Religion and the Founding of the American Republic(Library of Congress Exhibition). This exhibition demonstrates that many of the colonies that in1776 became the United States of America were settled by men and women of deep religiousconvictions who in the seventeenth century crossed the Atlantic Ocean to practice their faithfreely. That the religious intensity of the original se americancongressexhibitionrefugefoundinglibraryreligionrepublic with americanfoundinghistoryreligionstumbleuponby 2 users