New England Colonies Religion

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Over hundreds of years people believed that religion was a necessity in their life style. From the animistic belief of everything having a soul, to the belief of a one true God. Religion has caused great nations but it has also caused war. In Europe, Catholicism was the major religion. It wasn’t until the Protestant Reformation that people started to disband from the Catholic Church. Many countries stayed Catholic but major countries including England turned Protestant. With rising tensions between the two religions, people started to leave for the new world. Colonies were formed on the Chesapeake Bay, New England and the Middle Atlantic. The colonies in each territory based their lifestyle on the religion they believed in with no interference…show more content…
Unfortunately along the Chesapeake, many people were dying at young ages. Churches and schools took a long time to take effect. When word of the Glorious Revolution reached Maryland, which was Protestant majority, they cleansed themselves of popery. John Coode took up the job in government until Marylands first royal governor assumed power. In New England, Puritans thought that forming a Puritan society was what God wanted. Since they thought God wanted them to do that, hundreds of Puritans flocked into New England even after 200 settlers were killed in the first winter. They thrived by farming,fishing and they had a working government. They even founded Harvard to teach clergyman, and held town meetings twice a week. In a Puritan society the ministers were the highest power. To vote you had to be a male and part of the church. Each family had enough land to sustain and the men always helped build schools and help out with other things. In the Middle Atlantic colonies, Protestantism was the main religion. New York was filled with Dutch, English and French Huguenots. Religion didn’t play a major role in New York because people focused on international trade. South of New York lies Pennsylvania. Since 1682, Quaker followers flocked into the new colony. They built large farms for their families and had one government that everyone followed. William Penn had brought pennsylvania to be the closest thing to perfect.…show more content…
In Maryland, George Calvert provide land for Catholic refugees, but after he granted inexpensive pieces of land Protestant settlers swarmed in. Calvert and the Catholics didn’t mind. This was a different case in New England. Only Puritan people were allowed in the colony. The puritans were so strict that in 1633 a minister by the name of Roger Williams began to preach about how puritan society is not pure. He stated that since they didn’t completely break away from the Catholic church that they weren’t full puritans. Many Puritans wanted to become puritans so they could fix the corrupt Catholic church. After Williams and a few followers of his fled to Rhode Island, a new Puritan threat. Anne Hutchinson began to preach antinomianism. The Puritan society quickly split into a male clergy side and those who followed Anne. Most of Anne’s followers were merchants and artisans who chafed under the price controls. In 1637, members of the male clergy put Anne on trial and convicted her of sedation and banished her from the colony. Six months later the church excommunicated her for preaching eighty-two erroneous theological opinions. She soon followed Willims to Rhode Island in 1638. New York at the time was similar to Maryland and Jamestown. New York was mostly Protestant but had a few different religions. Since New York was an international trading colony religion never
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