Religious Freedom: The Main Reason Why The Colony's Went To The New World

The New England colonies consisted of puritans who wanted to purify the church because the Church in England was corrupt. They wanted a place where they could worship freely and work together to

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

During the 17th and 18th century, English residents felt that England was over-crowded and intolerable. They wanted to lessen these problems that rose up because of the large population increase and to establish more religious freedom (Horn). The English believed that the best way to go about this was to colonize the New World. Subsequently, many colonies began to develop, and of these colonies, Massachusetts Bay and Virginia were the most well-known. The early settlements of Massachusetts and Virginia were both established by similar groups of people at the same time; furthermore, their contrasting beginnings as a colony, views on religion, and method of economic stability all contributed to our American heritage today.

First, I think that the colonists’ religion had to do with the Salem Witch trials. In the 1690s, the people who immigrated into Salem were all puritans. They had only reason they had all moved to Salem was to practice Christianity in a purer way because the puritans did not agree with how it was practiced in England. As you can see, these people took religion very seriously and made sure everything was done as a pope or the Bible said. When they first started hearing about all of the rumors about witches in their

The original Pennsylvania colony was founded in 1682 by William Penn, when the king owed Penn’s father a large deal of money so he gave him land in the New World. Penn used the land to create a new colony so that people who belonged to one of the many religions that were being heavily persecuted at the time would have a place to go. Most of the people of the people that came to Pennsylvania were Quakers that had nowhere else to go. Though the colony did have religious freedom, it was lead by and the majority of the rules were set by Quakers. It was a very strictly run colony, as the Quakers were very intolerant of immorality, so activities like drinking, gambling, and lying were banned, to the point that owning cards or dice was illegal. While

An English Quaker lawyer name William Penn was the founder of Pennsylvania City. He called it the place for religious freedom in America. One of his quotes states, “True religion does not draw men out of the world but enable them to live better in it and excites their endeavors to mend it.” William Penn was educated in theology and law and in his early twenties. William was converted to the Quaker religion, and he was jail many times for counterattacking the Church of England. The royal charter of England granted William stay in America to form a new colony in America. Pennsylvania was where individuals of all religious beliefs would be free to practice their religions. It is ironic to say I was in a city founded by William Penn practicing

The colonists as we know came to the New World to start a better life in a new place. However, it was later proven that they wanted to make money in all sorts of things and ways and they also wanted to practice their religion away from anyone else. Therefore, it is clear to say that the colonists came to the New World to make money and practice their own religion.

In current day America, citizens either take their freedom lightly or believe they have no freedom at all. However, our ancestors thought differently in the past. The English colonist came to the New World for a number of reasons. Many came to the New World to escape bad marriages, jail terms, but many historian believe that many came to either get out of poverty or the fear of them falling into poverty. According to Brands, “Religion was a big reason for the English to come across the Atlantic”. The first colony was Jamestown, Virginia in 1607, which was not successful. After the first colony was established many more were established like New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and etc..

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.

Throughout history, a variety of religions have came and gone due to dislike and uncomfort. Before 1492, a majority of Europe was a part of the Catholic Church. The Catholic Church controlled every aspect of a human’s life, for example: education, social status, and family matters. In 1517, Martin Luther had created the Protestant Reformation, which limited the power of the Catholic Church. Europe was now religiously divided, which created a larger diversity of religion to the colonies. Reasons such as Henry VIII decisions with the Catholic Church, English immigrants, and religious groups affected the relationship between religion and the colonies.

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 the early 1600s, colonies such as Rhode Island, Massachusetts, and Maryland, were built on various religious principles. In addition to the colonist focus on gaining their independence and having the freedom to live as they chose; away for England 's ruling. However, religion was a major battle for those upcoming settlements. Many had their own perception of what they thought was the truth about the Bible and if anyone opposed their belief, harm was due to them.

A plan for some of the colonists moving to the New World was freedom of religion, such as the quakers (located in Pennsylvania) and pilgrims believed in the freedom of living off of your own specific religion. The puritans on the other hand, settled in the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1629 , identified themselves as God’s chosen pure angels because of their belief that they were born saved into the world. They would also turn a blind eye to other denominations and focused on their church to be an Angelic Catholic Church specifically. Which of course if you know anything about their “home” back in Europe. That is their “main” denomination over in Britain and they do required everyone to believe in. The puritans brought over their beliefs from England not trying to make it into their own. For example in England they created various religious laws, that were put into place over from England but now the laws transferred into

Although William Penn was sent to jail because of his beliefs, he played a part in creating the key principals of religious toleration and he also put his ideas into real world practice in a colony he created, which is now known as Pennsylvania. Penn’s colony played a key role in the creation of the First Amendment. There are two parts to the first and most important Amendment, the Establishment Clause and the Free Exercise Clause, both of which allow citizens to practice a religion of their choice instead of going to a state church against their will. Penn was one of the first people to support religious freedom and he made a colony where people could practice a

There were various motivations for establishing colonies in the New World. From the perspective of the settlers, one could conclude there were two primary motivations, religious freedom, and wealth. Depending upon one’s status in the colonial times, one could consider wealth as having an abundance of land and natural resources, not necessarily power or an abundance of gold per say. Therefore, the poor, rich, and middle class had their own expectations of “wealth” and religious freedom that motivated establishing the colonies. Similarly, the European powers that were sending supplies and funding the colonial establishments were driven to expand their wealth and impose their religious principles.