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LIBERAL INTELLECTUAL CULTURE AND RELIGIOUS FAITH: THE LIBERALISM OF THE NEW YORK LIBERAL CLUB, 1869–1877

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 March 2017

Scott M. Shubitz
Scott M. Shubitz*
Affiliation:
Stratford Academy
*
email: [email protected]
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Extract

This essay addresses the question of how the idea of liberalism and antireligious sentiment became associated during the Gilded Age. The subject of this essay—the New York Liberal Club, a debate and lecture group in New York City (1869–1877)—sheds light on the process in which liberalism, as an idea, outgrew its religious origins in early nineteenth-century America and more than ever became linked with antireligious sentiment. In the case of the New York Liberal Club, this development owed to the club's connection to social science and members' participation in the contentious debate over science and religion during the 1870s. In addition, it partly owed to club members' conception of liberalism as tolerance, open-mindedness, and a commitment to the free exchange of ideas. Because of this conception of liberalism, many club members saw liberalism and social science as a common cause, since both reflected a dedication to improving the world through free inquiry. Ultimately, these conceptions, as well as discourse at the club, led many observers in the public to incorrectly view all Liberal Club members (and liberalism itself) as in opposition to faith and religious belief.

Type
Articles
Information
The Journal of the Gilded Age and Progressive Era , Volume 16 , Issue 2 , April 2017 , pp. 183 - 205
Copyright
Copyright © Society for Historians of the Gilded Age and Progressive Era 2017 

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Footnotes

1 This article was made possible by the work and support of friends, family, colleagues, and archival staff. I am appreciative of the assistance of my wife Tiffany Hensley and uncle Gerald Shubitz; the advice and time of my colleagues Michael Douma, Phil Magness, Neil Jumonville, and Andrew Frank; and the staff of the Manuscript and Special Collections at the New York State Library, the New York Public Library system, and the Library of Congress. This article would also not be possible without the funding and support of the Department of History at Florida State University.

References

NOTES

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