During the Gilded Age (late 19 th century America starting from 1870s to 1900), concepts of urbanization and industrialization had a tremendous impact on the view that Americans had toward their societies. Major cities emerged while industrialization progressed in a rapid manner in such a manner that within two generations, the U.S. managed to emerge as the key economic power globally. Numerous European immigrants came to the U.S. while searching for jobs in mines, factories, transportation networks, and farms. Temporarily, significant ideas commenced circulating within the U.S. and father as well as faster than any other time in history, evolutionary themes started shaping the manner in which educated women and men thought of the world together with its future (Schwain, 2008) . Optimism together with increased confidence concerning the new ability of humans in addressing prehistoric and intractable challenges started taking hold in diverse quarters. The religious life of America played a critical role in this area of growth as well as tremendous change. The Protestantism concept kept holding the central although unofficial place in the life of the country. Typical church membership as well as additional religious institutions went on to on the same path, thereby reaching the highest levels in the country’s history (Case, 2012) . Thus, the paper will discuss the impact that Christianity had on minorities in America during the Gilded Age.
Christianity and Race during Gilded Age in U.S.
During the Gilded Age, the U.S. was under significant influence of racial law in colonial regimes while leading the country to codify its individual race classification law. The Constitution of the U.S. served as a product of tremendous compromises concerning the existence together with the future of a racialized as well as laboring human slaves’ class. In the case of the Constitution, it offered legal safeguards regarding slave property while at the same time reinforcing religious notions, which supported human slavery. For instance, the Constitutional Convention required that three-fifths of enslaved people would end up being counted for purposes of taxation as well as representation, even while the individuals were not considered as free persons when it came to legal protections (Miller & Garran, 2008) . In addition, other constitutional debates emerged regarding while they targeted issues related to race, religion, and law. Issues regarding “Turkish” Islamic concentrations regarding power in government led Islam to reflect the government overreach symbol. On antifederalists, they utilized the Turkish nepotism fear as well as Islamic thought with the goal of analyzing the parties that had tremendous support for central government. When it came to this viewpoint, Islam failed to support free thought or significant inquiry while it instead preferred to rely on perceived revelation (Zinn, 2015) . Whereas the Muslim population within the U.S. was insignificant during this period, the conflicts predicted the place of Islam in future debates.
Delegate your assignment to our experts and they will do the rest.
The political debates that prevailed during the Gilded Age in the U.S. continued facing the impact of Christianity as well as racial notions. When it came to the standard paternalistic language, which was utilized in addressing individuals who were considered as non-white, the Supreme Court of the U.S. required that relations that existed between the United States and the Indians should resemble the one of a ward to the individual guarding it (Nichols & Unger, 2017) . They relied on the government of the U.S. for protection and relied on the power and kindness it showed to allow them receive relief while at the same time showing utmost respect for the president. The individuals of African and indigenous decent who followed the law also found themselves bound by religious logics, which the U.S. showed, while these led them to be considered as citizens only when it was perceived as convenient on the side of the federal government (Foner, 2016) . This became particularly vital in the laws together with attitudes related to human slavery continuation.
Slavery and Slaves’ God
Christianity during the Gilded Age provided a theological basis for continuing slavery together with its ending. The contradictions in this case became apparent in the manner in which enslaved individuals exercised religious practices. The religious practices, which the enslaved Africans exercised in the U.S., would be organized often to facilitate in avoiding surveillance in line with slave owners’ discipline (Foner, 2016) . As it was the case with other human religious practices, the slave religion exercised in America was sophisticated and contradictory while it received conditioning under the regime in which it prevailed. Even in this case, whereas legislation, including anti-literacy laws served as a hindrance when it came to reading the Bible, it did not hinder enslaved individuals from utilizing Christian theology with the goal of caving out their individual identity together with the ones of their families (Reed, 2005) . In the same vein, the legal incorporation process also offered early black churches with the legal autonomy, which would be possible to find in other areas.
The Christian-racial logic that prevailed during the Gilded Age often revolved around the idea that the U.S. served as a new Israel. Whereas the religious identity of African Americans was shaped in a powerful manner by the Exodus story, the Israelites flight from Egypt under Yahweh’s protection, also felt the impact of meaningful affiliation with the biblical character Ham as well as the Hamitic identity that Black Americans adopted. When the biblical flood ended, Noah cursed Ham, his son while at the same time condemning the descendants of Ham to work for others. In the case of European Christians, they regarded Africans as descending from Ham together with his Canaanite progeny (Nichols & Unger, 2017) . This led to the emergence of a convenient story of origin in line with justification for associating slavery with dark skin, even though the biblical legend does not mention skin color. Whereas European Christians who supported slavery used the narrative, the religious communities of African Americans also re-interpreted and negotiated the story (Miller & Garran, 2008) . As such, the “Curse of Ham” provided black Christians an avenue to the exclusionary story of the U.S. serving as a “New Israel,” while God chose the people in the area, even while they entered via the back door.
When looking at the daily religious assumptions that prevailed during the Gilded Age, they also influenced the manner in which legislatures as well as courtrooms operated. For the white Americans, they significantly imagined that Jesus Christ was while. This played a critical role in justifying the state of the legal system, which organized humanity based on the color of the skin. For Native Americans, African Americans, and Hispanic American Christians, they regularly worshipped a “Nordic Jesus,” who had blue eyes and blond hair, which did not have significant resemblance to the individuals who resided in Roman Judea during the 1 st century (Schwain, 2008) . However, the non-white Christians also utilized the theology of Christianity with the goal of condemning their situations in a meaningful manner. In the case of Frederick Douglass, who served as the key Christian intellectual in the eyes of the public, he composed its 1845 autobiography, the “Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass,” which served as a deceitful one for perceiving the religion that dominate the area as Christianity. Here, it is essential to note that the words of Douglass are powerful when it comes to reminding about the religion of African Americans together with the religion that other minority groups followed in the history of America (Zinn, 2015) . It did not differ from the legal concerns regarding the right of individuals in line with their children in living a life that did not have torture, bondage, as well as terrorism, which dominated slavery in America.
Christianity and Ideal U.S. Borders
Discussions surrounding slavery did not serve as the only legal discussions that revolved around the race idea. Whereas the federal government of the U.S. embarked on balancing the idea of slavery, it ended up deploying the Indian Removal Act. President Andrew Jackson served as the fiercest advocate of the removal. He perceived law as both moral and just since the indigenous populations were considered as living in a state of savagery. In relocating the Native American individuals to the western side of the country, the valuable lands base in the east would be made available to the white American settlers who were considered as more civilized (Schwain, 2008) . For Jackson, he stipulated that the Removal aimed at ensuring that the Native Americans realized the best. The reason for this is that it would permit them to avoid their savage behaviors and ensure that they showed interest in the civilized Christianity idea. Civilization and Christianity worked together with each other. Furthermore, the pre-Columbian indigenous individuals were considered as lacking indigenous civilization (Foner, 2016) . When it came to the fortifications as well as monuments of unidentified individuals, they usually spread in broad Western regions, while they have disappeared for a long time despite being referred to as serving as a once powerful race. The manner in which savagery was classified was so powerful in such a manner that it led the indigenous individuals to be removed from the land together with their own history. Here, certain white Christians protected the idea arguing that the Removal Act had the ability of damaging the efforts that the white missionaries deployed to make sure that Christianity governed even the indigenous individuals (Miller & Garran, 2008) . In this perspective, therefore, it is evident that Christianity has negative influence over the minority groups that prevailed in the Gilded Age America.
References
Case, J. R. (2012). An unpredictable gospel: American evangelicals and world Christianity, 1812-1920. New York: Oxford University Press, USA.
Foner, E. (2016). Give me liberty! An American history: Fifth edition, one volume. New York: W. W. Norton & Company.
Miller, J., & Garran, A. M. (2008). Racism in the United States: Implications for the helping professions. Pacific Grove, CA: Thomson Brooks/Cole.
Nichols, C. M., & Unger, N. C. (2017). A companion to the Gilded Age and progressive era. Hoboken: Wiley.
Reed, C. R. (2005). Black Chicago's First Century: 1833-1900. Columbia: University of Missouri Press.
Schwain, K. (2008). Signs of grace: Religion and American art in the Gilded Age. Ithaka, NY: Cornell University Press.
Zinn, H. (2015). A people's history of the United States: 1492-present. Abingdon: Routledge.
