What Role Did Religion Play In The Mid-American Colonies

Dontae Joseph
AP U.S. History
Grade 11

Europeans had gone to the New World is search of wealth, power, or religious reasons, all had hoped for a better than in Europe. Religion was one of the reasons why the colonies had first developed, it helped create religious freedom and allowed people to continues their religious practice without persecution. However, not all the colonies had centered themselves around religion. In the early American colonies religion had a big impact on the development in the New England, Chesapeake, and Mid-Atlantic Colonies. The New England, Chesapeake, and the Mid-Atlantic Colonies were beginning to find their reason of life whether it be around religion, wealth, or profit each colony had centered around a different

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. Religious Freedom was the key role in the colonies. People were allowed to choose their own religion without the fear of being persecuted or tormented because they chose a different religion than that of the Church. The New England colonies were heavily impacted by religion during their development. Church officers had ran the Churches and the state, meaning that if you were a member of the Church you had power without a doubt. Massachusetts for example, the minister of the Church had ran both the Church and the state which gave him

Religion had a role in every part of the region whether it be big or small. Another time when religion had impacted a colony or country was when Henry VIII had impacted Europe by creating an unstable connection between the church. He cut his connection with the church in order to divorce his wife Catherine. Now at this point in time whoever was the ruler of England would be able to change the main religion. This caused rebellions between religions on which is more important and which should be the main religion of England. This is just like how in Hartford the church and the state were separated so that it could be more focused on their own part. Religion can affect how a society can be functioned, it has a big impact on the development of a colony or