Francis Grund was a German nobleman who traveled in the United States during the 1830s. Here he describes what he saw as the ori
gin of the antebellum reform spirit. Religion has been the basis of the most important American settlements; religion kept their little community together – religion assisted them in their revolutionary struggle; it was religion to which they appealed in defending their liberties. It was with the solemnities of religion that the declaration of independence is yet annually read to the people from the pulpit…and it is religion, which assists them in all their national undertakings. The Americans look upon religion as a promoter of civil and political liberty.
What, according to Grund, was the inspiration behind Americans’ “civil and political reforms”?
