Weren’t they more Deistic, though? I think that the rise of Deism had a lot more to do with scientific progress not clashing with religion than closeted Atheism.
And then the US had the Great Reawakenings rejecting Deism in the 19th Century, but those movements didn’t really catch on as much in Europe, and then going from Deism to Atheism is a smaller step than going straight from Theism to Atheism.
