It would be remiss to overlook the role of the church in 19th century American society. There was something of a religious revival. And the nature of a single congregation is that it never grew past the limits of a small, personable organization. While there was a flourishing of denominations, there was nothing akin to outright sectarian conflict or violence. So there was this small, personable network of congregations in intimate contact with each other that spread throughout the entire country, with small nodes every few miles or so at least.