New England Colonies Religious Beliefs

The English colonies greatly evolved from 1607 to 1745. England’s first permanent settlement was founded in 1607 and was named Jamestown. The colonists at Jamestown were all males, and the lack of women made it difficult for the settlers to establish any semblance of a society. After the arrival of women in the English colonies, real communities were beginning to form. The men would typically farm while the women tended to the house and children. Society revolved around religion- men and women looked to God for guidance as to how to live their lives and shape society. Many events including Bacon’s Rebellion, the Enlightenment, the Great Awakening, and the Zenger case had a great influence on the development of a democratic society in the English colonies; however, the most influential is the Enlightenment and the Zenger case.

The Pilgrims were also eager to experience new religious freedom from the state-ran church of Great Britain. This helped them build vibrant faithful communities in the New World. However, many individuals came to work not for God and were not all believers. After the establishment of the Church of England, other religions were inhibited. Everyone was expected to follow one religion and to believe in one religion. This led to a sense of stability from a political perspective because everyone practiced the same religion. However, instead of being a positive force for religious belief, it created spiritual dryness among believers. Individuals weren’t feeling anything spiritual or divine and it created a lack of relationships with individuals and their religion. The First Great Awakening arose at a time when people in the colonies were questioning the role of the individual in religion and society. It began at the same time as the Enlightenment, an insight that emphasized logic and reason and stressed the power of the individual to understand the universe based on scientific laws. Similarly, the Great Awakening had influenced individuals to rely more on a personal approach to redemption than the church and doctrine. There was national hunger for spiritual freedom and had wise and moral leadership. These convictions led to a spiritual revival in the colonies known as the Great Awakening. However, little did the colonists know that this spiritual movement would aid in their separation form Britain and lead to independence in the long

Although some churches had splits after the Great Awakening, most had the same idea of resistance against the British. Many of these men were united in their opposition to the Church and Government of England. Some men’s feelings may have been for religious conviction; others’ reasoning may have been avoiding more taxes (Galloway). Through this common opposition there was a unity “of the congregational and presbyterian [interest] throughout the colonies” (Galloway). This shared resistance meant two denominations of significant membership were now united against the British. Unification would turn out to be extremely significant approaching the Revolutionary War. If religious groups could be united headed into a war that largely opposed the English Church, American churches could “[turn] colonial resistance into a righteous case” (“Religion”). Throughout all of the colonies other resistances were occuring. In Maryland, the Maryland Convention voted for the revision of The Book of Common Prayer (“Religion”). They wanted all parts revised having to do with “prayer and petition for the King’s majesty” (Religion and the American Revolution). Revision of The Book of Common Prayer would not have been a severely rash action on the Americans part. However with the revision, the general trend of moving away from the mother country can be seen. The Great Awakening had a significant impact on the outlook of the American people before and during the American Revolution. The literature coming out of The Great Awakening had a theme of liberation people were seeking with their new found American

Colonial New England and Religious Tolerance Throughout the seventeen hundreds, thousands of immigrants came to the New England region, seeking refuge from European persecution. These early colonist yearned for a domicile were they could indulge in religious freedom, a heavy contrast to the strict religious persecution they experienced in their native countries. Aspirations such as these hold the initial sentence in the statement: “The New England colonies were founded upon the promise of religious freedom,” to be valid. On the contrary, there are several cases from the New England colonies that make the second sentence of the statement, “Those who wish to practice their religioun freely were able to do so,” to be invalid due to their characterization of exclusive religious tolerance.

A Scientific Understanding of God Two eighteenth century movements, the Enlightenment and the Great Awakening, changed American colonists’ views on reason and wisdom. The Enlightenment, led by philosophers such as John Locke, emphasized abstract thought to acquire knowledge. The European and American thinkers’ research led to a greater understanding of scientific phenomena and the questioning of the government’s rule. Similar to the Enlightenment, the Great Awakening changed colonists’ mode of thought through the concentration of emotion rather than wisdom. Reverend Jonathan Edwards, a Great Awakening revivalist, emphasized seeking salvation by recognizing one’s own moral corruption and surrendering to God’s will. Although the Great Awakening challenged religious, social and political orthodoxy, the Enlightenment had a greater impact on colonial America and vastly influenced future decisions. The Great Awakening reached a large quantity of people because of the traveling orators that preached the evangelical word. Although Enlightenment learning was limited to the wealthy, educated colonists, the movement’s influence was still stronger because the well-to-do ruled the land. Enlightenment philosophers began questioning corrupt governments and the combination of church and state. John Locke claimed that because the people created a government, then civilians could change the run of the government. This belief, perhaps, was the most influential to colonial society. Educated and powerful political leaders began questioning their government under British rule, therefore, igniting dreams of independence. The Enlightenment theory added to the oppression of British rule led to a revolution. Although not as significant as the Enlightenment, the Great Awakening still had a deep impact on colonial society. Primarily, the conflict that arose between the religious revivalists and ultimately ended in a split in the evangelical group changed the face of religion in the British colonies. The New Light revivalists spawned such denominations as Baptist and Methodist, which differed in the old lights beliefs in doctrine and matters of faith. These new sects resulted in a stronger tolerance toward religious diversity. Also, because revivalists preached mainly to backcountry people who had no religious affiliation, the emphasis on emotion rather than wisdom gave less-educated people a feeling of self-worth. These new freethinking converts gained the strength to begin questioning social and political order. The movements of the Enlightenment and the Great Awakening mainly produced a new mode of thought for American colonists.

The three colonial regions blossomed quite differently in terms of economy. English colonists first settled in Jamestown, Virginia in 1607. Failing to find gold, however, people in the southern colonies grew tobacco and rice as marketable commodities. Since tobacco plantation was labor-intensive, a large number of the population was indentured servants and black slaves. Because of the high mortality rate and unbalanced sex ratio, headright system was created in order to attract more settlers. In New England, due to the poor soil condition, people mainly relied on fishing, and lumber. Also, the Navigation Acts stimulated shipbuilding industry. The Middle colonies were based on growing grains and trading with European nations as well as other colonies.

Religion was the foundation of the early Colonial American Puritan writings. Many of the early settlements were comprised of men and women who fled Europe in the face of persecution to come to a new land and worship according to their own will. Their beliefs were stalwartly rooted in the fact that God should be involved with all facets of their lives and constantly worshiped. These Puritans writings focused on their religious foundations related to their exodus from Europe and religions role in their life on the new continent. Their literature helped to proselytize the message of God and focused on hard work and strict adherence to religious principles, thus avoiding eternal damnation. These main themes are evident in the writings of Jonathan Edwards, Cotton Mathers, and John Winthrop. This paper will explore the writings of these three men and how their religious views shaped their literary works, styles, and their historical and political views.

The development of a democratic society in the English colonies had many influences during the period 1607-1745. Two of the main influences were Enlightenment and the Great Awakening. The intellectual movement known as the Enlightenment began in Europe and the religious movement known as the Great Awakening started in the Colonies. The Enlightenment emphasized many things such as: reasoning, science, and observation. The Great Awakening, on the other hand, can be described as a recovery for religion and an attempt to turn people back to God.

From the year the first people found America continent, the British government became the ruler of America. The Parliament made the colonies conquered the Native American tribes. But later on, the British ignored what the colonies did for them, and started to cause troubles for the colonies. When it is at the point where the Parliament issued the acts of unaffordable taxes, with so much bad thing built up, the colonies united together and started to fight. After seven years of the American revolution, the society had experienced dramatic changes on people’s life.

The liberal immigration policies of Great Britain resulted in a population increase of English settlers in Virginia. In the early 1600s, the English colonies grew from approximately one-thousand people located in just Jamestown to a large 1.5 million by the mid 1700s, covering territory all throughout America. By now English colonies were not only populated by Britain's artisans, tradesmen, and middle-class farmers, but also by many merchants and Conquistadors of the French and Spanish immigrants. However, the unwillingness to assimilate, by the French and Spanish colonies, led to a dominating population in the English colonies. The overpowering amount of British settlement in America resulted with the English way of life becoming a common