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What were some characteristics of missionary movements in the modern period? What was their relationship with colonialism?

The American missionary movement was influenced by the Puritans' ideal of being "a city upon a hill." They believed that they could be an example to the rest of the world and bring "civilization" wherever they went. This goal brought together the idea of religious proselytizing with the process of building a nation or an empire. In the United States, evangelical Protestants were particularly active as missionaries, and they saw it as their mission to accompany the process of American nation-building as the country expanded west. Presbyterians, Baptists, Methodists, and Mormons were all active in the process of bringing their religions with them in the process of westward expansion. They attempted to proselytize Native Americans and others in the process of moving westward.


In the 19th century, missionary activity also spread overseas with the growth of colonialism. In 1810, the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (ABCFM) was founded, in the example of the London Missionary Society (which had been founded nearly two decades earlier). This organization organized American missionary activity for the next 50 years. Starting in 1812, American missionaries went to India, Burma, Hawaii, and later to China, Korea, Japan, the Middle East, and Africa. By the late 1800s, the goal of their activities was to bring American "progress," in the forms of hospitals and schools, along with Christianity. About 60% of missionaries in the late 1800s were women, and their activities abroad led to calls for women's suffrage in the United States and to increased power for women in American church life. Most missionaries by this point were not proponents of multiculturalism, but actively sought to promote American values along with Christianity. 

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