Although the American War for Independence (1775–1783) was not a war of religion, religion played a significant though often subtle role in the events leading to that conflict, in sustaining the rebel cause against the British government, and in shaping the new nation. As Alexis de Tocqueville observed in 1831, "For Americans the ideas of Christianity and liberty are so completely mingled that it is almost impossible to get them to conceive of the one without the other" (Democracy in America, Book 1, Chapter 9). Many viewed the war as part of a universal struggle to secure human rights and liberty. With independence, they made new laws aimed at limiting the power of government over freedom of religion. Then as now, Americans used the legacy of that war and the principles from the Revolution to build their society and culture and to define the nation's ideals and identity...