(1776) The Anglican church had many congregations in the American colonies by the 18th century, however, as tensions grew between the colonists and mother England, Church of England pressure was exerted on the American Anglican leaders to declare loyalty to England or be cut off. The American Anglican pastorates chose the latter and formed the American version of the Church of England known as Episcopalianism. Today, Anglicanism in America is simply referred to as “Episcopalian”. If a member of the Anglican church in England were to visit an Episcopal church in American today, they would find the belief system and liturgy to be virtually the same in most respects. Perhaps the accents would be a bit different.