Causes Of Religious Freedom In The New England Colonies

Religion in the 17th century was extremely important in the English colonies. Majority of the colonies were Protestants when England first settled in North America. When Maryland was found in 1634, it was known as a safe haven for Catholics who lost the England Civil War; however, within 15 years, Catholics were outnumbered by Protestants. In 1649, Maryland created the Act of Toleration which provided religious freedom for all Christians (Document A). Unlike Maryland, Pennsylvania and Rhode Island allowed complete religious freedom for all. Religion affected the society of English colonies by creating new churches such as the Presbyterian and Baptist churches.

The Puritan community of the Massachusetts Bay colony was primarily focused around church and faith. In 1630, a mass exodus of Puritans moved from England to the colonies in an attempt to isolate themselves and focus on their own religion. Puritans believed that they had a covenant with God, meaning they were predestined for heaven.

Religious freedom was one of the main causes for English peoples to move to the New World. They escaped from the de-catholicization of the Church of England in order to believe in what they wanted to belive in. The government once again did not pay any heed to set an official religious set of rules in the colonies, therefore allowing the people to

Prior to 1700 the Middle Colonies had an extraordinary level of religious toleration. The population in the Middle Colonies was largely made up of Quakers, which were not supported by taxes and insisted on loyalty to the church. In some aspects the “secondary” religions had limited rights; such as Catholics and Jews, who could not elect or run for office positions based on London’s insistence. Later on, however when the Duke of York took the status of governor, he concentrated chiefly on financial growth and dropped focus on religious constraints allowing for other religions to gain power.

During the seventeenth century, colonial America was welcoming many newcomers, several from England. Quantities of these newcomers were seeking land for economic purposes as others were longing for religious toleration. Many of the English colonists settled in the New England region for religious freedoms, to escape the English king, and leave adversaries of other religions behind. Settlers who resided in the Middle Atlantic region were affected differently. Although the Middle Atlantic was more

Religion helped define boarders and gave people an identity thought the North American colonies. From New England to The South, colonist tolerance for others shaped the development of not only government polices but also social and economic movements as well. Although the colonies went through rapid growth and development, Protestantism still dominated the region.

All the British colonies allowed the practice of many religions, but there were some colonies that only allowed it to a certain extent. An example would be Massachusetts, who allowed religious freedom, but only to the Puritans. They did not allow others to practice any other religion, and if they did, they were prosecuted. Rhode Island and Pennsylvania were the only two colonies that allowed religious freedom to the fullest extent. They believed people should be able to practice their own religion. The New England Colonies, except for Rhode Island, were all strict of religious freedom. The Middle Colonies and the Southern Colonies had a mix of religions from Jews, Catholics, Lutherans, Baptists, Anglicans, and others.

Religion was the foundation of the early Colonial American Puritan writings. Many of the early settlements were comprised of men and women who fled Europe in the face of persecution to come to a new land and worship according to their own will. Their beliefs were stalwartly rooted in the fact that God should be involved with all facets of their lives and constantly worshiped. These Puritans writings focused on their religious foundations related to their exodus from Europe and religions role in their life on the new continent. Their literature helped to proselytize the message of God and focused on hard work and strict adherence to religious principles, thus avoiding eternal damnation. These main themes are evident in the writings of

In British North American colonies prior to 1700, colonies in different areas tolerated religious freedom differently; in general, New England colonies had strict religion rules, Southern colonies had an established religion but tolerated religious freedom to an extent, and the Middle colonies readily accepted religious freedom.

The start-up of the New England colonies were religious, as they were making a pilgrimage from England as the only acceptable religion in England at the time was Anglicanism and most of these settlers were English puritans. Even though they left England for religious reasons, most of the New England settlers would only allow religions closest to their own, in order to settle with them. There weren’t any specific groups yet, knowing the fact that most people in New England were poor until the 1700’s.

Religion plays a major part in many societies, especially the first 13 colonies. Some colonies were even settled solely to have freedom of religion and escape from religious persecution. Massachusetts was one example, as the Puritans first went to Plymouth in 1620 seeking religious freedom. In terms of the New England colonies overall, they remained Puritan. The idea of religious toleration was restricted to only the Puritan religion. A goal of theirs was to establish a “city on a hill”, which they succeeded at by having an atmosphere of “watchfulness” and helping each other. John Winthrop, a Puritan, served as the first Massachusetts Bay Colony governor. Anyone who did not follow this religion were known as

The differences between these colonies also arose due to different opinion on functioning of the government and ideologies. New England, being majorly settled by the Puritans, was intolerant to all other religions. The one exception to this was the colony of Rhode Island. Because it was settled by a dissenter from the Massachusetts Bay colony, it was the only New England colony to have complete religious freedom. Most of the New England based groups wanted to reform the Anglican Church from inside. The Chesapeake region was completely tied to the Anglican Church and did not care about reforming it in any way. The New England colonies also had a large central government which allowed for their administrations to be more organized and uniform throughout the region. This idea came from the Mayflower Compact signed at Plymouth by the Pilgrims. The American Pageant describes it as, “ It was simple agreement to form a crude government and submit to the will of the majority under the regulations agreed upon” (Bailey 47 ). According to Document A,

For the New England colonies like Massachusetts, Connecticut, New Hampshire, and Rhode Island, they had the Mayflower Compact. Their political and government structure had a interrelation between politics and religion. It dictated the economic, political, and social lives of colonists. Each town had meetings, elected legislatures, debated, and issued laws. Voting was allowed to white men who went to church. New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Delaware, or the Middle Colonies, elected representatives to assemblies. The assemblies would then elect government officials which passed laws and did the decision makings. The Middle Colonies had religious tolerance that was founded by William Penn and practiced by the Quakers and it played a minor role in politics and economy. For the Chesapeake colonies, the House of Burgesses was founded in Jamestown where

The British Colonists traveled over into the New World for society to work out in their own favor. However, this was not the case for these colonists; they carelessly came into the New World with the intent of having their own freedom of religion, being culturally intertwined with the natives already, and for their own overall independence economically . The British did not make a smooth transformation into this New World when they first arrived over seas, they brought chaos not only to the Natives but also the development of their colonies and themselves.

     Religion was a very important part of everyday life in colonial America. Sometimes people were not allowed to question what they were taught, and if they did so they were punished accordingly. Before 1700 some colonies had more religious freedom then others. While others colonies only allowed religious freedom to a select group, others allowed religious freedom to all different kinds of religions. In the overall there was quite a bit of religious freedom in colonial America