![]() ![]() Unlike the Anglican establishments, those of the Congregationalists had been on the winning side of the Revolution and did not seem discredited by American independence. But in several New England states, Congregationalist religious establishments remained in place. The Revolution separated church and state in those places where the Church of England had been established in colonial times. ![]() Actually, these common beliefs are but half-truths. It threw them wholly on their own resources and on God.” 1 As Beecher came to realize, the change in status proved an advantageous trade-off for organized religion.Īmericans eventually came to think of the separation of church and state as one of the achievements of the Revolution, and as guaranteed by the Bill of Rights. It cut the churches loose from dependence on state support. For several days I suffered what no tongue can tell for the best thing that ever happened to the State of Connecticut. “The injury done to the cause of Christ, as we then supposed, was irreparable. “It was as dark a day as ever I saw,” he recalled. He had fought hard to protect his faith from political defeat, and he had lost. When the state of Connecticut disestablished religion in 1818, the prominent revival preacher Lyman Beecher fell into depression and apprehension. ![]()
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