1. Now and Two Centuries Ago. The First Civilizers of North America. The Native Americans. Features of Their Social and Domestic Life. Their Intellectual, Moral, and Religious State

In religious respects the American people present a deeply interesting subject for investigation—incontrovertible proof of that truth that religious need lies in the very nature of the human spirit and is as eternal as the human spirit itself. Cut off from the ancient historical centers of religious belief by an immense ocean, this people have not only failed to suppress religious instincts within themselves, but on the contrary these have achieved among them such development as the majority of European peoples do not presently possess. While the latter, wearied by the prose of centuries-long ordinary life, have succumbed to cold and soulless skepticism gnawing away at the national organism, the American people, full of life and youthful fervor, are devoted wholeheartedly to their inner development—in all their forces and faculties, both in the political-social and in the religious-moral respects.

From the very beginning of its history, as it settled into the unknown wild country, this people had to shed the centuries-long traditions of the Old World, wrought by a complex historical process and often constraining the free exercise of national forces or directing them toward barren activity. It stood face to face with nature and with it alone had to struggle to secure their existence.

This mighty struggle developed in them energy and self-reliance, equalized the balance of their forces, harmonized their physical nature with their spiritual, and from this emerged that remarkable type of balanced person which the American represents. The balance of spiritual and physical forces constitutes the most characteristic trait of the American people. Thanks to it they are free from extremes in thought and life, and in this respect stand closer than any other people to the type of the perfect human being. This feature sharply distinguishes them from European peoples. By virtue of this very balance in their physical and spiritual nature, they of necessity represent a type of general balanced national development. In the Old World national development proceeds by way of limited centralization, so that national genius concentrates chiefly in a small group of higher classes and there reaches its highest manifestation and development, while the common people remain in the torpor of dark ignorance. In the United States, on the contrary, national genius is distributed more or less equally across the entire populace; but because it spreads widely, it does not reach the heights it achieves in Europe. The American people have numerous artists and poets who individually manifest undeniable signs of great national genius, but for all that this genius in them lacks the mighty force that distinguishes the genius of first-rate European poets and artists. They abound in philosophizing thinkers, and the best of them achieve remarkable power of transcendental thought; but at the same time in them is absent that mighty and free scope of philosophical thought which distinguishes the great philosophers of Europe. In respect to refined thought and the free flight of human genius the American people undoubtedly stand behind the chief European peoples and have not yet produced such geniuses as could have universal significance in the realm of pure thought or poetic creation. But on the other hand they have no rival in the Old World regarding that healthy practical thought which often more quickly and better approaches the true essence of the subject than the most refined and abstract thought. Abstract questions of human existence, which occupy European thought, little concern them, but they follow with deep interest their practical manifestation in history and find in them a clear answer to the demands of their thinking. Hence while in Europe thought is in constant fluctuation and undergoes periodic crises of extreme enthusiasms, American thought proceeds steadily along the path of continuous progressive development. And moreover, while European thought in its highest representatives in its powerful flight completely separates itself from life, losing itself in the cloud-high expanse of vague speculation, American thought always advances only ahead of life, and the latter, having it as its accessible guide, easily and freely directs its course according to its indications. This relation of thought to life manifests itself in all aspects of American life. They are the freest nation in political respects, but they are at the same time the most conservative people. They are alien to the utopian ideas of extreme European thinkers, and they regard them with disdainful coolness as a sickly chimera hindering healthy development of practical life. Hence socialism, which makes European states shudder, has no soil among the American people at all and drags out a wretched existence in the dirty corners of German emigration[1]. They are the most educated people in the world, but their education should be measured rather in breadth than in height, and the course of study in their highest colleges cannot equal the curricula of European universities. In social respects they know no class divisions based on ancestry and to a person is open a wide field for activity in all spheres of life which they can attain by means of their own inner abilities and talents; but at the same time once a position is attained by a person it is surrounded by the same social honor and privileges which in the Old World are connected with historically-established positions. Finally in religious respects they are the freest-thinking people, but their free thought at the same time finds limitation in the general conservatism of their character and therefore does not know such extremes as are inseparably bound up with religious free thought in Europe. Their religious free thought is Christian free thought and does not go beyond the bounds of positive Christian truths. European rationalism is as alien to the American people as is European socialism[2].

As a result of harmonious development of physical and moral forces in the American people there thus emerges a mental cast which constitutes a kind of mediocrity. But this mediocrity must not be understood in the European sense. It does not constitute weakness of productive forces, but is precisely the result of their healthy self-limiting action. Americans are a thoroughly young people. Their productive forces are distinguished by all the freshness and vigor of youth. Thought in them works with astonishing energy and practice with passion absorbs the results of mental work. Therefore if we use the term mediocrity to designate their character, it must be understood in the sense of that healthy state of an organism which with all the vigor of vital forces within it constitutes the surest pledge of moderation in its functions. A sickly or disordered organism is always more inclined to excesses and enthusiasms than a healthy organism, which by virtue of its normal development is more subject to the legitimate demands of everywhere-temperate nature. As a consequence of this, beneath external limitation the American nature is internally seething with activity. Its forces, not going beyond the bounds of temperance, display boiling energy within those bounds, and therefore the general level of vital activity in it is far higher than the average level that can be found in Europe. Alien to political utopias the American people at the same time regard with passionate devotion their existing political system. The same applies in religious respects. Alien to Europe’s destructive rationalism and deadening skepticism, the American people with youthful energy are devoted to positive Christian truths. The level of their religious character is as high as the level of their political self-consciousness. Their religious faith and political independence constitute the two chief elements of their life, and they live, move, and exist chiefly in them. Religious faith for them is the supreme ideal, their political system is their actual life. But as in every young organism the ideal has greater vitality and attractiveness than reality, so too in the American people their religious faith has even greater vitality than their political life[3].

To religious zeal the American people owe their very origin. The “Pilgrim Fathers,” as the people respectfully call the first settlers of America, when migrating to the newly discovered continent were impelled to do so by their religious zeal. They were prepared to endure all the dangers of ocean voyage and subject themselves to all unforeseen hardships on the new land only in order to preserve their faith. And upon arrival on the American continent their first thought was the establishment of “the Kingdom of God” on earth, such an order of society which would be a full expression of their religious beliefs. They were so imbued with the religious spirit that the theocratic principle lay at the foundation of their society, almost in its Old Testament strictness[4]. This was an extremity and it is explained by the exceptional position of the Puritans. As such it could not endure during the subsequent historical development. With the passage of time various nationalities began to arrive in the country bringing with them diversity of customs and religious beliefs. Settling among the Puritans, colonists of different faiths made impossible the continuation of the theocratic regime in all its original strictness, and therefore it naturally had to yield to other influences. The original American population consisted of English Puritans and Dutch. If the former were representatives of stern, fanatical religious regime, the latter brought with them religious free thought which, reinforced by subsequent German elements, became an important counterweight to theocratic extremity. From the interaction of these elements is formed the present character of religiosity of the American people. The tension of the Puritan religious system was so great that in collision with the opposite element it could lose only so much as to limit its extreme manifestations. On the other hand the free thought of the Dutch-German element was not so great as to endure in collision with Puritan enthusiasm, and therefore it submitted in considerable degree to Puritanism. Hence the middle level of religiosity could be only such a level at which religiosity, displaying the traits of moderate free thought, has the predominant character of Puritanism. By such character is distinguished the contemporary religiosity of the American people. In particulars it inclines toward religious free thought, but at the same time Puritanism appears as the dominant element even in such localities where one might expect the predominance of the opposite element[5]. Evidently Puritanism, as having formed the foundation of the entire worldview of the first American settlers, so successfully rooted itself on American soil and even embodied itself in political institutions that for subsequent settlers it became the fundamental spirit of American life and therefore they, as newcomers, by necessity had to submit to it as the dominant sentiment, notwithstanding that Puritanism as a church-religious community had long lost its preeminent position in the country[6].

Footnotes

[3] It is remarkable that during the past century, church-religious life developed more rapidly than the general population of the country. By careful investigation at the end of the last century, the country had fewer than 1,950 churches. Since the entire population then was 3.5 million, one church fell to 1,700 souls. By the latest census of 1870, the total number of churches was shown to be over 72,000, which, with a population of 38,000,000, gives one church for every 529 souls. In other words, while the population increased eleven-fold, the number of churches increased almost thirty-seven-fold. North American Review, Jan. 1876, p. 23. A measure of the religious condition of the American people can be furnished by another fact, namely the number of seats in churches. According to statistical determination, from the population, excluding infants, the sick and elderly, persons occupied with domestic work and care of the sick, workers on railroads, steamships, omnibuses, and other places requiring constant presence on duty, only 58 percent can attend worship. And the number of church seats is entirely sufficient for this number. By the census of 1870, the population of the country was listed as 38,558,371 persons, while the number of seats in churches was 21,665,062, that is, slightly more than 55 percent. Thus only for 3 percent were no places provided in churches. In 1860, when the population was smaller, the number of church seats nearly reached the necessary figure. The population was 31,443,321, and the number of seats was 19,128,751, that is, for 57 percent of the population. Ten years earlier, namely in 1850, the number of seats was even above the need. The population consisted of 23,191,876 souls, and the number of church seats was 14,234,825, so that the latter was for 61 percent of the entire population. See Dale, Impressions of America, 190–191 New York, 1879. “The apparent decrease in the proportion of church seats in recent decades is explained by the fact that during this time external emigration arrived in such enormous masses that church-building activity could in no way keep pace with it and therefore fell behind the course of population growth.”

[6] A century ago the major religious societies stood in the following order by their numbers: Congregationalist (Puritan), Baptist, Anglican, Presbyterian, Lutheran, German Reformed, Dutch Reformed, and Roman Catholic. By the census of 1870 they already stood in the following order: Methodist, Baptist, Presbyterian, Roman Catholic, Christian, Lutheran, Congregationalist, and Protestant Episcopal (Anglican). This order is based on the comparative number of churches belonging to each community. If we judge by the number of seats in churches, then for the first four the order will remain the same, but the Congregationalists and Episcopalians will exceed the Lutherans and Christians. If we judge by the value of church property, then the Roman Catholic Church will take second place, and the Episcopal fifth. If finally we judge by the number of members belonging to the communities, then Methodism and Roman Catholicism will stand first. This order has been maintained to the present time, except regarding property value, in which the Roman Catholic Church by common expectation in the 1880 census should take first place. Diman, Religion in America 1776–1876. North American Review, vol. CXXII, pp. 22–23. American Almanac for 1881, p. 46.