In the New World, colonies of Europeans were forming rapidly across the east coast. These colonies were seemingly founded on the ideas of oppression as well as dreams of wealth and glory, except for one particular group of religious colonists who dreamed of creating“the city upon the hill”. But who were these people and how did their ideas and beliefs affect Early America? In England a religious group of people known as the Puritans were finding themselves unhappy with the Anglican Church. The Puritans, numbered 102 men women and children, found themselves relocating to America and settling near Cape Cod in southeastern Massachusetts to escape the church and practice their own religion. Their mission was to build a society of independent farm
By 1763, although some colonies still maintained established churches, other colonies had accomplished a virtual revolution for religious toleration and separation of church and state. The Anglican Church was the only established denomination in England. In contrast, the colonies supported a great variety of churches. The largest were the Congregationalist, Anglican, and German churches, but many smaller denominations could be found through the colonies. In addition to this, a high percentage of Americans didn’t belong to any church. These differences could be attributed to the fact that many of the Europeans who immigrated to America didn’t fit in to or agree with the churches in their homelands.
In 1630, the Massachusetts Bay Company set sail to the New World in hope of reforming the Church of England. While crossing the Atlantic, John Winthrop, the puritan leader of the great migration, delivered perhaps the most famous sermon aboard the Arbella, entitled “A Model of Christian Charity.” Winthrop’s sermon gave hope to puritan immigrants to reform the Church of England and set an example for future immigrants. The Puritan’s was a goal to get rid of the offensive features that Catholicism left behind when the Protestant Reformation took place. Under Puritanism, there was a constant strain to devote your life to God and your neighbors. Unlike the old England, they wanted to prove that New England was a community of love and individual worship to God. Therefore, they created a covenant with God and would live their lives according to the covenant. Because of the covenant, Puritans tried to abide by God’s law and got rid of anything that opposed their way of life. Between 1630 and the 18th century, the Puritans tried to create a new society in New England by creating a covenant with God and living your life according to God’s rule, but in the end failed to reform the Church of England. By the mid 1630’s, threats to the Puritans such as Roger Williams, Anne Hutchinson, and Thomas Hooker were being banned from the Puritan community for their divergent beliefs. 20 years later, another problem arose with the children of church members and if they were to be granted full membership to the church. Because of these children, a Halfway Covenant was developed to make them “halfway” church members. And even more of a threat to the Puritan society was their notion that they were failing God, because of the belief that witches existed in 1692.
Religious enthusiasm quickly spread from the Presbyterians of the Middle Colonies, to the Puritans and Baptists of New England. To some Puritans, it appeared that New Englanders had taken many of their blessings for granted, and were unconcerned with the theological beliefs their ancestors had brought to Massachusetts in the 1620s. The most distinct example of this "loss of purpose" was the adoption of the Half-Way Covenant by Congregational churches in 1662, an attempt ...
We’ll start with the Puritans, who paved the way for religion in America considering they were some of the first British settlers in America. They moved here because they wanted to develop the church their way, and what better way to do that than to move to a new country. Their population was made up of English reformed protestants who wanted a different way of religion, this
Religion is the name given to a “relationship with God, and different groups of people have different Gods and belief systems” (Terhart & Schulze, 2008). Today there are 313 religions and denominations in the United States; from monotheists who believe in one God, to polytheists who believe in many Gods, to others who believe in no God, or a God as represented by animal spirits, alien groups, or psychoactive substances (ProCon.org, 2008). Christianity was the first religion that was brought to the world by European settlers and it became dominant religion of the United States throughout its history. Although Puritan practices was accepted under the reign of Queen Elizabeth I, both James I and Charles I believed that their authority had full power to enforce religious standards among their subjects and so they authorized the persecution of Puritans, who were challenging many of the most important rules of the English church. As a result, in the 1620s and 1630s a number of English Puritans decided to move to America, where they hoped to put their religious beliefs into practice unaffected by the Stuarts or the Church hierarchy. (Norton et al., 1986)
In 1517, the Puritans who came to America and landed on the Northeastern Seaboard were searching for freedom of religion. Their hope was to escape the religious persecution they were facing in their countries. The one thing they did not want to do was to establish a church like the Church of England. The colonists wanted a chance to worship freely and have an opportunity to choose which religion they wanted to take part in. Many religious groups such as the Quakers and Puritans formed the first 13 colonies on the basis of their religious beliefs. One example would be of how the Puritans wanted everyone to worship in the Puritan way. The first temperance movement began in Boston Massachusetts in the year 1826. That was when the Americans would drink up to four gallons of alcohol a year, and this movement was to stop people from drinking. The reform movement was to create a social change people Americans and t...
In the years between 1730 and 1740, there was a period of a religious “awakening” this brought about new ideas and new faith in God. The old Puritan ways didn’t fade out but new beliefs came about with new religious options. This gave people a chance to start over with their religious faith. People listened to great preachers like Charles Wesley, who founded Methodism, George Whitfield, and a Congregationalist named Jonathan Edwards.
Around this time, religion played a large role in the communities of the United States. Groups began to have religious diversity, each having their own beliefs on God and claiming they were the correct way. Joseph Smith was a man who started
One of the first major indications that an awakening is going to occur is when a people group feels oppressed by the church and seeks to remove themselves from religion in general (Reedy 1). Puritan theology played a large role making this happen. Their doctrine taught people to focus more on tangible acts than faith. With this mindset, they had no guarantee of salvation (1). In fact, they believed God picks and chooses who is saved as opposed to the notion of “faith saves all” (1). This undoubtedly gave the colonists a very depressing outlook on life. Equally as bleak was the idea of deism prevalent during the 1700s (1). This concept is often equated to the analogy of a clockmaker. Deists believe that, like a clockmaker, God “wound up” the universe and just let it go, leaving humans to fend for themselves and deal with their own problems. In this view, God acts completely separate from humanity, giving colonial life an even more miserable, helpless atmosphere.