Crisis of Faith

Overview

The vast majority of Americans in the first half of the 19th Century were highly religious and overwhelmingly Christian. They believed America was destined for greatness in part because of our belief in God. We were a favored people. This conviction was particularly strong in the heavily protestant South. The belief among Southerners that they were ordained for greatness by God was put to the ultimate test by the war. In a nation full of professing religious believers, could faith stand the test of this war? The Civil War was not only a crisis of country and conscience, but also a crisis of faith.