The Importance Of Religion In Colonial New England

English colonies in the middle of the 17th century were essentially white, English Protestants. A little more than 100 years later, these English colonies started to become more diverse. Different races, ethnic groups, and religious groups started to move into North American. During the time of 1650 to 1755, new forces such as religion, ethnicity and race affected Great Britain's North American colonies.

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.

In 1682, Pennsylvania, the twelfth British colony, was formed. This colony, like the eleven others already founded, was instituted with a comparable style of government and its own questionable religious prejudices. Throughout the colonies, levels of religious understanding fluctuated, apart from a few exemptions. For example, the Middle Colonies had a great deal of open-mindedness when it came to religion, whereas New England had a scarce amount, if any toleration for religious independence at all.

Economically, a large amount of money was spent on building new churches and financial aid was given to ministers. Massachusetts was the first colony to tax residents to support the Congressionalist Church. Also, during the Great Awakening, churches were making attempts to return those individuals who roamed away from the church. The Great Awakening was a revival caused by Jonathon Edwards during the enlightenment time period. The purpose of this revival was to inspire communities to become more religiously involved as pastors were feeling distant from god because of the lack of interest in religion at the time. The Great Awakening undermined the Old Clergy and increased both the number and competiveness of churches. Thousands of books were published and sold to bring the churches profit and therefore allowed more money to aid in the churches construction. Socially, religion brought people together. People of the same religion often worked better together which resulted in a stronger and closer community. Schools were developed for children to learn to read the bible and to teach young men leadership. In the New England region, dominance was shown with an impressive number of graduates, greatly excelling the southern colonies. Religion was so vital to these early colonists that it greatly affected social development, schooling, and even various basic rights we take for granted today. In Colonial America, one must have been a member

New England’s motive to settle there was for freedom of religion due to being in England if they worshiped other religions not been the Church of England, consequences would be imprisonment, fees, discrimination, and even execution. They had two main religious established, Pilgrims and Puritans, been two different religions. Pilgrims were the first permanent settlers on New England.1

Religion has shaped the colonial society in many ways because one of the reasons to leave England was religious persecution. The New England colonies overall are more strict in their religious practices, like the Puritan Massachusetts Bay, but there is some tolerance in places like Rhode Island. The Chesapeake region is less influenced by religion but they do have the Catholic Maryland. Although the Chesapeake colonies were founded for economic reasons, the New England colonies had a society more based off of religion through government, schooling and families. Therefore, the New England region was more heavily influenced by religion in society.

The Massachusetts Bay colony was established in 1691 by William and Mary. This colony was very successful on the principal of economics. At first this colony was supported by the wealthy immigrants, which wasn’t needed soon enough

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

Religious tolerance varied in the two regions based off the main religion that was shared between the settlers. Both regions had a few similarities when dealing with religion. The New England and Chesapeake settlements had established churches and taxed settlers in order to support the church. Each region also experienced the Great Awakening which created a lasting effect on both the colonies and colonist lives. Most of the New England colonies practiced Congregational religion, another category of Puritans, and anyone who didn't was either non-affiliated or Anglican. The Anglican religion was dominant in the Chesapeake regions. While the Chesapeake colonies had a degree of religious tolerance, the New England colonies provided almost little

The middle colonies liked bread so much their nickname was the breadbaskets the new england mostly focused on religion.

In the seventeenth century, religious persecution ran rampant throughout Europe. In attempt to escape the oppression, many fled to less critical countries and territories. One of the popular refuges was colonial America. Settling in the north, these religious refugees made up a majority in the New England population, endeavoring to use it to form their Ideal society. They could use the new land to implement a new civilization reflective of their beliefs.

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.

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.

During the protestant reformation in England many people began to follow a different set of values that had an emphasis on divine example. These people who were proven to be saved believed they should not have to live among the “damned” people who felt differently. Eventually when King James I became head of the state and the church in 1603 he realized that if these Puritans were able to defy him with their religious beliefs than he would lose his grip on his subjects. This led to him discriminating against them and driving them to the New World. The most well-known pilgrimage was that of the Mayflower. However, the more successful puritan venture was the Massachusetts Bay Colony. This colony would put into motion ideas of government, religious tolerance, and the treatment of indians.

Colonial New England ideologies were strictly religious in their puritan beliefs. Clergymen were highly educated and forced religious practices in the name of being righteous and holy. Conformity to religion was not considered a rational choice to those that were forced unto American soil and forced to live a way of life so different than their own. Enslaved Africans brought with them their own religious, marriage and funeral, and medicinal practices. These practices prompted radical puritans to fear these religious traditions that were so unlike their own, condemning blacks and the various ways they expressed hope in oppression. McMillan states, “As blacks occupied the lowest rung within society, their ability to survive the ordeals of