On October 12th, 1492, Christopher Columbus set foot in Guanahani, which he called San Salvador.

Founded in 1636, Harvard College is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States.

The first American medical school was established at the University of Pennsylvania in 1765. It was an important moment in the history of American intellectual identity and the pursuit of scientific understanding. 

Jonathan Edwards was a Christian minister and theologian whose religious traditions were rooted in the Enlightenment and Puritanism. He was one of the driving forces behind the First Great Awakening in America in the 1730s and 1740s. The First Great Awakening was a religious movement that swept through Europe and North America in the middle decades of the Eighteenth Century – it emphasized personal communion with faith and moved religious observation away from devoted adherence to ceremony and scripture. 

Calvin and Luther were both Christian reformers in sixteenth century Europe who were primarily responsible for dividing Christianity into Catholic and Protestant branches. Dwight L. Moody was a notable religious figure during the Third Great Awakening in the nineteenth century. John Winthrop was a leading figure in the settlement of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. 

Thomas Paine was neither a politician nor a civic leader, but simply a talented writer who passionately argued for the rights of colonists. His "Common Sense," (1776) an engaging pamphlet advocating for the rights of colonists against the tyranny of the British crown, was the most widely read piece of writing in the colonies during the mid 1770s. Its widespread popularity was a major catalyst for the politicians and leaders to organize a revolutionary movement.

The quote actually comes from Thomas Paine's pamphlet Common Sense, the most notable argument for American independence and individual rights among the colonists. A key identifier that this is Paine's writing is the mention of both "the cause of America," and the invocation of "natural rights of all Mankind."

The settlers of Plymouth Colony had already sought refuge outside of England on the European continent, but to no avail. They decided to cross the Atlantic because they sought to create a "Separate" church from the Church of England, which they viewed as irredeemably corrupted. This distinguished them from "Puritans," who merely wished to completely "purify" the Church of England.

While the leaders of the Massachusetts Bay Colony were seeking a chance to worship more freely than in England, they did not wish for any true sense of religious freedom. All the political and religious leaders adhered to a strict form of Calvinist protestantism, and wanted to purify the Church of England along Calvinist lines. Citizens of Boston were required to attend church, and every church was controlled by the political leaders. Many dissenters, including Roger Williams and Anne Hutchinson, were exiled from the colony.

The quote comes from John Winthrop's "A Model of Christian Charity", a speech delivered to the settlers of Massachusetts Bay Colony before they left their ship the Arabella in 1630. The invocations of God's plan, and the audience's role in the promotion of Christianity clearly indicate that this is a Christian sermon. Further, the mention of New England points to the Puritanism of early New England.

The Puritans were so-called because they wished to "purify" the Church of England of its more high church, Catholic elements such as elevated mass and the use of bishops. Puritans were expressly targeted in England in the first few decades of the seventeenth century, and the Massachusetts Bay Colony was founded by the leaders of England's Puritan community.