This dissertation addresses the question: how can we make sense of secularization in the United States? The approach I adopt here is to consider secularization as the loss of religious leaders' authority to interpret controversial issues and to have a direct impact on local, state, and federal laws, regulations, policies, and procedures.

I focus on religious leaders' responses to prostitution in San Francisco, California, during the years 1848-1917. Investigation involved reviewing primary source materials from archival repositories across the country.

Some generalizations can be made about San Francisco religious leaders' responses to prostitution in terms of their respective religious traditions or communities. Protestant leaders sought to address causes of prostitution and to reform prostitutes. Catholic leaders attempted to remove prostitutes from public view. Jewish leaders addressed prostitution both in terms of public health and also in answer to fears about illegal international slavery operations. Responses in Chinatown included both innovations on popular religious practices from China that afforded prostitutes a recognized place in temple life, as well as Protestant missions that sought to reform prostitutes in ways that were partially adopted by Chinatown residents themselves.

These responses varied in the degree to which they directly sought to change public policy. When direct engagement was attempted, religious leaders were frequently surprised at their inability to have an impact on city and state policies. This development can be seen as an illustration of secularization in San Francisco.

Furthermore, I suggest that San Francisco religious leaders' lack of authority regarding prostitution can be explained in terms of local developments in labor and gender roles that occurred in the wake of the California Gold Rush. Similar developments were not evidenced in other parts of the United States until decades later, towards the close of the nineteenth century. This suggests that, at least with regard to issues related to prostitution, San Francisco secularized earlier than other parts of the country. Whether it makes sense to make broader claims about San Francisco's early secularization would require additional investigation into local religious leaders' responses to other controversial issues of the day.