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Religion in colonial american
Religion influence in american colonies
Religion influence in american colonies
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As people began to settle in America they started to form colonies based around their religious beliefs. In the Chesapeake, Maryland, a proprietary colony was in the possession of a Catholic named George Calvert, while the Puritans founded New England. Chesapeake colonies were established mainly as commercial venues, tobacco being the main cash crop. Where as in New England, colonies were established as settlements for religion. Also the terrain in New England did not allow for an agricultural economy like the Chesapeake.
Regardless of a colony’s religious situation, whether they allowed complete freedom of worship or were occupied by strict religious laws, all thirteen colonies were affected by a movement called the Great Awakening. Generally, the Great Awakening is characterized by a fervent revival in religion practice. Although, this movement had a major impact on most aspects of colonial life, it is important to note the effect it had on religion and how that in turn affected the political life of the colonist. Because of The Great Awakening, many ministers lost authority the authority they held over because more people were taking to studying the Bible in their own homes. This idea would have larger implications for the future.
The colonist came to the New World they need a lot of things from the Indians such as food and survival. The Indians were loyal and kind, and helped the colonist with their needs. When the colonist was able to stand on their own without the Indians they respected the Indians rights, so they said, and agreed to the treaties but the colonist always put their needs before the Indians rules, even if it meant breaking treaties. As the colonist continued to break treaties, and new policy was formed called the Albany Plan of Union stating that the only one who could settle Indian treaties, trade with the Indians, declare war and make peace was the government of British. This all happened after the Revolutionary war.
Colonists who came to America differed greatly in backgrounds and settled for various reasons: Colonist in the New England Colony came to America primarily because they were religious reformers and separatist seeking a new way of life; the Middle Colony was inhabited by a tolerant and diverse group of people with different backgrounds; And the Southern Colony was mainly inhabited by English aristocrats, small farmers, and slaves. Because each colonial region inhabited different groups of colonists the social development differed greatly in each region. New England was founded on the Puritan faith and maintained a strong sense of faith, family, and community. New Englan was very strict on enforcing a strong sense Puritan religion, the lifestyle of colonist revolved around the puritan faith, so much so, it was referred to the "city upon a hill". Contrasting greatly with the New England Colony, the Middle Colony was greatly social and religiously diverse.
This was the same case in the 17th and the 18 century as well. The desire for religious liberty was the most important historical factor that led to the establishment of the English colonies in the 17th and 18th century because it was form of freedom, religious freedom. The Maryland Toleration Act of 1649, was a Christian based religion. They believe that, “God ought in the first place bee taken, into serious consideration and endeavoured
In New England, religion played a huge part in there colonies, settlers in Massachusetts
The United States of America was once a divided North America. There were the New England Colonies, the Middle Colonies, and the Southern Colonies. Which were all formed in the 1700’s. Although these colonies were soon to be one big country, They had lots of differences and similarities, Like their people, land, and economics. One of the many similarities between the colonies is that they all practiced religion, mostly Christian.
Massachusetts was lead by white male landowners who were puritans, and they had no separation in the church and state. On the other hand Virginia had a separation of state and religion. This colony was not lead by any religious group. In fact, most of the man living there were either atheist or agnostic. Those people settled there to move away from all kinds of religion.
New England for example had centered their colonies more around religious freedom and were more focused on religion rather than money and power which is why religion had impacted their development a lot more than other colonies. It could be seen in the Chesapeake and Mid-Atlantic colonies that religion had little impact in their development as they focused more on wealth and power. However the colonies like the Chesapeake and Mid-Atlantic focused on wealth and power, religion still had an impact on the development in the colonies. New England colonies like Plymouth/Massachusetts Bay, Providence, Hartford, and New Hampshire were all colonies in the New England region. Religion impacted these colonies more than colonies from the Chesapeake and Mid-Atlantic regions.
Religion played a great role in the establishment of the English colonies. The main reason the English traveled to North America was to escape religious persecution. Once the English settled in they created colonies, and established rules for a religious society. They would also try to convert Natives into Christianity, and they established universities to practice ministry. Once the English settlers got to North America, the House of Burgesses in 1619 said they would try to convert Native children specifically boys into a “ true religion”, then eventually teach them how teach them how to be Christian civil people.
New England’s founders were strict Puritans who did not have much tolerance for any religion except their own. Over time, as more and more immigrants came with increasingly diverse beliefs, the once stable foundation began to crack. Conflicts broke out and certain religious groups were banished which led to the development of other nearby colonies, for example Rhode Island and Connecticut. In the Chesapeake region, it was easier and there was not as much controversy over religion. The area started out as a refuge for Catholics, but over time many Protestants immigrated there and soon became the majority.
Towards the end of the Revolutionary War, the founding fathers decided that that the colonies would need some form of government that would unify them. At the same time, they decided that they wanted to avoid creating a monarchial type of government from which they had just split. The period just after the Revolutionary War was a critical time for the fledging country and it was important that the government formed would not only unify the colonies and protect them, not only from foreign countries, but also from destroying themselves internally.
Pennsylvania was a safe haven for Quakers. In Europe, Quakers could be put in jail, confiscated of their land or even hung for expressing their religious beliefs publicly. Unlike most other established civilizations at this time, the freedom to express your religious beliefs was not socially accepted, this was what made these four colonies so special and is what helped them to differentiate themselves from the rest, causing more settlers to come live there. Between the 1730’s and 1770’s the Great Awakening took place in the thirteen colonies; The Great Awakening was a period of time where colonists became more centered around religion. Due to most of the Tobacco, Southern and New England colonies lacking the religious tolerances of the middle colonies, it would be plausible to believe that between these time periods, some settlers began to migrate towards the middle colonies as well.
There are significant differences between the New England, Middle and Southern colonies between the periods of 1600s to 1700s involving religion, economics and climate. Although religion did play a role between the three colonies the major differences were their climate, produce, slavery and encounter with Native Americans. The Middle and Southern colonies weren’t really dominated by a specific religion which allowed many other religions to come in. For the Southerners, it was mostly Baptists and Anglicans. As for the Middle colonies there were many religions such as Catholics, Lutherans, Jews and many others.
The English Monarch, at the time, wanted power over religion and sought total control. With this goal, practicing other religions, outside the Church of England, punishable by law. Many English wasted to continue practicing their religions, and America offered the potential to do so without the threat of English law. B. Describe the economic systems, social characteristics and political systems of the following colonies.
