Page images
PDF
EPUB

teenth century and the opening years of the Twentieth. Its practical work, where religion is joined with secular education and improvement, with social and moral reform, with the material and intellectual uplifting of mankind, is seen in many organizations (such as the Young Men's Christian Association, men's clubs and brotherhoods) which, under church inspiration, have come into existence since 1865. In missionary work, home and foreign, the energy of the church has never ceased, although the work had been divided among various organizations along denominational lines. Prohibition and other temperance reforms have been advanced mainly by religionists, the Woman's Christian Temperance Union having been especially prominent in this field. The Young Men's Christian Association, starting in the United States soon after the middle of the Nineteenth century, has attained to large proportions in membership, in varied activities, and in influence in the ensuing 50 years and more. The young people's societies have been a notable development in the evangelical church. The Young People's Society of Christian Endeavor was founded in 1881 and within a few years extended to all parts of the United States, with a membership of over 3,000,000. Other denominational organizations of similar nature-the -the Epworth League of the

Methodists, the Westminster League of the Presbyterians, the Luther League of the Lutherans, the

St. Andrews Brotherhood of the Episcopalians, the Baptist Young People's Union, and others- followed the Christian Endeavor. To-day these societies have a membership of over 5,000,000.

Incomplete religious statistics were gathered in the census of 1850. In 1880 a mass of information was acquired, but no complete results were available. Figures relating to this subject prior to 1890 are largely estimated or conjectural, being based more or less on incomplete reports (not always accurate) drafted by the respective church organizations. In 1890, for the first time in the history of the Government, an attempt was made to secure a religious census of the country that should be both accurate and comprehensive. According to this census, there were then 42 main denominations, but several of these had branches that were independent in administration, even though not in doctrine or policy and, so listed, the number becomes 143.

The largest church then was the Roman Catholic, with 9,196 priests, 10,276 organizations, 8,816 church edifices, fices, and 6,257,871 communicants. Next in size came the Baptists, with 25,646 ministers, 43,029 organizations, 27,789 church edifices, and 3,717,969 communicants; the Methodists, with 30,000 ministers, 51,489 organizations, 46,138 church edifices, and 4,589,284 communicants; the Presbyterians, with 10,448 ministers, 13,476 organizations, 12,469 church edifices, and 1,

[blocks in formation]

all the denominations the total number of ministers was 111,036; organizations, 165,297; church edifices, 142,639; communicants, 20,618,307. The churches had a seating capacity of 43,596,378. The total value of churchproperty was $679,694,439, of which the Methodists held $132,140,179; the Roman Catholics, $118,371,366; the Presbyterians, $94,869,097; the Protestant Episcopalians, $82,835,418; the Baptists, $82,392,423. Only one other denomination held property valued above $20,000,000- the Mennonites, with $35,060,354.

Between 1890 and 1900 there was a large increase in the number of Christian Scientists and a smaller increase in the membership of the Adventists, Mormons, and the German Baptists. The Roman Catholic Church was still numerically the strongest, followed in order by the Methodists, Baptists, Presbyterians, and Lutherans. The rise and phenomenal growth of the Christian Science Church, founded by a woman in 1866, was a conspicuous event in the religious history of this period.

According to the latest statistics the religious denominations of the United

[blocks in formation]

German Evangelical Synod

[blocks in formation]

Jewish Congrega

tions

[blocks in formation]

Methodist

[blocks in formation]

55,007 6,596,168

Moravian..

[blocks in formation]
[blocks in formation]

Friends of the Temple

German Evangelical Protestant

Latter Day Saints.
Lutheran
Swedish Evang'cal
Mennonite

Presbyterian Prot. Episcopal. Reformed Salvationists Schwenkfeldian

18,711

6,396 21,420 1,920,765

Several of these denominations are subdivided into from two to twenty or more branches. For example: the Baptist, with 15; the Mennonite, with 13; the Methodist, with 19; the Presbyterian and the Lutheran with 12 each. The foregoing figures of membership include actual members of

Protestant churches, and of Catholics, both communicants and unconfirmed minors of Catholic families. The total seating capacity of the church edifices was 43,560,063 in 1890, 58,536,830 in 1906, and over 60,000,000 in 1912. In 1912 the Roman Catholic Hierarchy in the United States consisted of three cardinals, 13 archbishops and 94 bishops. The bishops of the Protestant Episcopal Church, including those in foreign missionary fields, numbered 111. The bishops of the Methodist Episcopal Church in its various branches, including those in foreign missionary fields, numbered

77.

A comparison of the figures of 1890 with those given above would seem to show that Christianity in the United States not only grew in actual membership, but had also an increased percentage of growth in comparison with the population. In 1890 the church members (20,618,307) were 32 5/6 per cent. of the population (62,947,714), while in 1910 the church members (34,517,377) were 37 1/3 per cent. of the population (91,972,266). The growth in population in these two decades

was 32 2/3 per cent., while the growth in church membership was 65 per cent. The complete accuracy of these conclusions may be questioned, for the comparisons are made of figures derived from two dissimilar sourcesgovernment enumerators and church officers. That population is in excess of census figures is generally admitted, while it is also conceded that church authorities do not undercount their supporters. Still, actual and comparative increase, as given above, probably represents the general state of things with tolerable accuracy. At any rate, the exhibit is interesting and suggestive.*

* Daniel Dorchester, Christianity in the United States (New York, 1888); Henry M. Dexter, The Congregationalism of the Last 300 Years (New York, 1880); H. K. Carroll, The Religious Forces of the United States, in American Church History series, vol. i. (New York, 1893); Leonard W. Bacon, A History of American Christianity, in American Church History, series, vol. xiii. (New York, 1897); United States census reports, 1850, 1860, 1870, 1890, 1900, 1910; American Church History (13 vols., New York, 1893-1897); I. D. Rupp, Religious Denominations in the United States (Philadelphia, 1871); state, county and city histories; sectarian histories of the different denominations; collections and proceedings of historical societies; year books of the different denominations.

[blocks in formation]
[ocr errors]

[ocr errors]

Lack of perspective for characterizing this period of American literature - The four representative names of the period The changing conception of democracy in Lowell and Whitman The still newer democracy of recent writers - Literary progress and retrogression — The democratization of recent literature - The high average of literary technique — The dearth of truly great literary productions since Uncle Tom's Cabin - The "uplift movement" reflected in our literature General reflections.

It is not easy to say what word or words the future historian of American literature will employ in order to designate the period from the death of Lincoln in 1865 to that of Mark Twain in 1910. Perhaps, with his better perspective, he will see that more years must be added if he would obtain a period based upon logical reasons rather than upon mere expediency or convenience. On the other hand, he may find that somewhere within these 45 years a new note is struck, a new direction taken, and he may conclude to begin a fresh period with the year 1901

the first of the Twentieth century. The argument is certainly quite conceivable that, with the beginning of the new century, the "civic note," which some authorities have held to be the chief characteristic of our literature from its inception, took on a deeper tone, vibrated more strenuously, sounded more insistently upon the ears of the Nation and of the world. It is even conceivable that

* Prepared for this History by William P. Trent, Professor of English Literature, Columbia University.

our historian of the future might en

title one of his chapters title one of his chapters "The Period of True Democracy, 1901 - ", or that he might show his bias by employing the less complimentary designation, "The Day of the Muck-Rakers."

Fortunately, however, it does not fall to our lot to occupy the authoritative, albeit somewhat uncomfortable, seat of the historian. We are on our feet, and but a small part of the thick, hurrying crowd. The best we can do, and the most that can be expected of us, is quietly to elbow our way out and to stand for a moment to one side, recalling some impressions of the march we have been making and commenting upon the salient features of the motley procession that is scurrying past.

[ocr errors][merged small]
[ocr errors]

clearly the greatest author of the epoch we are considering as he is easily the most cosmopolitanly famous of modern American writers pure and simple that is, of men whose fame rests primarily upon the written word. Lincoln, Mark Twain, Rooseveltwhatever else these three names may stand for, they plainly stand for that subtle, indefinable something known as Americanism.

Add to them a fourth

name, that of Walt Whitman, who in some senses (though not so completely as Lincoln), belongs to what is often regarded as the Golden Age of our literature, the period from 1830 to 1865. His fame is a matter of some forty years' standing and, like the fame of the three men to whom we have added him, is racily American. Set these four men over against the chief representatives of our older literature and note the contrast. Irving, Cooper, Poe, Hawthorne, Longfellow, Whittier, Emerson, Holmes, Lowell - every one of them (including Poe), was truly American in heart and mind; yet is there not a raciness — a tang about the Americanism of Lincoln, Whitman, Mark Twain and Roosevelt that is either not distinguishable or else less clearly discernible in the Americanism of the elder group? We are not surprised, for example, to learn that in the original series of the English Men of Letters, edited by John Morley, a volume on Hawthorne was included. The inclusion of a volume on Whitman in the later series seems more of a tour de

[ocr errors]

force. The period since the Civil War, whatever else it has done for our literature, has surely intensified its national character. Precisely how it has accomplished this result is something for the future masters of criticism to ponder over; but we may be very certain that the great writers of the early years of the Republic, from Franklin to Hawthorne, played an important part in bringing about the transformation.

The truth of this last statement becomes obvious after a moment's survey of the career of Lowell, who was born the same year as Whitman and died less than a year before him. The first series of the Biglow Papers could not well be mistaken for anything but an American product; yet, if the author's point of view had been that of the entire American people, the history of the Nation as a whole might have been greatly changed. Right or wrong, that point of view was comparatively sectional. A generation later, who was better capable of striking the true American note than Lowell? Witness the notable address on "Democracy" delivered at Manchester, England, in 1884. The great struggle of the 60's did more than liberate the slaves; it eventually liberated the American mind from sectionalism. The earlier struggle of the 40's and the period of territorial development that followed it expanded the American mind and more or less freed it from provincialism and colonialism. Liberation and expansion

« PreviousContinue »