Our Dear-Bought Liberty. Catholics and Religious Toleration in Early America, Hardback/Michael D. Breidenbach

Michael Breidenbach traces American secularism to an unexpected source: not Enlightenment liberalism but Catholic tradition. Suspected of dual loyalty, colonial American Catholics drew on the medieval doctrine of conciliarism to declare independence from the pope. Conciliarism inspired their push for toleration, shaping the nation at large. Illustrations: 13 photos