Hope Leslie, or Early Times in the Massachusetts

Written during the Second Great Awakening (1790-1840), prompted by the first Industrial Revolution (1760-1840) when Christian sects were splintering off in many different directions and nation was veering back toward its religious roots after the Enlightenment (1715-1789), Hope Leslie represents the growing Unitarian thought of time. While Unitarianism in that iteration was still Christian (as some Unitarian sects are today), and indeed decidedly Protestant, it was more accepting of differing beliefs and practices than most Christian ideologies of its day.

Still, the only religion presented as completely legitimate in Hope Leslie is Protestantism; yet, except for the charlatan Sir Philip Gardiner, different religious sects govern groups and individuals. The Fletchers and the Winthrops are Protestant, the dominant faith in New England. The Catholic Antonio is pitied and mocked for his Catholicism, while Faith Leslie, when it is learned that she has become a Catholic, is viewed with horror. Despite the overlap in their worship of Christ and their insistence on spiritual purity, the two religions are at odds throughout.

Magawisca, Faith, Mononotto, Nelema, and Oneco illustrate the novel’s other religion: the amorphous, animistic nature-worship of the Indians. They and their traditions are viewed with scorn and, at times, outright hatred by white society.