50's question

Why did more Americans join the religious organizations and attend church?

The standard narrative of American religious decline goes something like ... As the United States became more secular, people slowly began drifting away from faith. ... are less likely to attend services or identify with a religious group than ... While Americans on the whole are still going to church and other ...

president thomas jefferson commissioned the expedition shortly after the louisiana purchase in 1803 to explore and to map the newly acquired territory, to find a practical route across the western half of the continent, and to establish an american presence in this territory before britain and other european powers