Colonial New England and Religious Tolerance Essay

The New England colonists, except for Rhode Island, were predominantly Puritans who practiced very strict religious lives. The civil government in these colonies dealt quite harshly with those who dared to disagree with the Puritan church. People were being exiled for speaking out against Puritanism. They whipped baptists. They cropped, or cut off, the ears of Quakers. They even went as far as to hang Quaker missionaries. They did all of this in an order to proselytize and convert people to be Puritan.

No person or persons...shall from henceforth be any waies troubled, molested or discountenanced for or in respect of his or her religion nor in the free exercise thereof.

Religion had a big impact in shaping what America is today. Religion still has a big role in modern American society, even with the emergence of Scientific belief systems which would have been condemned in colonial America. Religion has the capability of shaping its follower’s entire lives, countless people lived and died to preserve their spot in the afterlife. One of the key reasons many chose to immigrate to America was for freedom of religion. Religion is the belief of something beyond what is scientifically proven. Many different religious sects moved to America for various reasons. In this essay, we will examine some of the major religious groups of Colonial America and their effect on shaping America.

B. The doctrines spread to England as King Henry VIII while he became head of the Church of

The New England believed on English people were aloud. They were all Puritans. In New England there was no such thing as religious freedom, whoever moved to New England had to be an English Puritan and nobody else. The New England was a dominated region. People such as John Winthrop were a big impact on New England since they were the people who decided to leave New England so they could choose their religion and live by it. Roger Williams and Anne Hutchinson from Rhode Island believed that even if someone’s religion was different, there would only be acceptance and no harm. The Middle Colonies had a lot more religious freedom than the New England. They were a diverse colony, a colony that accepted anybody from any religion including black slaves. There was no church that dominated the middle colonies. This region was not only a diverse colony but also included Quakers whom was led by William Penn. The Dutch and the Swedish Lutherans were the first Europeans to settle in the middle colonies. In Pennsylvania William Penn, Quaker, soon provided all religious freedoms. Although Jews and Catholics couldn’t vote, they followed William Penn’s footsteps and went to Pennsylvania for religious freedom. Just like the New England, the southern colonies were strict on their religion even if they accepted many people from different religions. Usually the slaves that the southern colonists

Distinct religion flood all over the colonies, southern english colonies held the Anglican traditions, quaker beliefs spread throughout the middle region, and puritans, calvinism, protestantism, presbyterian and many more advance the religious variety in the English colonies. The religious differences variously affected the social and constitutional norms in the regions. Religions such as calvinism played an important in shaping the New England colonies, like Massachusetts, since they imposed laws influencing their society and politics, while some religion like Quaker and Anglican didn’t really have a major role in the government’s politics. People became more aware of how religion affected them and this brought forth movements that challenged the traditional doctrines such as Various ethnic groups also aided on the diversification of the colonies, since they brought with them their different beliefs and share it with others. This, initially, caused conflict since others wanted to preserve their culture so they only encouraged marriage in the same race

Jaden Ackerman Mrs. Auble APUSH Block 3 August 11, 2015 UNIT ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS: 4. Summarize the role of religion in the colonies during the 1600s Religion played a huge roll in the colonies in the 1600s especially since each colony had a different religion. The New England Colonies were primarily puritans and had little tolerance for other religions. The exception was Rhode Island who was religiously open and was founded by a Massachusetts exile named Roger Williams. Roger Williams founded the first Baptist Church in the colonies in Rhode Island.

In 1631, Roger Williams left England and arrived in the Massachusetts Bay Colony, where he worked as a minister. However, his divergent views on religious freedom, and the rights of the Natives cause him to be banished from the colony. He then bought land from the Narragansett Natives, and created a new colony, which is now known as Providence, Rhode Island. Providence quickly became a home for Quakers, Jews, and other religious minorities. Although Williams was a minister, he was a strong supporter of religious freedom, and the separation of church and state. London’s religious intolerance was the leading reason he fled England. It is no surprise that once he saw the same system forming amongst the colonists he began to speak out against

Before the early settlers established the “New Nation”, their allegiance was with Britain. The British government restricted what religious and political views they would follow. The Church of England and the British government were intertwined, one in the same, and the people began to search for a better way of life. Their desire for freedom drove them to the voyage that thousands eventually took across the Atlantic, and to America.

Early English settlers came to colonial America to escape religious oppression in England, however, one settling in America they enforced their own religious oppression on both natives, and colonials who dared to question their religion. The colonial hierarchy had a very basic pattern, those who followed the religion of the colony had the most power. Those who opposed were given little to no power, and we often forced to either stay silent or leave the community as a whole in search of land in which they were free to express their beliefs. This religious oppression is a common theme with the Puritan community of New England, where Roger Williams was forced to move to providence due to his beliefs, so called “witches” were murdered with little proof of any wrongdoing, and Native Americans were looked at as impure due to their culture. By sustaining a society of religious oppression the Puritans were able to hold a great amount of power in the Northern colonies of America.

Religion played a key role in colonial America and caused a great deal of conflict and confusion among the colonist. There were religions in the New World that did not tolerate each other. Some people, like the Quakers, wanted religious freedom from the Puritans. Some people believed in strange superstitions that alienated non-believers. Some people believed government and religion should be the same although government eventually became separated from religion. If the New World in the colonies was to be successful for the most people, the conflict between the many religions would have to be addressed.

The public life of a citizen in an early American community varied greatly with the customs and culture of each society. The two largest factors that determined what was socially acceptable for citizens during that time were religion and politics. Often religion would shape how the community viewed politics and likewise politics would affect religion. However, it appears that before the American Revolution religion dictated politics and the subsequent laws that were written, while after the war citizens began to have political aspirations that would change how society viewed religion. Thus, marking a very clear shift where religion stopped being the primary influence on public life and politics began to take over that role.

The definition of religious liberty differs in every colony. Every colony has a different belief some believe in god and others don’t, but no one was free to be choose on what religion people wanted to follow. In the American colonies were largely non-Catholics. Although some other religions were practiced in most colonies, the Puritans in Massachusetts established a new law that no all religions could be practice. Pennsylvania was the first to follow those rules from court. Spanish colonies were Catholics, there was no other religion to follow. When people got tired and tried to protested about a new religion they would be persecuted and would send them to another place. French colonies, in their Colonial life was some large Catholic believers. Religious beliefs of the Dutch vary.

Religious intolerance has a been a plague on our society throughout time. In the 1700’s my ancestor, a French Huguenot named Leonard Varnado, sailed to America to escape execution for his beliefs. He was not the only one, many people from France, England and Scotland traveled to America in pursuit of religious freedom. America was founded by the people who left their lives, homes, and possessions behind to practice what they believed freely. Today many Americans still face the same persecution that their ancestors sought to escape all those years ago. In 2015 Supreme Court gave same-sex couples their long deserved right to marry, but many people still protest it due to it being against their own religious belief system. In fact, Senator and

Before the Reformation, England was a Roman Catholic society that was led by the Pope in Rome. Religious life followed a very traditional and structured way of life and was very much ‘deeply embedded in the