“An Heavenly Kingdom Shall Descend”: How Millennialism Spread from New England to the United States of America

Abstract

This chapter explains how millennialism—a theory about a 1,000-year kingdom and its relation to the end of time—influenced early American colonists and provided the basis of current feelings about the United States as a dominant world power. The colonies outside New England as of 1740 were oriented to sober religious traditions that were generally consistent with the anti-millennial nature of European religion. In contrast, the Puritan colonists in New England held an apocalyptic orientation and belief that their colony would play a central role in the final drama of world history. The idea of Protestants battling against the forces of the Antichrist shaped the interpretation of the French and Indian War and the American Revolution. The chapter cites nationalistic poetry and political artifacts to document this millennial worldview, which spread from New England to the rest of the colonies. Despite the disappointments, frustrations, and betrayals of later history, this idea of being a geographical region called to advance freedom, democracy, and peace around the world remains a characteristic feature of American civil religion.