Links: 4310 Church History in North America | 6. History
Credit: Dr. Theodore G. Van Raalte

Church History in North America

Memorization Instructions

• Memorize what is highlighted.
• If the highlighted person’s dates are uncolored, know the century.

Events and Persons in the “Colonization Era” (c. 1492–1730)

• 1492 – Columbus discovers America
• Bartolomé de las Casas (1484–1566)
• 1507 – Name “America” first given, after Amerigo Vespucci
• 1555 – Rio de Janeiro founded. Begun as a Huguenot effort.
• Gaspard II de Coligny (1519–1572) – Huguenot; noble admiral. Financed expeditions to America to find refuge for Huguenots.
• Nicolas Durand de Villegaignon (1510–1571) – French ship captain.
  • Martyrs authors of the Guanabara Confession (Feb 1558).
• Jean Ribault (1520–1565) – French Huguenot ship captain.
• Pedro Menéndez de Avilés (1519–1574) – Spanish. Kills Ribault and others in 1565.
• 1564 – Founding of Fort St. Caroline by Ribault (Huguenot). Menéndez destroys it in 1565.
• 1565 – St. Augustine founded (Spanish, anti-Huguenot).
• 1607 – Jamestown founded (Church of England religionists).
• 1608 – Quebec City founded (Roman Catholic and Huguenot; first a fort there in 1535 by Jacques Cartier).
  • Huguenots expelled in 1627.
• 1620 – Plymouth Rock landing (Puritan Separatists).
• 1636 – Harvard University established (Puritan).
• 1692–1693 – Salem Witch Hunts (19 executed by hanging).
• 1701 – Yale University established (Congregational).
  • Used Wollebius.
  • Logo with Urim & Thummim.
• Theodorus Jacobus Frelinghuysen (1691–1747)
  • Jonathan Edwards (1703–1758)
  • George Whitefield (1714–1770)
  • John Wesley (1703–1791)
• 1706 – First Presbyterian presbytery established.
• 1708 – Saybrook Platform. Moderates Congregationalism’s Cambridge Platform.

Events and Persons in the “Revolution Era” (c. 1730–1830)

• 1742–1745 – Great Awakening (Edwards, Whitefield, etc.).
• 1746 – Princeton University established as “New Jersey College” (New Light Presbyterians).
• 1775–1783 – War of Independence / American Revolution.
• 1776 – Declaration of Independence.
  • Democratic Republic established.
• 1783 – Treaty of Paris.
• c. 1790–1820 – Further Awakening (more populist).
• 1791 – First Amendment (no established churches, no civil government pay to ministers).
  • “Congress shall make no such law.” But states could still do so.
• Samuel Miller (1769–1850) – Presbyterian.
• Archibald Alexander (1772–1851) – Presbyterian. First Princeton professor.
• Barton W. Stone (1772–1844) – Disciples of Christ.
• Lyman Beecher (1775–1863) – Presbyterian. Voluntary Societies. Victorian Era.
• Lorenzo Dow (1777–1834) – Marginal Methodist.
• Charles Finney (1792–1875)
• 1791 – Constitutional Act of 1791, creating Upper and Lower Canada.
• 1801 – Presbyterian Plan of Union.
• War of 1812 (1812–1814)
• 1812 – Princeton Theological Seminary founded.
• John Strachan (1778–1867) – Toronto Anglican.
• Egerton Ryerson (1803–1882) – Toronto Methodist.
• 1821 – Mexico’s Independence from Spain.
• Charles Hodge (1797–1878) – Princeton. Old School Presbyterian.
• John Williamson Nevin (1803–1886) – German Reformed (American-born).
• Philip Schaff (1819–1893) – German Reformed (Swiss-born).
• Albertus Christiaan Van Raalte (1811–1876)
• Joseph Smith (1805–1844) – Mormon.
• Brigham Young (1801–1877) – Mormon.
• Frederick Douglass (1818–1895) – Ex-slave.
• 1822 – True Dutch Reformed Church (after secession from RCA).

Events and Persons in the “New Nations Era” (c. 1830–Present)

• 1843 – Great Disruption (Free Church of Scotland). Affects Canada & USA.
• 1847 – Secessionists immigrate:
  • Van Raalte to Holland, MI.
  • Scholte to Pella, IA.
• 1857 – Founding of the Christian Reformed Church.
• 1861–1865 – American Civil War (over slavery and property rights).
• Charles Augustus Briggs (1841–1913) – BDB fame. Liberal Presbyterian. Excommunicated.
• Charles Taze Russell (1852–1916) – Jehovah’s Witnesses.
• 1854–1890 – Sioux Wars.
• Abraham Kuyper (1837–1920)
• Herman Bavinck (1854–1921)
• 1886 – Doleantie.
• 1892 – Union of Secession and Doleantie Churches.
• 1892 – Christelijk Gereformeerde Kerken in Nederland (not joining the union).
• 1906 – Congregational Union of Canada formed.
• 1914–1918 – First World War.
• John Gresham Machen (1881–1937)
• Herman Hoeksema (1886–1965)
• Klaas Schilder (1890–1952)
• Cornelius Van Til (1895–1987)
• John Murray (1898–1975)
• Donald Grey Barnhouse (1895–1960)
• T. T. Shield (1873–1955) – Canadian Fundamentalist Baptist.
• 1924 – Founding of the Protestant Reformed Church.
• 1925 – United Church of Canada formed from Congregationalists, Presbyterians, & Methodists.
• 1950 – Founding of the Canadian Reformed Churches.
• 1996 – United Reformed Churches of North America federation formed.