A Version Developed for the NAMB Leadership Celebration

A Historical Look at the Status, Engagement and Implications of the Ta Ethne Immigration to the United States from 1775 to 2006 A Version Developed for the NAMB Leadership Celebration

Documentation of This Look At Immigration from 1775 to 1950 Will Herberg’s and Oscar Handlin’s works, along with John Hansen’s work, stand today as the classic works on immigration to the USA up to the 1950s. through major research of their own, which included Their research was based upon the work of hundreds of other social researchers of their era. That body of research when joined with research from the 1960s to now provides clarity and vital understanding of our situation today.

Exploring The Ta Ethne Migration from 1775 to 2006 A.D. An old proverb says: “those who do not consider and pay attention to history are doomed to repeat it.” There is a more biblical focus. A look at Israel in the Old Testament era tells us that when Israel ignored God and history, God warned them and instigated their downfall.

The Three Periods that Led to Future-Altering Changes in the USA The first of the three periods occurred between 1775 and 1924. We will extend this date to 1950 to include the religious data parameters. The second period of change occurred between 1945 and 1960. (This period is an overlap period.) The third period of change occurred between 1960 and 2006 A.D. and will likely continue to the extreme. Many Christians are unaware of issues.

A Look At 1775 to 1950--The Main Historical, Social and Religious Factors Related to Immigration to the USA

Will Herberg’s & Oscar Handlin’s Basic Research Findings Oscar Handlin said in the 1950s: “Once I thought to write a history of the immigrants in America. Then I discovered that the immigrants were American history”The Uprooted, The Epic Story of the Great Migrations that Made the American People. (p. 3. Little Brown, 1957) This is the most significant and critical reality for America and American Christians to understand-- then and now. We will explore the “then” followed by a look at the “now.”

A Look At 1775 to 1950—America, A Nation of “Panta ta ethne” Immigrants America was founded, grew and flourished in terms of ethnic peoples, population, religious adherents and their churches. We will explore those categories. Herberg described America following 1607 saying: “The colonists who came to these shores from the time of the founding of Jamestown in 1607 to the outbreak of the Revolution were mostly of English and Scottish stock, augmented by a considerable number of settlers of Dutch, Swedish, German, and Irish origin.”

A Look At 1775 to 1950—America, A Nation of “Panta ta ethne” Immigrants Herberg and Handlin said in separate research documents in the 1950s: “At the time of the Revolution, this British-Protestant element (usually, though inaccurately, known as ‘Anglo-Saxon’) constituted at least 75 per cent of the 3,000,000 whites who made up the new nation (in 1775)”. • “In addition, there were about three quarters of a million (750,000) negroes.” • “The great influx (of ethnics) came in the next century.” • In three huge waves, stretching over something more than a hundred years, over 35,000,000 men and women left Europe to come to continental United States.

A Look At 1775 to 1950—America, A Nation of “Panta ta ethne” Immigrants • By 1924 when the great migrations were past, the British-Protestant element had been reduced to less than half the population, and Americans had become linguistically and ethnically the most diverse people on earth.” (Herberg and Handlin) That situation has continued to increase since 1924 to 2006.

A Look At 1775 to 1950—America, A Nation of “Panta ta ethne” Immigrants • The melding force from 1775 was a combination of the frontier, economics and the continuing waves of ethnic immigrant arrivals from 1775 to 1924. • Immigrants found plenty of opportunities to work on the Westward moving frontier and came in waves seeking frontier jobs. • First generation immigrants rose from menial jobs to middle class manager/business status

The Economics of Immigrants “From 1830 to 1930, Irish, Bohemians, Slovaks, Hungarians, and many other peoples followed each other in the service of the pick and shovel, each earlier group, displaced by newcomers, moving upward in the occupational and social scale…If successive waves of immigration served as the ‘push’ in this pattern of occupational advancement, education and acculturation to American ways provided the immigrants with the opportunity of making the most of it,…” (Herberg)

A Look At 1775 to 1950—America, A Nation of “Panta ta ethne” Immigrants • The second generation of immigrants assumed the jobs of the vacated first generation immigrants who moved up on job ladder. • As the frontier moved farther westward and as new waves of immigrants came to America, the movement from menial to managerial jobs continued. • This kept immigrants from wholesale settlement within ethnic enclaves, except in cities.

A Look At 1775 to 1950—America, A Nation of “Panta ta ethne” Immigrants The Americanization process did produce in the somewhat melded population a fairly common English language among the ethnics. • However, pronounced (pun intended) regional, and some sub-regional, dialectical accents, worldview expressions and word choices remained unmixed within the various ethnics. • Some immigrants stayed in cities and often duplicated their ethnic status there.

A Look At 1775 to 1950—America, A Nation of “Panta ta ethne” Immigrants Americanization of the various European ethnics: • even though they learned English for economic reasons, this language melding did not erase all of their ethnic identities. • As will be seen, this language melding did not erase their religious identity from the old country. Of all their ethnic qualities, their religious identity came over from old country.

A Look At 1775 to 1950—America, A Nation of “Panta ta ethne” Immigrants Most of the regional dialectical and worldview differences can be traced to ethnic heritages that persisted. Consider the Cajuns in Louisiana. German dairy communities spotted the nation. For other examples see the DVD package entitled The Appalachians and the San Antonio, Texas Catholic Missions video produced by the US Parks and Historical Society.

A Look At 1775 to 1950—America, A Nation of “Panta ta ethne” Immigrants American frontier history shaped and “melded” only to a degree the European ta ethne peoples. • Over a two-hundred year period these multiple ethnic groups were melded mainly into an “Anglo Saxon” or Anglo-Saxon-oriented population, at least in terms of language. It is out of this process that the WASP arose—White Anglo Saxon Protestant.

A Look At 1775 to 1950—America, A Nation of “Panta ta ethne” Immigrants American religious denominations, beginning in 1775 and continuing until 1950, underwent classic changes which were only minimally theological. In the American religious landscape Protestantism dominated from the 1700s to the 1900s. American Indians, who were almost the only Americans in the 1500s and 1600s, and who existed in many ethnic groupings, are said by various historians to have suffered the most between 1775 and 1924 as the European ethnics came and settled the American frontier from the Atlantic to the Pacific.

The American Indian from 1600 to 1900 • The first change was the overrunning of the American Indians by the European immigrants • Of an estimated 300 plus original languages spoken within the American continent, 175 living languages remain (National Museum of the American Indian, the Smithsonian Inst.) • Optimum estimates of pre-Columbian population was 15,000,000 to 18,000,000 (R. David Edmonds of UTDallas)

The American Indian from 1600 to 1900 • By 1860 in the continental USA there were official government counts or estimates of 339,421 American Indians (James Collins, Native Americans in the Census, 1860-1890) • By 1880 the American Indian count was 305,543. (Collins) • Like all early US Census data, this was based upon a projected sample. The issue is the decline from 15,000,000 to 306,543.

Immigration from 1775 to 1924 “The ‘epic story of the great migrations that made the American people” came to an end substantially with World War I and with the restrictive legislation of the 1920s.” • 35,000,000 Europeans had reached these shores: • 4,500,000 from Ireland, • 4,000,000 from Great Britain, • 6,000,000 from central Europe, • 2,000,000 from the Scandinavian lands, • 5,000,000 from Italy, • 8,000,000 from eastern Europe, • and 3,000,000 from the Balkans. (This was America.” Much of Will Herberg’s data came from Handlin’s study cited earlier. See Herberg, p. 8.)

The Religious Situation In The USA from 1775 to 1950

The First Period of Change from 1775 to 1924 There was the status of Christianity in 1775 and the changes within the population in light of Christianity during this period. • It was clear that the main reason that people migrated to the New World was primarily for religious freedom. There were other minor reasons. • The percent of Christians in the colonies in 1775 was about 12% and the majority were Protestants • The Bill of Rights & the Western frontier resulted in a marked change in religion in America

The Six (6) Leading Church Groups in the Colonies in 1780 Congregational (745 churches) Anglican/Episcopal (405 churches) Presbyterian (490 churches) Lutheran (235 churches) Methodist (Less than 200 churches) Baptist (About 200 churches) Catholics are not included in this comparison

The Six (6) Leading Church Groups in the USA in 1850 Methodist Baptist Presbyterian Lutheran Congregational Episcopal (See Neil Braun’s Laity Mobilized Master’s Thesis for more discussion of this dynamic within US history.)

The Six (6) Leading Church Groups in the USA in 1950 Baptist was first Methodist Lutheran Presbyterian Episcopal Congregational was last (See Jim Slack’s and Jim Maroney’s IMB study of the principles and practices of church planting.)

Discerning The Lay of the Land In fact, the seven in 1775 were exactly reversed by 1950. By 1850 Methodists were the largest Protestant denomination in the USA and Baptists were second. By 1950 Southern Baptists were the largest of the seven and Methodists were second.

Discerning “The Lay of the Land” It is very informative from a historic evangelization and missiological perspective to follow and compare the growth dynamics among the 7 largest Protestant denominations in 1775 with the 7 largest Protestant denominations in 1950. Baptists in 1775, who had not yet divided into two major Baptist groups (Northern and Southern), were the smallest of all seven Protestant denominations. Methodists were next to last. What happened that caused this turn-around?

Why Did These Groups Grow & Why Did the Order End Up Reversed? Congregationalists whose polity was thought to be best fitted for the frontier went though an “Old Lights” and “New Lights” theological controversy followed by a comity agreement with Presbyterians. Neither of them recovered from that missiological mistake. Yet, it was Congregationalists who brought the initial and major political and religious group with a manifesto to the New Land. And, in 1900, Congregationalists had 1,000 missionaries on foreign fields, only to see them dwindle during the 1900s.

Why Did These Groups Grow & Why Did the Order End Up Reversed? Anglican churches were identified with the English colonizers, with the causes of the Revolution and never overcame that image until they changed their name. Few realize that many of the Puritans and what today are Low Church Anglicans had gone with Wesley, forming the foundations of the Methodist church in both England and the Colonies/USA.

Why Did These Groups Grow & Why Did the Order End Up Reversed? Presbyterians suffered from the comity agreement between them and the Congregationalists, and like the Episcopal churches, their institutional preference of land and building, and requirements for a theologically degreed, denominationally chosen and installed pastor kept them off the edges of the frontier. The institutional denominations lagged an average of 200 miles behind the frontier where more settled communities were like them and could afford them.

Why Did These Groups Grow & Why Did the Order End Up Reversed? Lutherans seem to be the strange anomaly among the six denominations. Lutherans did make it to the frontier and did grow. However, persecution and lack of a colony base in New England pushed Lutherans to Missouri territory and northward into Canada where they settled & grew some distance from persecution.

How did Methodists become First in 1850 and Remain Second in 1950? Methodists had a strategy, a carefully defined and carefully managed geographic circuit plan that fitted the frontier. Their plan was the “method” found in “Methodist.” The plan, designed by Wesley for England, which was never accepted there fit the US frontier “beautifully.” (This is in quotes for a reason.)

How did Methodists become First in 1850 and Remain Second in 1950? • “When the rigors of circuit riding in the early days, as the Church moved over the country, are brought before the mind and imagination, the question is frequently asked, ‘How did they stand it?’ The answer is: ‘They didn’t.’ They died under it. No group of men ever lived up more fully to the truth, ‘He that looseth his life shall find it.’ (pp. 42-43, Halford E. Luccock, Endless Line of Splendor. The Advance for Christ and His Church of The Methodist Church publisher, Chicago, Illinois, 1950)

How did Methodists become First in 1850 and Remain Second in 1950? • “They died, most of them, before their careers were much more than begun.” Of the 650 preachers who had joined the Methodist itinerancy by the opening of the 19th century, about 500 had to ‘locate,’ a term that was used for those too worn-out to travel further. Many of the rest had to take periods for recuperation. Others located not because of health, but by reason of lack of support and the desire to marry and establish a home.” (Luccock)

How did Methodists become First in 1850 and Remain Second in 1950? Of the first 737 circuit riders of the Conferences to die—that is, all who died up to 1847 • 203 were between 25 and 35 years of age • 121 between 35 and 45. • Nearly half died before they were 30 years old. Of 672 of those first preachers whose records we have in full, • two-thirds died before they had been able to render 12 years of service. • Just one less than 200 died within the first five years. (Luccock)

How did Methodists become First in 1850 and Remain Second in 1950? “Many circuits were from 300 to 600 miles in length…For instance, in 1791, Freeborn Garrettson was assigned to a circuit which included almost half of what is now the state of New York…In 1814 James B. Finley, on the Cross Creek Circuit, Ohio, had a circuit covering more than two counties, and preached 32 times on every round. The salary schedule has an eloquence of its own. Cash was almost unknown. In 1821 Benjamin T. Crouch records receiving only $38 toward his year’s allowance. The same year Peter Cartwright received the highest salary in the Kentucky Conference--$238. But when he moved, with his wife and six children, to the Sangamon Circuit, Illinois, he received $40, all told, for the year.” (pp. 44-45, Luccock)

How did Baptists become Second in 1850 and Grow to First by 1950? “Methodism grew faster until after 1850, but Baptist growth from 1800 to 1960 is unparalleled. From a little over 100,000 in 1800, they were approaching 20 million by 1960.” (Gaustad: 1962 as quoted by Braun) The basic reason is that Baptist theology and polity fitted them better for the frontier than any other denomination of churches.

Growth Characteristics of Baptists • Each local church was autonomous • Churches were congregational in polity • Baptist church members going west were encouraged to plant a church if no Baptist church existed where they settled • Churches that emerged met in homes, saloons, hardware stores, barns, stables, school rooms, under trees, etc.

Growth Characteristics of Baptists • Local churches found their pastor within the maturing believers in their emerging church • Local churches called, recognized and ordained their own pastors • Experienced pastors tended to itinerate, pastoring 2-4 other churches • As frontier towns settled in and grew, some churches sought pastors from more settled frontier towns to the east

Growth Characteristics of Baptists • By the mid to late 1800s, in settled territory behind the frontier’s leading edge, as churches there increased in number, in membership size and stability, with pastors of longer tenure in the pastorate, requests arose for training • This led to Baptist schools being started

The Most Common Growth Reason • Sweet, Herberg, Latourete, Braun and multiple other historians said that the most common growth factors were: 1) the starting of churches in homes where land and building for a church was not a condition for having and being a church; and 2) lay preachers and pastors, most of whom were bi-vocational.

The Lay of the Land Discerned Over time, for sure by the early 1900s, as religious status became the leading characteristic of an American, the Bible Belt was forming. The American culture was developing a stronger Christian ethic, with Christian values as its base. This base was “in practice” for some, and only in the “awareness” or “conscience-ought to stage” for others. It is out of this base that the terms “WASP” (“White Anglo-Saxon Protestant”) and “Judeo-Christian” emerged in the mid-1900s.

The Major Concern of the Immigrants by the 1900s “Their big concern was the preservation of their way of life; above all, the transplanting of their churches.” (pp. 10-11, Herberg.) In his footnotes Herberg quotes Marcus L. Hansen’s research in The Problem of the Third Generation Immigrant (Augustana Historical Society, Rock Island, Ill., 1938, p. 15 who said: “The church was the first, the most important, and the most significant institution that the immigrants established.”

By 1950, Who Was an American? • By the early 1900s being an “American” came out of a degree of melding of three generations of ethnic groups into being “Americans.” • Herberg’s research discovered that by the 1930s, A ‘Triple Melting Pot’ situation in the US had developed as the norm. Ethnic migration saw their language and some of their culture receded somewhat to the background. English had become a practical acquisition of most ethnics, but their religion persisted to become the ethnics major identity.

By 1950, Who Was an American? The singular most identifying characteristic among most ethnics who migrated to the USA from 1775 to 1924 was their religious status. As their language became mostly English and as they gave up some of their cultural identity, the sum of their status as “Americans” settled into three acceptable identifying religious markers—Protestant, Catholic or Jew. So, by the 1950s in the USA the identification of an American was according to one of these three categories—Protestant, Catholic or Jew.

A Look At Culture and Religion in the USA:1945 to 1960 Again, the three primary researchers and authors of what have become classic works concerning American immigration were Handlin, Hansen & Herberg.

By 1950, Who Was an American? In review of what went before, the singular most identifying characteristic among most ethnics who migrated to the USA from 1775 to 1924 was their religious status. As their language became mostly English and as they gave up some of their cultural identity, the sum of their status as “Americans” settled into three acceptable identifying religious markers—Protestant, Catholic or Jew. So, by the 1950s in the USA the identification of an American was according to one of these three categories—Protestant, Catholic or Jew.

The USA Religious Scene in 1950 • In 1775 church members were only 10 to 12% of the US population • By 1910 church members had grown to 43% • By 1960 church members had grown to 60% (pp.33-34, Herberg)

The USA Religious Scene in 1950: A Consideration of Conversions “Conversions from one community to the other take place, but they seem to be very small and do not appreciably affect the over-all picture.” (Herberg, p. 160) (Herberg quotes the Yearbook of American Churches, edition for 1960, pp. 261-262 for his data. In the research Herberg quotes 140,414 as the Catholics record of conversions to Catholicism from Protestantism and he used The 1959 National Catholic Almanac, p. 407 for this information. This data is for the year 1957. For a more in-depth study, see Thomas J.M. Burke’s “Did Four Million Catholics Become Protestants?, America, April 10, 1954.

A Version Developed for the NAMB Leadership Celebration