New England's Christian right to withdraw from electoral politics, thereby shaping our modern sense of church-state separation. No longer entangled, both church and state flourished.
Forrest Church has written a rich, page-turning history, a new vision of our earliest presidents' beliefs that stands as a reminder and a warning for America today.
"An illuminating study of the great tangle of our time. If we look back to our early years, we may well find a way forward." —Jon Meacham, #1 New York Times bestselling author of  His Truth is Marching On
"In this beautifully crafted and timely work, the aptly named Church takes us through the complex thoughts and actions of the nation's founders in a way that will give pause to most readers . . . This is an important work that delights and informs." — Publishers Weekly (starred review)

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Yes, you can access So Help Me God by Forrest Church in PDF and/or ePUB format. We have over one million books available in our catalogue for you to explore.

Information

Table of contents

  1. Title Page
  2. Contents
  3. Copyright
  4. Dedication
  5. Introduction
  6. Act I
  7. 1. Out of Many, One
  8. 2. With Liberty and Order For All
  9. 3. Unum Versus Pluribus
  10. Act II
  11. 4. A Churchgoing Animal
  12. 5. Black Cockades and Tricolors
  13. 6. “Order is Heaven’s First Law”
  14. 7. “The Grand Question”
  15. Act III
  16. 8. The American Dreamer
  17. 9. “For Jefferson and Liberty”
  18. 10. Utopia Meets Reality
  19. Act IV
  20. 11. Constructing Freedom’s ALTAR
  21. 12. Defending the Empire of Liberty
  22. Act V
  23. 13. All For One and One For All
  24. 14. Considerations of Humanity
  25. Epilogue
  26. Appendix
  27. Acknowledgments
  28. Endnotes
  29. Bibliography
  30. Index
  31. About the Author
  32. Connect with HMH