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Religion in early colonial america
English colonization of north america essay
English colonization of america
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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.
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.
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.
There were a few Christian groups that contributed to the British colonies. They tried to enforce tough religious observance in the colonies’ governments and laws. The majority of the colonists considered themselves Christians already but they only believed in their own individual religions and no the ones that were set upon them. In relation to this, “The Mayflower Compact” of 1620 and the “Fundamental Orders of Connecticut” of 1639, these two crucial documents of history were drafted “...in the presence of God…” and they drafted these because “…it has pleased the Almighty God…”. Both of these documents called for unity and order in their colonies.
The First Great Awakening was in the 1730s and 1740s. It was a period of revivalism that spread throughout Protestant Europe and British America, and specifically the American colonies. The American Enlightenment was during 1700s through the 1800s. This was a period of intellectual ferment in the thirteen American colonies. The Great Awakening and Enlightenment in Colonial America were related because they both challenged authority, both influenced the economy, and both had to do with religion.
The earliest English colonies of the 17th century held strong religious beliefs. The different religions the colonists had, influenced and determined certain rule within a colony. Some colonies believed that religious and state rule should be combined while other colonies believed it needed to be separated. Many early english colonists believed it important to abide by religious rule and cast others out that decided to rebel against the religious norm. All of these things contributed to the way religion affected the rule in the early english colonies of the 17th century.
Although the colonies consisted of diverse groups of people, colonists were mostly Protestants, with the most religious colonies being in New England and down South . Part of the reason for this emphasis on religion in early Colonial life was because of the accessibility of the church. Very few activities in the community were outside the church grounds, and there was always something going on in the sanctuary, beyond the Sabbath and holy worship . Colonial churches were incredibly nuanced, which made having many different denominations of Protestantism fairly easy, pre-war. During and after the war, however, there are fewer denominations, even though colonists that identified as faithful remained similar, if not the same.
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.
The English colony mostly accepted diverse religious beliefs and had an easy free flow environment for religion. The People that settled their believed in practicing their own religion, their own way. The diversity of religious ideas also
The religion in Britain was a version of the Protestant faith referred to as the Church of England while the religion in the colonies varied. In the colonies, there were several different forms of Protestant religions. During this time period, many of the colonists were re-invigorated in their faith. This time period of revitalized faith was entitled the Great Awakening, and by reviving the colonists’ faith, their ideology changed. This changed in ideology was a key part in why the relationship between the mother country and its colonies destabilized.
The first event that occurred was the Enlightenment. It occurred through the years of around 1650 to about 1700. The enlightenment opened up the eyes and the minds of the people living in the British colonies in America. The enlightenment changed the way people were thinking and gave them a sense of freedom and individualism, in this case, individualizing them selves from their British rulers. There was not much revolutionary action but the impact that John Locke’s enlightenment ideas had on people started unraveling events, one after the other to eventually lead to the revolution.
The Enlightenment was a period of time that stressed the importance of reason and individual ideas. Many philosophers published works criticizing a country’s monarch or divulging the flaws they saw in a system within the government, such as the justice system. The Enlightenment also stressed the importance of education, and as a result of this, literacy rates experienced a major upward trend. Now able to read the philosopher’s works, a larger sum of people now were educated on the corruptions within their government. This caused a questioning of traditional practices, and people began to believe they could revise their government.
