The story of the United States did not begin in 1776. Its foundations were laid over centuries through ideas, beliefs and people whose influence stretched from the Protestant Reformation, through the constitutional settlement of the Glorious Revolution, to the thousands of Ulster families who crossed the Atlantic to build new communities.
The Protestant Reformation of the sixteenth century transformed Europe by emphasising the authority of Scripture, freedom of conscience, personal responsibility before God and the importance of education. Reformers challenged the concentration of religious and political power, encouraging individuals to read the Bible for themselves and to recognise the rights and responsibilities of the individual. These ideas helped shape traditions of representative government, constitutional limits on authority and religious liberty that would later become central to the political development of Britain and America.
These principles found political expression in the Glorious Revolution of 1688, when the accession of William III and Mary II established the supremacy of Parliament, affirmed the rule of law and reinforced constitutional government. The accompanying constitutional settlement, including the 1689 Bill of Rights, became an important milestone in the development of modern democratic government and civil liberties. It demonstrated that government should be exercised under law rather than through absolute monarchy and influenced constitutional thinking throughout the English-speaking world.
It was from this constitutional tradition that Orangeism emerged in the closing years of the eighteenth century. Founded in 1795, the Orange Institution sought to uphold the principles associated with the Glorious Revolution—loyalty to the Crown, the Protestant Reformed faith, religious liberty under the law, and constitutional government. These ideals reflected values that many Protestants believed were fundamental to preserving civil and religious freedoms and became an enduring part of the Institution’s identity.
At the same time, thousands of Ulster-Scots emigrants were making the journey across the Atlantic. Throughout the eighteenth century they settled along the American frontier, establishing farms, churches, schools and communities from Pennsylvania through Virginia and into the Carolinas, Kentucky and beyond. Their influence was felt in agriculture, commerce, education, military service and public life. They brought with them traditions of self-government, Presbyterian church organisation, local democracy and a strong commitment to liberty of conscience.
Historians have long recognised the significant contribution of Ulster-Scots settlers to the American Revolution and the early Republic. Many served in colonial militias and the Continental Army, while others became legislators, judges, ministers, educators and civic leaders. Their descendants would go on to play important roles in every stage of American development, including the election of numerous Presidents of Ulster-Scots ancestry, reflecting the lasting impact of these immigrant communities on the nation’s public life.
The story of America’s founding is therefore not solely the story of famous statesmen and revolutionary leaders. It is also the story of ordinary men and women whose faith, determination and commitment to community helped build a new nation. Their values, shaped by the Protestant Reformation, influenced by Britain’s constitutional development, and carried across the Atlantic by Ulster emigrants, became part of the wider fabric of American society.
The Faith & Freedom 250 Festival celebrates this shared heritage through its three guiding themes:
Faith – recognising the influence of the Protestant Reformation and the Christian faith upon the lives and convictions of those who helped shape both Ulster and America.
Freedom – celebrating the constitutional traditions that developed through the Glorious Revolution and contributed to ideas of representative government, liberty and the rule of law.
Foundation – honouring the generations of Ulster-Scots emigrants whose labour, leadership and community spirit helped establish and strengthen the United States from its earliest settlements to the modern era.
From the churches of the Reformation, through the constitutional settlement of 1688, to the frontier settlements of colonial America, this is a story of ideas and people whose legacy continues to connect Ulster and the United States more than 250 years after the birth of the American nation.