The Providence of John and Abigail Adams

Asked for a religious affiliation, many Americans now begin their reply with, “Well, I was raised…” but family stories of religious life in American history are curiously rare. Providentialist Christianity led the Adamses out of England in 1638, through the Revolution, and, fitfully, into the early republic. Colonists-turned-citizens such as John and Abigail Adams sampled a range of religions, developing a cosmopolitan Christianity. What did it mean for the Adamses of Massachusetts to be “raised” Christian in America?