American Colonial History: Clashing Cultures and Faiths, by Thomas S. Kidd. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2016. 329 pp. $20.00.
Astonishing changes took place on the continent of North America between the years 1492 and 1763. Prior to Columbus a state of constant social, religious, and cultural flux existed. European presence was nearly nil and multitudes of Native American tribes were spread from the Pacific to the Atlantic. By the time the Seven Years War ended, Britain had laid claim to the most strategic parts of colonial America. European settlements were spread from California to Connecticut. So much had changed that enough American colonists felt they could liberate themselves from their European rule. How the continent came to this point is the subject of Thomas Kidd’s American Colonial History. Kidd completed his Ph.D. under George Marsden at Notre Dame and is distinguished professor of history at Baylor University. He is a prolific author whose previous works include Baptists in America (with Barry Hankins), George Whitefield, God of Liberty, and The Great Awakening.
This book primarily serves as a textbook and gives a general history, yet it still makes an argument. Kidd sees the themes of religion and conflict as pervasive throughout American colonial history. The underlying thesis is that when people came together in the New World conflict was inevitable. And, within the historical era studied, religion dwelt at the center of the conflict. Kidd explains that “many in early America interpreted their interactions with their rivals, including violence and enslavement, through the lens of religion and spiritual beliefs” (xi). Kidd continues by saying he hopes his readers “will come away with a distinct sense of how pervasive religion was in colonial America, and of the varied functions that religion served in the era, functions that were variously inspiring and appalling” (xii).
Kidd spends chapter one describing the pre-1492 North American world. Europeans brought stability (eventually) to the region, but they also brought disease and radically different social, political, and religious ideals. Chapter two discusses the Spanish reach in Mexico, Texas, and across into California. Chapter three chronicles the French work that took place mostly in Canada. Both the Spanish and the French found a foothold in these areas, but it came at great cost to themselves and to Native Americans. Chapters four through seven explain the colonies from New England to the Colonial South and the Caribbean. Kidd shows in these chapters that though the English were not the only European colonizers in these areas, they were the strongest. Continual conflict existed between Native Americans, Europeans, and Africans and religion again played a central role in making sense of all that was happening.
Chapter eight details the contributions of Africans to this history. African slaves were the major (though not only) work force. The North had them, but their concentration grew the farther South one went. Chapter nine recounts how the Glorious Revolution in England (and a burgeoning consumer culture) brought stability. The colonies became more engrained into English life while also growing more independent. Chapter ten presents the Great Awakening and how it helped create a public stage for democratic notions in religion and culture. Chapters eleven and twelve bring to life the understudied areas of the Anglo-American backcountry and the early American West. Tensions that existed in Europe, both religious and political, were present in these areas and were often exacerbated by complex relations with Native Americans.
Conflict grew until the fulcrum point of the Seven Years’ War, which is covered in chapter thirteen. When the British won, they gained control of much of North America. Native Americans had less trust for (and were likewise trusted less by) the British. The Seven Years’ War, the Great Awakening, and British political overreach like the 1765 Stamp Act all significantly influenced those colonists who would push for independence. According to Kidd, this shows that in colonial North America the major themes were “the salience of religion, the impulse of empire, and the ubiquity of conflict between different peoples and cultures” (297). In sum, “Colonial American history forms a dizzying kaleidoscope of cultures, faiths, and tragic clashes of incompatible powers” (297).
For those interested in the history of Christianity in America, a great strength of the book is not only that it gives some of the early colonial religious history but also that it lays open various influences that fed the stream of Christianity in the early United States. The Protestant and Roman Catholic rivalry, the Puritans, the Great Awakening, and the democratic impulse are a few of the important religious moments that have had long influence. And there are other important lessons that can be learned from this book. For instance, Kidd amply demonstrates that many of the same people who came for opportunities and fought hard for them, could also deny them to others. The bravery and love of the many missionary martyrs provide yet further lessons for the reader.
The book certainly has the textbook feel but it also contains the readability that is a trademark of Kidd. Each chapter makes broad points about the significance of what is happening but each chapter also includes illustrative anecdotes. Helpfully, each chapter concludes with multiple excerpts from primary source material. These excerpts help to draw the reader into the past and hear how people such as Columbus, de Soto, William Penn, George Whitefield, and numerous Native Americans all understood what they were living through. If the reader is looking for a textbook to bolster his understanding of the settling and birth of the United States, or for a good historical read, American Colonial History is highly recommended. However, those looking for a religious survey should take note that the book does not focus singularly on the religious side of things. But Kidd is correct when he posits the ubiquity of religion—a point that conversely suggests the importance of secular history for American religious history.
