The New England colonies settled because they wanted to have religious freedom which was the most important factor to the colonists. The people that made up these colonies just wanted a place to have freedom to worship. However, The New England colonies developed different from the colonies in the Chesapeake. Jamestown and New England had different economies, government and demographic make-up of the population. It was important for the New England colonies to have religious freedom.
Demographically, English settlements were more family oriented than that of the southern colonies. The majority of settlers consisted of families of six children per household and overall the amount of men and women equaled each other as well as the amount of adults to children. The settlers that lived in the New England colonies were dissenters from the Church of England. Predominantly consisting of Puritans, religious freedoms did not exist throughout the northern colonies. They established a congregational church, which is where meetings regarding government policies would take place.
Northern and Southern Colonies in the Early 1700s During the 1700s, the economies of the Northern and Southern colonies differed majorly from one another. The Northern colonies were completely opposite of the Southern colonies economy wise. Life in society was quite different considering the fact that there was an influx of immigrants (Textbook). This helped to create a very diverse population in both of the colonies (Textbook).
Religion influence the funding and development of New England Colonies because it was one of the main reasons why the people wanted to break away. The Church of England believed that everyone should praise God, but only on their terms. The people of the church believed that only certain people could interpret the word of God and this made a group of people angry. This group of people wanted to ‘purify’ the church, which is where they got the name the Puritans. Puritans believed all catholic based beliefs should be taken out of the church and that it was not required to worship God.
Besides English settlers there were numerous other representatives of the European countries settling in the new land. And as the Puritans came to practice their own believes so did other nationalities, as explained in the study material. In my own interpretation America represents change and the believe system as well as the way religion was previously practiced was now changing. This change was greatly influenced by the intellectual movement called Enlightenment, which started in Europe and this influence had bearing on the Great Awakening. Besides Puritans now there were Catholics in Maryland, Quakers in Pennsylvania and the Episcopal Church in the southern states.
The Puritans in Massachusetts were very intolerant of other religious beliefs, regardless of the fact that they had been persecuted in England for what they believed. Puritans insisted that regular church attendance was mandatory in order to receive voting privileges. This meant that in order to have a say in anything you had to be a devout Puritan. They often argued about discrepancies within their own religion, such as whether or not sainthood was passed down from generation to generation. Puritans even went as far as to exile other Puritans the did not conform to the standard version of Puritanism.
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.
The colonists wanted religious freedom. One reason they originally left England was to escape the Catholic Church. Some called themselves Puritans. They wanted the church and the state to be more separate.
The Puritans came to America for religious freedom. Under Archbishop William Laud, head of
New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut composed the New England colonies. Religion was a primary motive for English settlements in New England and a big part of their routine. The men and women who migrated there were mostly Puritans who were looking for a hafe heaven to practice their own religion and separate from the Church of England. These were mainly families, including children, who lived in small houses, had strong ties to their new church, and worked in diverse industries including farming, fishing, lumber, and others (Lecture notes, chapter 4). British setlements to the Southern colonies of Virginia, Georgia, and the Carolinas had economic motives with cash crops as the main source of farming based economy.
The Puritan religion was comparable to the Pilgrim's religion. Both were English protestants who felt that England's reforms should have lasted longer. In contrast to the Pilgrims, the Puritans arrived in America in 1630 with the goal of reforming the Church of England. Many people believed that the Puritans were a religious government known as a theocracy. Although some other historians believed that it was a democracy.
What I noticed most about the founding of the American Colonies was the way religion played a vital role both in their establishment and in the early stages of their development. Although MindTap for U.S. History 1st Edition, 1.2 and 2.5 both explain that the primary reason European countries began to explore and colonize was their desire to expand trade and grow their economies, we can still see religion playing an important if occasionally subtle role. In the document, Instructions for the Virginia colony written in 1606, the author states that essential to the colonies success is their ability to be one with each other and with God. As we move further through history we come to the, History of Plymouth Plantation written in 1650 by William
Northern colonies started as just state all bunched into one. They are now there own separate states now. The northern colonies are now the states of Plymouth,Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, and finally New Hampshire. Plymouth Colony: Plymouth colony was an English colonial venture in North America from the years of 1620 to 1691. The first settlement of the Plymouth Colony was at New Plymouth, a location previously surveyed and named by Captain John Smith.
Puritans were the group of people who disagreed with the church of England’s teachings and sought to reform it. King Henry VIII only added fuel to their fire. People left England seeking religious tolerance. Puritans strongly opposed King Charles I and his decisions as ruler. Those English colonists who were not Puritans came to the New World in search of economic opportunity.
