Religion in a British America

I would say that until around 1850-1860 the picture largely remains the same. From the first colonies on, England had deliberately promoted the Americas as a place for 'deviant' religions to emigrate and be amongst themselves in the wilderness. Plus it inherited the Dutch religious tolerance when it took over New York. So yes: Quakers, Baptists, Anabaptists, Dutch Reformed.... Even Catholics they would all be here. I'd even go out on a limb and state that the Great Awakenings and Mormonism still happen as OTL as they were driven more by the colonial frontier self-reliance mindset than by independence.

The only way this would change would be if instead of 'no American revolution', there would be a failed revolution or a prolonged rebel war. In this case, the English troops and pro-English colonials could equate non-Anglican with anti-English and move to discourage all 'fringe religions' as being the faith that leads one to become an insurgent.

After 1850 the outcome would be harder to predict as a British America would butterfly away the mass immigration from Irish, Italians, Poles and East-European Jews the country saw OTL, meaning that Catholicism and Judaism may well remain fringe minority religions. Instead, teligion-wise, the country might look more like Western Canada, Australia or even South Africa.

(Where the Irish, Italians and Jews would go instead is a topic for another thread)
 
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So, without a revolution, the area of Québec includes OTL southern Ontario and what became the American Northwest Territory.

These areas would have legal guarantees for the usage of the French language, Roman law, and the Catholic religion. It also doesnt receive and influx of Anglo Protestants.

In the late 18th/early 19th century a Métis culture may develop, but assuming there is still a famine, we can expect Montréal to be the focus of Irish settlement, although proportionally they will have bigger impact in the Northwest&Ontario
 
After 1850 the outcome would be harder to predict

The main idea is that OTL there was a massive immigration of Catholic Irish fleeing the infamous Potato Famine of 1847. Other than the US being the 'New World', a large reason for most of the Irish chosing the US was that it was 'English' but a free country by itself and NOT part of the British empire.

If instead all of North America (the Atlantic part at least) was firmly loyal to London.... Who knows how many Irish would en end up in Boston and New York? May be they would rather go to Mexico? Argentina? Anyway, without the immigration of the Irish and later the Italians and Polish, Catholicism in the Commonwealth US would be no more than a fringe religion. Barely bigger than Mormonism and certainly not represented by 6 of the 9 supreme court judges....

The same thing goes for the massive immigration of mostly Eastern European Jews in the late 1890's/early 1900's. Seeing England's ties with Russia, they might be less enthusiastic about emigrating to an English colony rather than an independent US. Yes, there would be a Jewish presence in the US territories (Both New York and Savannah had a sizable Jewish community practically since it's founding days) but again it would not nearly be as visible as it is today.

Or would it? Would even without the Irish, the Italians and Poles still come? Would a second wave of Irish come with them as OTL? Would the Jewish immigration from eastern Europe and Bessarabia still end up mostly in America? Who knows?

All this is of course providing that even under British rule, the US still expands as OTL: For starters: without an American republic to sell it to, there might never be a Louisiana Purchase. Inhowfar that would butterfly away the wars with Mexico, the acquisition of California, or even the existence of a Mexican state in the first place (say, the Spanish learned from the English example how to defuse the tensions in their colony before things got out of hand and Simon Bolivar never had a US to look to as inspiration.) Would as some other posters suggest, England abolish slavery much sooner and instead import workers from India and China as it did in it's other colonies?

Just to say, from about the time the US stopped being just 13 English colonies, the what-if's pile up tremendously and after about 1850, everything, even religion is too hard to predict
 
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After 1850 the outcome would be harder to predict


The main idea is that OTL there was a massive immigration of Catholic Irish fleeing the infamous Potato Famine of 1847. Other than the US being the 'New World', a large reason for most of the Irish chosing the US was that it was 'English' but a free country by itself and NOT part of the British empire.

If instead all of North America (the Atlantic part at least) was firmly loyal to London.... Who knows how many Irish would en end up in Boston and New York? May be they would rather go to Mexico? Argentina? Anyway, without the immigration of the Irish and later the Italians and Polish, Catholicism in the Commonwealth US would be no more than a fringe religion. Barely bigger than Mormonism and certainly not represented by 6 of the 9 supreme court judges....

The same thing goes for the massive immigration of mostly Eastern European Jews in the late 1890's/early 1900's. Seeing England's ties with Russia, they might be less enthusiastic about emigrating to an English colony rather than an independent US. Yes, there would be a Jewish presence in the US territories (Both New York and Savannah had a sizable Jewish community practically since it's founding days) but again it would not nearly be as visible as it is today.

Or would it? Would even without the Irish, the Italians and Poles still come? Would a second wave of Irish come with them as OTL? Would the Jewish immigration from eastern Europe and Bessarabia still end up mostly in America? Who knows?

All this is of course providing that even under British rule, the US still expands as OTL: For starters: without an American republic to sell it to, there might never be a Louisiana Purchase. Inhowfar that would butterfly away the wars with Mexico, the acquisition of California, or even the existence of a Mexican state in the first place (say, the Spanish learned from the English example how to defuse the tensions in their colony before things got out of hand and Simon Bolivar never had a US to look to as inspiration.) Would as some other posters suggest, England abolish slavery much sooner and instead import workers from India and China as it did in it's other colonies?

Just to say, from about the time the US stopped being just 13 English colonies, the what-if's pile up tremendously and after about 1850, everything, even religion is too hard to predict
Proportionately more Irish went to Canada than the USA. Canada received massive amounts of immigration, so I dont see why British America wouldnt.

Edit: considering the guarantee of the right to use the Catholic religion in an expanded Québec, (and a Québec that didnt receive a Loyalist influx), it's actually likely that OTL Ontario and areas of the Northwest become majority Irish Catholic by the 1850s.
 
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RuneGloves

Banned
View attachment 741574
So, without a revolution, the area of Québec includes OTL southern Ontario and what became the American Northwest Territory.
Until British colonists move into the area like they did otl, and it gets split up into smaller colonies.
These areas would have legal guarantees for the usage of the French language, Roman law, and the Catholic religion. It also doesnt receive and influx of Anglo Protestants.
North of the St Lawerence, since that was where most of teh French were. Although lots of Anglos went to Montreal otl, whoich likely still occurs.
 
Until British colonists move into the area like they did otl, and it gets split up into smaller colonies.

North of the St Lawerence, since that was where most of teh French were. Although lots of Anglos went to Montreal otl, whoich likely still occurs.
They moved in because of the American revolution.

The legal guarantees were already in place in 1774 with the Québec Act
 
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RuneGloves

Banned
After 1850 the outcome would be harder to predict


The main idea is that OTL there was a massive immigration of Catholic Irish fleeing the infamous Potato Famine of 1847. Other than the US being the 'New World', a large reason for most of the Irish chosing the US was that it was 'English' but a free country by itself and NOT part of the British empire.

If instead all of North America (the Atlantic part at least) was firmly loyal to London.... Who knows how many Irish would en end up in Boston and New York? May be they would rather go to Mexico? Argentina? Anyway, without the immigration of the Irish and later the Italians and Polish, Catholicism in the Commonwealth US would be no more than a fringe religion. Barely bigger than Mormonism and certainly not represented by 6 of the 9 supreme court judges....

The same thing goes for the massive immigration of mostly Eastern European Jews in the late 1890's/early 1900's. Seeing England's ties with Russia, they might be less enthusiastic about emigrating to an English colony rather than an independent US. Yes, there would be a Jewish presence in the US territories (Both New York and Savannah had a sizable Jewish community practically since it's founding days) but again it would not nearly be as visible as it is today.

Or would it? Would even without the Irish, the Italians and Poles still come? Would a second wave of Irish come with them as OTL? Would the Jewish immigration from eastern Europe and Bessarabia still end up mostly in America? Who knows?

All this is of course providing that even under British rule, the US still expands as OTL: For starters: without an American republic to sell it to, there might never be a Louisiana Purchase. Inhowfar that would butterfly away the wars with Mexico, the acquisition of California, or even the existence of a Mexican state in the first place (say, the Spanish learned from the English example how to defuse the tensions in their colony before things got out of hand and Simon Bolivar never had a US to look to as inspiration.) Would as some other posters suggest, England abolish slavery much sooner and instead import workers from India and China as it did in it's other colonies?

Just to say, from about the time the US stopped being just 13 English colonies, the what-if's pile up tremendously and after about 1850, everything, even religion is too hard to predict
The colonies also had tough migration laws, which would limit the amount of foreign migration.
 
They would have moved there eventually.
But not as soon or in as large numbers...
And OTL Ontario ended up with an Irish born majority by the 1850s anyway. Just in this TL, they will be a larger majority with a legally guaranteed right to the Catholic religion.
 

RuneGloves

Banned
But not as soon or in as large numbers...
Well depends on when the Proclamation Line gets disowned. However larger numbers are more likely. Most British emigrants when to America, this would be amplified if it was still part of Britain.
And OTL Ontario ended up with an Irish born majority by the 1850s anyway. Just in this TL, they will be a larger majority with a legally guaranteed right to the Catholic religion.
Does the famine happen or not, to what extent.
 
Well depends on when the Proclamation Line gets disowned. However larger numbers are more likely. Most British emigrants when to America, this would be amplified if it was still part of Britain.

Does the famine happen or not, to what extent.
The proclamation line didnt effect the Québec Act. Two different areas.

Edit: which is kind of my point. British immigrants, many of those who went to Canada OTL, would go further south ITTL, because 1) its warmer 2) it's more developed 3) Canada would be less developed
 
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RuneGloves

Banned
The proclamation line didnt effect the Québec Act. Two different areas.

Edit: which is kind of my point. British immigrants, many of those who went to Canada OTL, would go further south ITTL, because 1) its warmer 2) it's more developed 3) Canada would be less developed
800px-Map_of_territorial_growth_1775.svg.png

The 1763 proclamation line is similar to the Eastern Continental Divide's path running northwards from Georgia to the PennsylvaniaNew York border and north-eastwards past the drainage divide on the St. Lawrence Divide from there northwards through New England.
This this policy diminished migration in the northwest.
which is kind of my point. British immigrants, many of those who went to Canada OTL, would go further south ITTL, because 1) its warmer 2) it's more developed 3) Canada would be less developed
Yeah, more attention southwards, however more British immigration overall.
 
The colonies also had tough migration laws, which would limit the amount of foreign migration.
No.....they didnt...

In fact, there were taxes on trips outside of the British Empire, so ITTL, Ireland-Boston might be a cheaper and more frequent passage
 
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800px-Map_of_territorial_growth_1775.svg.png



Yeah, more attention southwards, however more British immigration overall.
See the map I posted, compare the area highlighted in green to the area highlighted in black. The Proclamation Line separated Indian Reserve from the Colonies. Québec was not part of the Indian Reserve.
 

RuneGloves

Banned
See the map I posted, compare the area highlighted in green to the area highlighted in black. The Proclamation Line separated Indian Reserve from the Colonies. Québec was not part of the Indian Reserve.
1768_Boundary_Line_Map_Treaty_of_Ft_Stanwix.jpg

The northwest territory was part of the prohibited lands.
 

RuneGloves

Banned
No.....they didnt...
"Colonial naturalization policies varied by region. In New England, conservative naturalization policies kept that part of the country more English than other parts of the colonies would later become.[26] For example, in the early 1700s, Massachusetts required any ship entering its ports to provide a passenger list, and later prohibited the importation of poor, infirm or vicious people. Connecticut took to demanding an oath of allegiance from all strangers spending time within its borders"
In fact, there were taxes on trips outside of the British Empire, so ITTL, Ireland-Boston might be a cheaper and more frequent passage
I'd assume so. Irish migration is going to be a big part.
 
In my ATL Rapt, I had the Province of Quebec subsequently split into Lower Quebec (which became *Canada) and Upper Quebec (which became *Lacustria,) and the Indian Reserve south of the Ohio become *Transappalachia or just *Appalachia (with West Florida.)
 
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