The American Revolution had largely been a secular affair. The Founding Fathers clearly demonstrated their opposition to the intermingling of politics and religion by establishing the separation of church and state in the first amendment to the Constitution. ...
In part because religion was separated from the control of political leaders, a series of religious REVIVALS swept the United States from the 1790s and into the 1830s that transformed the religious landscape of the country. Known today as the SECOND GREAT AWAKENING, this spiritual resurgence fundamentally altered the character of American religion. At the start of the Revolution the largest denominations were CONGREGATIONALISTS (the 18th-century descendants of Puritan churches), ANGLICANS (known after the Revolution as Episcopalians), and Quakers. But by 1800, EVANGELICAL METHODISM and BAPTISTS, were becoming the fasting-growing religions in the nation....