Reference no: EM131217406

Write a 4-page paper (approximately 1000 words) using one of the prompts provided below. Use standard 12-point font. You may use your choice of any standard citation style, but I ask that you are consistent throughout your paper. Please use spellcheck and grammar check, and maintain an academic tone. Cite your sources. Use quotation marks for a direct quote, and if you paraphrase, remember to give credit for the idea by introducing your source and citing text and page number.

1) Discuss some of the early colonial contacts with the first peoples in the Americas, and contrast and compare how approaches and ideologies differed between various European colonizers.

2) Discuss the concept of religious tolerance as held by various stakeholders in the early settlements and colonies.

3) What is meant by the "Great Awakening?" What is the historical significance? What tensions did it set in motion or amplify?

4) What arguments about the role of religion were put forth during the framing of the constitution? What questions were raised? Who were the major thinkers and what were their sources and motivations?

5) What role did religion play in the abolition movement? And how did religious discourse work to maintain the status quo? Identify the major streams and key voices.

6) Wildcard! Write your own question. (Do run it by me in advance!) Our text, like all texts, has gaps. Perhaps you would like to know more about the history of the early Muslims in the Americas, or you would like to research an indigenous group and their practices, or a particular historical movement or figure. I will do my best to connect you with some approachable sources for your topic, if you ask. For the midterm, you have to choose a topic that is pre-20th century, so before 1899, and it must focus in some way on religion in America.