Saturday, June 11, 2016

The Junto: "How Do We Find Religion in the American Revolution?"

Check it out here. A taste:
On May 17, 1773, an advertisement appeared in the Massachusetts Gazette for a new book by English dissenting minister Micaiah Towgood (misidentified in the advertisement as Michael Twogood). The ad is interesting because it is one of only 67 items in that come up in a search of Readex’s American Historical Newspapers database for the period between 1764 and 1789 containing a particular trifecta of terms: “Jesus Christ,” “liberty”, and (to get both religion and cognates like religious and religiously) “religio*”.
 
Here are a few other searches for comparison, all for the period between 1764 and 1789.

Religio*, liberty, “Jesus Christ” – 67
“Jesus Christ” – 414
Jesus Christ – 997
Religio*, liberty – 8,209
Religio* – 28,362
Liberty – 71,881

No comments: