These same crises undermined the authority of the Church as a powerful institution in society.

The nonconformist sects were the stronghold of the merchant class and spread rapidly in the American colonies.

There, instead of being a check on the commercial spirit, the Church itself had become dominated by the middle class.

Equally important is the fact that in colonial America the level of religious life was very low.

Most colonists, with the exception of the original founders who had fled religious persecution, did not come for religious freedom but for economic advancement.