Conformity And Diversity In New England

The 16th and 17th centuries were a time of religious upheaval and the different European countries dealt with the disturbances in various ways. The Spainish approach was to crush any dissenting views through the Spanish Inquistion and enforce conformity to the Catholic faith. England embraced the Protestant Revolution with its split with the Catholic Church and fostered many Protestant sects. The uniformity of religion in Spain led to a zealous Catholic population who were driven to convert the natives of the New World. In contrast, the religious diversity of England to persecutions and many Englishmen sought freedom in the New World. Thus, the Spanish and English colonies followed a similar pattern of conformity and diversity, respectively,
The religious diversity of England, whose citizens were primarily Anglican, but also Puritan, Presbyterian, Separatist and Catholic, was very different from the enforced Catholic conformity of Spain. While the English government did not accept all these groups, quite a few flourished within the country. When the king began persecuting the varied religious groups present in the country, many immigrated to America. The diversity begun in England continued in the colonies: New England was Puritan; Maryland was Catholic; Pennsylvannia was Quaker; the Southern Colonies were primarily Anglican. Many New England colonies were founded when dissenters from the Purtian religion left Massachusetts to form their own communities, creating several slightly different Puritan influenced colonies with their own traditions and governments. Because so many of the colonies were founded by Englishmen of various religions seeking to escape persecution, most of the colonies offered some form of religious freedom. Rhode Island and Pennsylvannia offered the most freedom. Rhode Island extended protection to Catholics, Quakers, and Jews; Pennsylvannia guarenteered freedom of worship to all under its constitution. A majority of the colonies supported freedom of worship at least for most mainstream Protestant sects. Religion in the English colonies therefore, created more diversity and religious
Although the Puritans immigrated in search of religious toleration and the Spanish most definitely did not, the religious unity of the Spanish colonies is comparable to the conformity of the Bay Colony. Those who dissented from the traditional Puritan beliefs, such as Roger Williams, Anne Hutchinson, and Thomas Hooker, were banished from the Colony. Similar to the domination by pure-blood Spaniards of the New Spain class system, was the law in the Bay Colony that only freemen, male members of the Puritan church, could vote. In order to be a full member of the church, one needed to have experienced a conversion. Therefore, the Puritan church essentially controlled the Bay Colony