Protestant Reformation

The colonies were created for various reasons, by different groups of people. Both before and after the Protestant Reformation, many of the colonies were created so that persecuted people could escape the Church of England and practice their own religion without fear. The Protestant Reformation began when Martin Luther nailed his protests against the Catholic Church on the doors of a church in 1517. In his writing he denounced the authority of priests and popes and claimed that the bible was the only way to truly receive god’s word. With these claims, a series of religious reforms would begin in Europe. A religious leader named John Calvin agreed with Luther’s protests and further elaborated on them. This led to the creation of Calvinism,
which would go on to become popular with Scottish Presbyterians, New England Puritans, communicants of the Dutch Reformed Church, and French Huguenots, who had all settled in America. In 1536, Calvin went on to write the “Institutes of the Christian Religion,” which claimed that god was an all powerful, all good being, while humans were weak and wicked. He also stated that god knew who was going to heaven and hell since the beginning of time. Those who were chosen to go to heaven were know as the elect, and no amount of good could ever save those whose predestination, the divine decree of where one will go, was hell. Due to the fact that they had no idea if they were going to heaven of hell, many people looked for signs of conversion, which was an intense and personal experience with god. During this experience, god would reveal the person’s destiny. Back in England, the puritans were angry with the slow moving pace of the protestant reformation.
These puritans believed in visible saints, or people who had felt grace in their soul and were able to show it to their fellow puritans. The puritans also believed that only those who were visible saints should be allowed to become members of the church. These devout puritans ended up becoming separatists and broke away from the Church of England. These separatists views would end up causing the great puritan migration in the future. This migration occurred when thousands of puritans moved to the New World to escape religious persecution in England and the rest of Europe. Before this large migration however, only 120 puritans embarked on a journey to the New World on a ship called the Mayflower. The journey to the New England colonies on the Mayflower took 65 days. All of the people who took this long journey were called the pilgrims. Once they arrived in the New World, the pilgrim leaders created and signed a document called the Mayflower Compact. This compact was an agreement to make a government and submit to regulations that had been agreed on by the majority of the other pilgrims. The pilgrims did not have an easy time in their new home, in fact only 44 of the original 120 managed to survive until the spring. Although things weren't easy, the remaining 44 pilgrims didn't go back to England when the Mayflower left. In the autumn of 1621, there was a large harvest and the
pilgrims celebrated the first thanksgiving. Things were beginning to get better for the settlers, they even had a well liked governor, William Bradford. Bradford was a self-taught scholar and could read Hebrew, Greek, French, Dutch, and Latin. In fact, he was so well liked that he was elected governor 30 times. In 1629, Charles I dismissed the parliament and sanctioned archbishop William Laud, causing many puritans to leave England and journey to the Americas. Non-separatist puritans were even able to get the Massachusetts Bay Company, a royal charter, to bring them to the Massachusetts area. Once they arrived, Boston became their settlement’s center. More puritans began to leave England, finally starting the Great Puritan Migration in the 1630s. John Winthrop became the first governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. He and many other puritans were strong believers in the doctrine of calling which instructed the puritans to do god’s work. With Winthrop as governor the area began to see an increase in the trading of furs, the fishing industry, and ship building. This led to the Massachusetts Bay Colony becoming one of the largest and most influential of the New England outposts. The Massachusetts Bay Colonists believed that they had a pact, or covenant, with god. They believed that they had to build a holy society that would be a model for all other cities, towns, and colonies. After the arrival of more colonists the right to vote, or franchise, in the colony was extended to all “freemen”. However, people who were slaves, female, or not religious could not vote. Only two-fifths of the colony’s men could actually vote. They also believed that the only purpose of the government was to enforce god’s laws. Because of this, religious leaders were able to influence a lot in the “Bible Common Wealth” of Massachusetts. They were able to influence things such as who could and could not become a member of the church with the use of public interrogations. One prominent member of the early clergy was John Cotton. He came to Massachusetts after her criticized the Church of England and was persecuted. Cotton decided to dedicate his learning to defending the government’s right to enforce god’s will. The protestants in Massachusetts managed to live together in harmony, they all practiced a “Protestant Ethic,” which was a serious commitment to work and to engage in worldly pursuit. Although there was peace between the protestants in Massachusetts, the quakers in the area were persecuted. They faced fines, floggings, banishment, and even hangings. Anne Hutchinson was a strong willed, intelligent, and talkative mother of 14. She claimed that living a holy life did allow for salvation and that one didn’t need to obey the law of god or man to get into heaven. This view was know as antinomianism. In 1638, she was brought to trial and banished. Anne movie to Rhode Island and later New York where she was killed by indians. Roger Williams was a Salem minister, who like Anne, went against the puritan views of religion. He had radical ideas including the desire to completely break away from the Church of England. He also challenged the legality of the charter of the Bay Colony and denied the civil government from regulations religious behavior. In the year of 1635, Williams was banished and went to Rhode Island, where her would build the first baptist church and help achieve complete religion freedom in Rhode Island. In 1635, Hartford was founded by Reverend Thomas Hooker who had led Boston Puritans to the area.
Later on, in 1639, the new Connecticut River colony had a meeting to create a new document known as the Fundamental Orders. This document is an example of a modern constitution, it established a regime democratically controlled by the substantial citizens. By 1643, the New England Confederation had been created. The purpose of this confederation was to have a system of defense against possible attackers such as the Indians and to deal with runaway criminals, slaves, and servants. The New England Confederation was the first step towards colonial unity in North America. Then in the year 1675, King Philip formed an alliance and began making coordinated attacks on English Villages in the New England area. Many years later, the Dominion of New England was created by royal authority and was imposed from London. Included in this Dominion were all of the New England colonies including New York and New Jersey. The Dominion of New England acted to stop Indian attacks and promote better success in the Administration of English Navigation Laws. These laws had been created due to the many colonial rivalries that were running strong during this time period. Sir Edmund Andros was the Head of the Dominion. Andros was a man of the English Military and was disliked throughout the colonies because he was openly supportive of the Church of England. As a form of retaliation, Andros stopped all town
meetings, revoked land titles, and placed heavy restrictions on schools, press, and courts. He also further enforced the navigation laws and tried to stop the colonial people from smuggling goods. During the years of 1688-1689, the Glorious Revolution had begun. This was a bloodless revolution in which the extremely disliked Catholic king, King James II was dethroned and William III, a protestant, was put in power. Eventually news of this revolution had spread to the Americas and the Dominion quickly fell apart. Around this time, the Dutch Republic had become a huge colonial power with the Dutch East and West India Companies. The Dutch West India company was less powerful than the East India company, but still managed to make a profit in the Caribbean area. At this time Henry Hudson had explored the Hudson River causing Dutch settlement in the area. New Amsterdam, which would later go on to become New York, was a company town belonging to the Dutch. The investors of New Amsterdam didn’t really care for religious toleration, democratic practices, or freedom of speech. Many people were against the Dutch Reformed Church that they were forced to worship, and the quakers were violently abused. Due to Swedish settlement in Delaware, a small Dutch military was deployed on an expedition. This expedition would be led by the director general, Peter Stuyvesant. However in 1664 Charles II gave New Amsterdam to the Duke of York. Although he didn’t want to, Stuyvesant was forced to surrender and New Amsterdam became New York. The quakers were still being mistreated in England, but things were about to change for them after William Penn acquired a large piece of land in the New Wold from the king in 1681. This area would be named Pennsylvania and would be heavily advertised in order to gain more settlers and investors. The colony was officially launched by Penn in 1681, the people of this colony were originally quakers. They were peaceful with the Indians and religiously tolerant. They even allowed non-quakers to live in the colony. However, these non-quakers were violent with the Indians unlike the quakers. The colony of Pennsylvania was extremely liberal and not only did it practice religious tolerance, but it also only allowed the death penalty in cases of murder and treason. This attracted people form all over the world to move to Pennsylvania. People wanted to freely practice their religions, and knew that by moving to the New World and facing the many hardships present there, they would be able to worship how they wanted.