In 1588, the English defeated the Spanish Armada which allowed them to colonize in the North America. While they were in North America the English tried to establish two joint-stock companies, Virginia and Massachusetts. Three colonial regions were established in doing so; New England, Middle Colonies, and Southern Colonies. Due to their geography, economy, and religion led the two colonies, New England and Southern Colony, to become very diverse from one another. New England Colonies and the Southern Colonies developed into two diverse regions because of their differences in geography.
In search of religious freedom a group of devout Christians sailed across the ocean only to come across a new land, radically different from the one they left behind. From the initial journey, to the formation of the colonies, and finally their complicated relationship with “non-believers” Puritans strongly held religious convictions has played a key role in all of this. The Puritans were a group of reformed Protestants seeking to reform the English Church. After the fall of the Roman Catholic Church, a new church was established “The English Anglican Church”. While most Puritans sought to reform the church others wanted nothing to do with it these Puritans would eventually be known as Separatists.
Any person who has studied Pennsylvanian history knows that William Penn wanted his colony, his “Holy Experiment,” to act as a haven of religious tolerance for his fellow Quakers and other marginalized groups. However, Penn was a business man as well as a member of the Society of Friends, and he knew that acquiring land on which to settle Europeans was the only way to make his colony successful and profitable. In order to reconcile his financial need to continually expand his holdings in Pennsylvania and his belief (founded in the Quaker teachings which professed the equality of all persons) that Native Americans had a right to their lands, Penn made it clear that land in Pennsylvania would be bought from the Indians, not taken from them.
Thomas Jefferson The article, “Apostle of Republican Liberty” by Eugene R. Sheridan presents a biography of Thomas Jefferson, the third president of the United States. Also known as the “Father of the Declaration of Independence”; founder of the University of Virginia, and author of the “Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom”. The author of this article, Eugene R. Sheridan is a member of the Princeton University Department of History, which has written couple of other books and articles about the early American history.
William Penn, proprietor of this colony, was a Quaker who strived to build a religiously free colony, where anybody who had monotheistic beliefs was free to come—even if they were not deeply religious. Their goal was
William Penn wanted his colony of Pennsylvania to be a place for religious freedom. He did not want a focus on religion to be the main criteria for his government. “Penn’s Frame of Government prohibited swearing, drunkenness, and adultery, as well as popular entertainments…(Foner, 97).” Meaning that he focused more on public morality than religious morality. Many seeking religious freedom to practice would come to Pennsylvania.
Freedom to Prosecute Religion Colonial America is often thought of as a safe haven from religious persecution. Future colonists had been persecuted for not accepting their countries ' religious doctrine and were willing to travel long distances in search of religious freedom. Religious freedom would still be far from grasp as Puritans would continue their homelands traditions of persecution for many more years. Puritans, unlike the Pilgrims (who sought to completely separate from the Church of England), wanted to purify the Church.
One Man’s Vision Against a World’s View During the 1600’s the world changed drastically due to the widely held belief that expanding empires would lead to great fortune and world domination. William Penn, an Englishman who was inspired to build a community tailored to his Quaker beliefs (that of the “friendly neighbor), wrote an invitation to his English compatriots regarding the land he saw and his ideas of that land. In “Letters to the Free Society of Traders” (1683) Penn wrote of the land, the plants, and the people favorably.
History tells us that the Puritans were different than the Pilgrims because they wanted to continue to exist with the Church of England but make it better in the New World. (Settling 2014) The Puritans must have felt some type of loyalty to their native religion because they didn’t put their religion totally aside. It is noted that the Puritans did not want the rituals and other beliefs that involved being a member of their native Church of England.
New England’s economy would also be influenced by the British tax later that would cause Americans to revolt many of which trusted in their faith to guide them The Puritans who settled in Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1630 were also motivated by religious beliefs. They believed in the idea of a "city upon a hill," a vision of a holy community that would serve as an example to the rest of the world (American YAWP, 2.6). This belief led to a strict social order and a commitment to the moral and spiritual purity of the community. It also led to conflicts with other religious groups, such as the Quakers, who were seen as a threat to the Puritan social order.
Although the separation from England was a united movement, not all colonies settled for the same reasons. Therefore, as a result of this difference, each colony had its own motives to base its social foundation on. In the “Charter of Privileges Granted by William Penn, esq. to the Inhabitants of Pennsylvania and Territories, October 28, 1701”, it is exemplified how the guidelines set up after colonization was used to attract a certain group of people wanted by the Proprietary and Governor. The charter relinquished to the colony of Pennsylvania, was an articulation of the newly endowed rights given to the people, as well as, an act of appeal.
The, “Freedom from religious persecution motivated the Pilgrims to leave England...and settle in the New World.” [nps.gov]. The settlers did not agree with what the English government made them believe in. They wanted to have independence religiously, with a say, and the only place for this was the Massachusetts colony in the New World. In the colony, the settlers had the ability to believe what they wanted to in harmony without
There are many views and opinions of the state of the United States on this subject. It has long been a puzzling issue that never seems to seize. America should have religious freedom, because it is a constitutional right to Americans. Prayer in school, gay marriage, and governmental control, are among some of the main issues in this topic.
Essentially, Puritans are expected to follow a strict set of religious and moral guidelines from which their actions and morality are derived. According to Hall’s A Reforming People, these moral expectations first introduced by the pilgrims were the driving force behind the power that the Puritan ministry had over society: “Ministers and laypeople looked first to congregations as the place where love, mutuality, and righteousness would flourish, and second to civil society. …Alongside love, mutuality, and righteousness they placed another set of values summed up in the word “equity.” Employed in a broad array of contexts, the concept of equity conveyed the colonists’ hopes for justice and fairness in their social world.”
“Religious liberty might be supposed to mean that everybody is free to discuss religion. In practice, it means that hardly anybody is allowed to mention it.” ― G.K. Chesterton Many occasions in the United States history have shown that religion has caused many controversial questions. These questions have brought the American Justice System to a running halt, leading society to begin to ponder about the importance of freedom of religion, true meanings of the free exercise and establishment clause, and if there should be limitations imposed on the free exercise of one’s religious beliefs.
