What role did religion play in the establishment of english colonies in North America?

Imagine having to move to another country in a crowded boat because of religious prosecution. In colonial times the new world was a place for a new beginning. Religion was one of the key reasons a great deal of people migrated , and made settlements in North America. The three major establishments were the New England colonies of Plymouth,Massachusetts bay, Pennsylvania, and Rhode Island. The first refugees to arrive in the new world were the Pilgrims.

In 1608 the Pilgrims ( Also known as Separatist ) Negotiated with the Virginia Company for rights to some land and departed from Holland. Sixty-Five days later they arrived off the coast of New England. They surveyed the shores and finally made camp .Since this area was outside of the Virginia company's control they had no rights to the land. But before leaving the Pilgrims created and signed the Mayflower Compact. It was a Pact to form a crude government and to yield to the majority vote, a start in making a solitary government that could prosper. Soon after came winter which wiped out 58 of the 102 people that had first arrived.A year later they had a bountiful harvest had had the first Thanksgiving.The one who was credited for this was the main leader of the separatist's , William Bradford. He was a self taught scholar and the author of '' The Plymouth Plantation" .Though everything was looking good ,Bradford was worried that non-separatist settlers might corrupt his "godly experiment'. Eventually around 1691 it combined with its neighbor to create a stronger , more spiritual settlement.

Not far from Plymouth was Massachusetts Bay were the Puritans made their home. April 1629 ,400 settlers under this new charter departed from England. Soon after the colonists were settled the franchise was " extended to all freed men" . This meant only males who were Puritans. In this society the only people who could vote and or run for office were males who belonged to the church.Intertwined with the government was religion . One example of this were the Blue laws .The Blue laws were any laws regulating activities on Sunday.Such as no kissing in public. One of the most religious politicians in the mass. bay area was John Winthrop.Winthrop is most famous for his "City upon a Hill" sermon (as it is known popularly, its real title being A Model of Christian Charity), in which he declared that the Puritan colonists emigrating to the New World were part of a special pact with God to create a holy community. He Was also the Governor of mass bay .Winthrop strove to establish a Christian community that held uniform doctrinal beliefs. It was for this reason that in 1638 he presided over the heresy trial and banishing of Anne Hutchinson from the colony, Because she challenge the moral and legal codes of the Puritans, as well as the authority of the clergy. In the end she was convicted and banished.In 1637 the tension between the English settlers and the Indians exploded.in 1657 Metacom son of Massasoit's coordinated assaults on English settlements . 52 had been attacked and only twelve destroyed, and Metacom was be-headed. In the early eighteenth century thing started to change.Religion was less fervid and people started to question ideas. This was what started the great awakening. It swept through all of the colonies like wildfire. One of the pastors of the awakening was Jonathan Edwards Who painted the landscape " sinners in the hands of an angry god. His worked sparked a sympathetic reaction.

Last but not least In the mid-1600s the Quakers(which derived from the report that they quaked under religious pressure) came to the colonies.The refused to support the church of England and wanted a place of there own .They were lead by a man named William Penn.William Penn and his fellow Quakers heavily imprinted their religious values on the Pennsylvania government. Among the most radical belief was religious freedom for all religions, as well as fair dealings with Native Americans. This extreme tolerance led to significantly healthier relationships with the local Native tribes. 1737, the Colony exchanged a great deal of its political goodwill with the Native Lenape for more land. The colonial administrators claimed that they had a deed dating to the 1680s in which the Lenape-Delaware had promised to sell a portion of land beginning between the junction of the Delaware River and Lehigh River"as far west as a man could walk in a day and a half."

In 1636 a man named Roger Williams fled to Rhode island. After settling there and building a Church he claimed it to be a Religious safe haven people from all round started to come to live, even the Catholics and Jews.There were no taxes ,no oaths, no attendance even to worship.Some settlements started to dot Rhode island. People started to call it "Rouge Island". Here in rouge island many people including Anne Hutchinson had nothing in common.Finally in 1644 they had rights to the land and started to create a government.

Religion is one of the most essential reasons that so many people migrated . It is also a reason why some still come, beside jobs. Weather your a Puritan,Catholic, or any thing the colonies was the best place to start.At the end of the day we are all foreigners who came to this country to create a better life and to live prosperously