This dissertation is a study of the rise of the Methodist movement in Revolutionary America, and its impact on women, blacks and artisans who joined Methodist societies in the commercial ports of Philadelphia, New York and Baltimore over the same period. The dissertation finds that Methodism began as a missionary movement that sought to counteract the influence of commercial mores in the Middle Atlantic ports and their hinterlands. This movement thrived on preachers' tolerance of a wide variety of popular religious beliefs and the resemblance between Methodism and the radical republican ideology of the Revolution.
Evidence includes devotional literature, diaries, church publications, and local records.