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RELIGION IN COLONIAL NORTH AMERICA.
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Examines how religious practice evolved in the English colonies.... More...
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Paper Abstract:
Examines how religious practice evolved in the English colonies. Colonists rejection of the single Christian community ideal of the Church of England. Massachusetts Bay Colony as a prototype for other New England colonies. Puritan ideals. Dissenters. Oppression of religious freedom. Witch trials. Formation of the Rhode Island Colony and religious tolerance.

Paper Introduction:
This research examines religion in English colonial life in North America. The research will set forth the context in which colonial religious practice evolved and then discuss the shape that it took prior to the American Revolution. The fact that English colonial life in North America was in significant part a product of the impulse toward religious freedom unavailable in the mother country is difficult to overstate. The entire period of New World exploration was exactly contemporaneous with a tradition in English history of making religion a determinant of politics and vice versa. To the degree, as Becker says, Protestantism in England “was the result of a middle-class revolt against the existing regime” (81), there was bound to be little sympathy for the outmoded “ideal of a single Christian community” symbolized by the Church of England (Becker 48).

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Ed. Puritanbelief in individual predestination led to a similar sense of nationalpredestination. . Religious toleration as public policypresaged the inevitability of social secularization. . under the lead of John Winthrop, a gentleman of Suffolk whose estate was becoming inadequate to his customary manner of living, convinced themselves that they could best serve God by renouncing the struggle against king and bishop in order to set up in America a "due form of Government both civil and ecclesiastical" (Becker 9 -91). 1, 1493-1754: Discovering a New World. . The research will set forth the context in which colonialreligious practice evolved and then discuss the shape that it took prior tothe American Revolution. The elect were now American, i.e., of the New and not OldWorld, irrespective of religion. Chicago: Encyclopaedia Britannica, 1968. Charles W. . New York: P.F. "A Model of Christian Charity." The Annals of America, Vol. This suggests that the impulse toward political freedom grew, not outof the impulse toward a religious freedom but out of the residue ofreligious oppression in the New World colonies. The Great Awakening fosteredschism within the established church that seeped into the secular areas ofAmerican life and also sowed the seeds of nationalism. However, there was anintervening movement of religious sentiment known as the Great Awakening.The Great Awakening, marked by itinerant missionary preaching in NewEngland and the Atlantic colonies, did not have a single form.Congregationalists, reform Presbyterians, and Methodists were impassionedby the strict Calvinism of fiery Jonathan Edwards, but Unitarians andEpiscopalians tended toward a more intellectualized religion. Collier & Son, 1938. alteration and subversion of our frame of politie or Government fundamentallie, he shall be put to death (Body 79-8 ). 22.18; Deut. 18.1 ]. a "step backward toward Anglicanoppression and Papal tyranny" (Becker 195). Becker's account of the formation of Massachusetts Bay Colony, whichwas a prototype for other colonies of New England, suggests that it was theproduct of an impulse, not so much toward religious freedom per se astoward legitimating Puritan ideals and then transforming those who had beendissenters in England into fixtures of the dominant culture in the NewWorld. . Ithaca: Cornell UP, 1915.The Massachusetts Body of Liberties, 1641. John Winthrop's "A Model of Christian Charity" famously articulatedthe values that would dominate Massachusetts Bay: [M]en shall say of succeeding plantations: "The Lord make it like that of New England." For we must consider that we shall be like a City upon a Hill; the eyes of all people are on us (Winthrop, "Model" 115; emphasis added).Winthrop's charity was selective. Nontheocraticcolonization also occurred in the 166 s in the Carolinas, whereagricultural profits were more important than religious adherence; and inNew York, where the charter was obliged to "harmoniz[e] at once theinterests of the Catholic Duke of York, the Dutch Protestants, and the NewEngland Puritans" (Becker 131). 66- 84.Winthrop, John. . The fact that English colonial life in North America was insignificant part a product of the impulse toward religious freedomunavailable in the mother country is difficult to overstate. [M]any Nonconformists, despairing of success at home, began to look to America as God's appointed refuge "from the generall callamitie"; . The newlyimpassioned were by and large rural and differed with "the more cultivatedand tolerant liberals of Boston" (Becker 189). This explains why the New World appearsto have functioned as something of a safety valve for nonconformistProtestants, as well as Catholics, who for their own reasons did not adhereto the Church of England, the state church of which the monarch was theofficial head. If any man or woeman be a witch, (that is hath or consulteth with a familiar spirit,) they shall be put to death [Ex. Such legislation found its most pernicious expression in Salem,Massachusetts, in 1692, in the infamous witchcraft trials and executions.Becker cites the limited protests at the time but notes that within 5 years of the Salem horror a son of the Rev. Cotton Mather, who preachedagainst the evils of witchcraft, warned against "resign[ing] themselves tothe direction of their ministers,' . But in 1641 the Massachusetts Body of Liberties, modeled insignificant part on the 1639 Fundamental Orders of Connecticut, anothercolony, had been made the even more restrictive law of the Puritan land.For example [sic spelling]: 2. To the degree, as Becker says, Protestantism in England"was the result of a middle-class revolt against the existing regime" (81),there was bound to be little sympathy for the outmoded "ideal of a singleChristian community" symbolized by the Church of England (Becker 48).Puritanism arose in England in this context, and as its religious comfortlevel declined in England, it was consistent with the impulse to flourishunmolested by majoritarian culture. Works CitedBecker, Carl L. The Beginnings of the American People. This research examines religion in English colonial life in NorthAmerica. 12. He was instrumental in the expulsion in1638 of Mrs. Anne Hutchinson and Roger Williams, who ended up asinstrumental in the founding of Rhode Island colony, "an early experimentin the separation of Church and State" (Becker 1 3). American Historical Documents, 1 -19 4. The entireperiod of New World exploration was exactly contemporaneous with atradition in English history of making religion a determinant of politicsand vice versa. 1 9-15. For religiousdifferences in one locality eventually cut across colonial lines and servedto unite men of similar religious views in different localities. . . Eliot. If any man shall conspire and attempt any . .

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