American independence

Saturday

Damian Thompson

Was America meant to be a Christian nation?

28 min listen

It might be 250 years since the Declaration of Independence but the document continues to prove controversial, with political groups arguing over the intention behind the document – just watch any Supreme Court case. To mark the 4th of July, Professor Gregg Frazer joins Damian Thompson to talk about the intention of the founding fathers in terms of religion – did they really want America to become a Christian nation? With President Trump courting evangelical Christian voters, rising religious tensions amongst religious minorities and some sections of society advocating for ‘Christian nationalism’, is America’s free market in religious ideas being tested to its limit? Produced by Patrick Gibbons.

Was America meant to be a Christian nation?

Thursday

Michael R. Auslin

America’s Summer of Discontent, 250 years ago

From our US edition

In the summer of 1774, large numbers of American colonists, from Massachusetts Bay down to the Virginia Tidewater, were disaffected and angry. For a decade, they had felt increasingly oppressed by Great Britain, ever since London had imposed duties on various exports to America to help pay for the costs of the victorious Seven Years’ War.  The Stamp Act of 1765 and the 1767 the Townshend Acts, which added duties on lead, glass, tea and other items, became hated symbols of imperial power. The colonists considered the duties to be taxes levied by Parliament, and while they acknowledged Britain’s right to regulate trade, they balked at the presumption by British lawmakers to directly tax them.

discontent