Abstract: Between 1730 and 1860, American Protestant Christianity developed in a way that set it apart from other forms of the faith in other western locales. American Protestantism moved away from traditional, establishmentarian forms of practice toward an individualistic, market-oriented type. Contributing to these developments was an intellectual synthesis of evangelical Christianity, republican political thought, and commonsense moral reasoning.

Keywords: American Protestantism, Civil War, commonsense moral reasoning, European Protestantism, republicanism,