II. Religious statistics. — The "National Almanac"
AMERICA
195
10NG/TUDE WEST FROM C/tEENW/CH
Map of North America.
for 186-1 (p. 538), gives the following table on the re- ligious statistics of America:
Population! P-testants.
Catholics.
Christians.
Kussian America. British America. . United States
54,400
4,400,1)13 31,429,891
T,0(>1,000
2,2-27,000
21,278,743
301,323
85,792
47,029
IS, 000
2,032,002
500,000
319,1100
2,590,000
25,00(1,0011
50^000
32°600
| 55,000
10,000
1,760-000
3,000,00:1 7,661,000
2,227,000 21,200,(1(1(1 289,«00 30,000 10,000 2,032,000 550,000
10,700
4,350,000
'.'8,000,(1(111
7,00 1,01 Ml
2,227,000
21,250,000
289,000
62,000
65,00)
2,032,000
560,000
Central America . South America. . . French Possess' ns Dutch m Danish "
Swedish u Spanish " Hayti
Free Indians
Total
i0,415,153|27,737,600
b8,75»,OuO|66,516,600
It appears from the above table that Protestant Christianity prevails in the United States, in British America, and in the Dutch, Danish, and Swedish pos- sessions in the West Indies and South America. In the rest of America the Protestant population consists mostly of foreigners. But in Brazil a large immigra- tion from Germany and Switzerland has already estab- lished the foundation of a native Church ; and in New Granada, Chili, the Argentine Confederation, Uruguay, and Hayti flourishing congregations labor for the same end. The Roman Church prevails in Mexico, the West Indies, and all the Central and South American states, and is also numerously represented in the United States and in the British possessions. In Rus- sian America all the native Russian population lie- longs to the Greek Church. A number of pagan In-
AMERICAN
196
AMERICAN
3f WFSr FROM CREENWICH 50
; jfcjt
W'KSi 2'' IN^DtE S
^(S;atfe
in id a A
,tf°fI°
sb bs. Guayaquil «■ \ u o w % - 1 ^apeBlftutof j !r«^
TruxilloV? ^
zonjk
Map of South America
dians still live in nearly all parts of America. Their I number is estimated at about 1,000,000. Jews, Mor- mons, and Spiritualists are found almost only in the United States, where there are also a number of other congregations which expressly place themselves out- side of Christianity, without haying established any other positive creed (see Schem, Ecclesiastical Year- book for 1859, p. 14-1G).
American and Foreign Bible Society. See Bible Societies.
American and Foreign Christian Union, a religious association of the United States, organized in the city of New York in May. 1849. It was form- ed by the fusion of three societies which had existed
for several years, the Foreign Evangelical Society, the American Protestant Society, and the Phi/o-Jtalian So- ciety. The Foreign Evangelical Society was organized in 1839 to advance the work of evangelization in pa- pal countries generally. It had been preceded by the French Association, which was founded in 1834, in order to assist the evangelical efforts made by the French Protestants, and, in 1830, changed its name into that of Evangelical Association. The receipts of the French Association and the Evangelical Association were $19,759, those of the Foreign Evangelical Society during the ten years of its existence, $154,345. At the request of the French Assaciation, Rev. Dr. Baird went, in ls:!5, for three years to Paris, for the purpose of learning what could be done by the American
AMERICAN
197
AMETHYST
churches to aid their Protestant brethren in France, ami later, at the request of the Foreign Evangelical Society, travelled for four more years extensively on the Continent in prosecution of the same work. In 1849 the society had missionaries in France, Belgium, Sweden, Canada, Hayti, and South America, besides having aided the work in Germany, Poland, Russia, and Italy. The American Protestant Society was formed in 1843 in consequence of the large immigra- tion of Roman Catholics into the United States. Its objects were : To enlighten Protestants of this coun- try in regard to the errors of Rome, and to convert and save the members of the Roman Church in the United States. A number of colporteurs and other missionaries were maintained, laboring mostly among the Irish and German immigrants. The total receipts from 1843 to 1849 were $92,100. The Philo-ltalian Society, which later took the name of the Chris- tian Alliance, was also founded in 1843. As the pro- ceedings of this society were not published, little is known of it farther than that it employed an active agent, a Protestant Italian, for years on the confines of Italy. The A merican and Foreign Christian Union, which arose in 1849 out of a union of these three socie- ties, undertook the work and assumed the responsibil- ities of them all combined. Its objects are "to diffuse and promote, by missions, colportage, the press, and other appropriate agencies, the principles of religious liberty, and a pure and evangelical Christianity, both at home and abroad, wherever a corrupted Christianity exists." In the first two years of its existence, 1850 and '51, it expended nearly $15,000 for the removal to Illinois of some 500 or GOO Portuguese exiles, who had been exiled from Madeira for having embraced Prot- estantism. The receipts from 1849 to 1859 have ranged from $45,000 to $*0,000, making a total of OA-er 6 (100, 000 in ten years. In 18G3 they were $59,C63 ; in 1864, $73,778. It publishes a monthly magazine of 32 pages, the " Christian World'' (formerly the "A m. and For. Chr. Un."), which has a large circulation. The so- ciety has also published a Sabbath-school library, con- sisting of 21 volumes, mostly exposing the doctrines and usages of the Roman Church. The agents of the society in the home field preach the Gospel to Roman Catholics, viz., English, Irish, French, Italian, Span- ish, German, and Bohemian. In the foreign field, the society sustains missionaries itself, or supports the Protestant missions of other societies in Canada, Hayti, Mexico, South America, Ireland, Western or Azore Islands, Sweden, Belgium, Switzerland, Pied- mont, France. The number of laborers employed in the home field was, in 1859, G3 ; the number of teach- ers, male and female, 375 ; making a force of 438 per- sons endeavoring to counteract the influence of the papacy. The aggregate number of children and youth which were reported, up to May, 1859, as having been brought under evangelical influences, was up- ward of 14,250. The total number of converts from the Roman Catholic Church amounted, in 1859. to 1404.