Puritan Migration

It is a well known fact that many of the United States' first English colonies were founded by Englishmen searching for religious freedom, to escape from the persecution they were being forced to endure in their home country. For instance, New England was made up of Pilgrims and Puritans, while Maryland consisted of devout Catholics.

In the case of the Puritans, their migration from England to the New World was primarily the result of James VI of Scotland becoming the King of England (hereafter referred to as King James I of England) after the death of Elizabeth I, who left behind no heir to the throne. The Puritans were initially pleased with King James' taking of the throne, because his country of Scotland practiced Presbyterianism, which
was similar to Puritanism. However, King James I proved to mainly be interested in the developments of the New World, as Elizabeth I was before him. Then, his successor, Charles I, proved to be unsuccessful in understanding the interests of the English people. He isolated the Puritans and went against many of their religious doctrines. As a result of the conflict, many Puritans decided to flee to the New World so they could freely practice their religion and create a new society.

One of the leaders of the Puritan migration was John Winthrop, who wrote the sermon "A Model of Christian Charity" while aboard the Arbella on the journey to the New World.
Within this sermon, the religious motivation behind their leaving their country is further revealed. Winthrop states within his sermon three intentions of the Puritan settlement in the New World, those being:

1) "First to hold conformity with the rest of his [God's] world, being delighted to show forth the glory of his wisdom in the variety and difference of the creatures, and the glory of his power in ordering all these differences for the preservation and good of the whole..." (Winthrop)

2) "Secondly that he might haue the more occasion to manifest the work of his Spirit..."
(Winthrop)

3) "Thirdly, that every man might have need of others, and from hence they might be all knitt more nearly together in the Bonds of brotherly affection." (Winthrop)

In modern English, Winthrop is saying that their new found religious freedom is to be used in order to find God's glory in new, different things, to further spread God's word and do his work, and to aid others in fulfilling their needs.

That being said, in this same time period there were another group of settlers traveling to the New World in hopes of finding religious freedom.
These settlers were the well-known Pilgrims, the settlers who sailed on the Mayflower. This group was led by a William Bradford, who assisted in the development of the Mayflower Compact and also wrote a detailed journal now titled "History of Plymouth Plantation," which offers a first-person account of the Pilgrims' journey to the New World and the early years of their colony. The Pilgrims were considered to be Separatists, which was a sect of Puritanism. The difference between them and John Winthrop's Puritans was that the Puritans believed that the Church of England was true to the Bible, while the Pilgrims thought that being a member of the Church of England was a violation of the Bible. However, there were also some differences between the Puritans' and the Pilgrims' religious motivation behind journeying to the New World. While the Puritan motives are stated above, the Pilgrims' intentions were to create a new society with a church that was free of corruption (unlike the Church of England) and appealed to their religious beliefs. They wanted to create their own utopia, starting with religious freedom. Therefore, the main difference between the Puritans' motivation and the Pilgrims' motivation for traveling to the New World is that the Pilgrims were determined to create their own church, free of flaws, while the Puritans
remained loyal to the Church of England and wanted only to create a society in which they were able to do unto God's will.

The Maryland Act of Tolerance was a law passed on April 21, 1649 which granted religious tolerance to all Christians. The law states "That whatsoever person or persons within this Province and the Islands thereunto helonging shall from henceforth blaspheme God, that is Curse him, or deny our Saviour Jesus Christ to bee the sonne of God, or shall deny the holy Trinity the father sonne and holy Ghost, or the Godhead of any of the said Three persons of the Trinity or the Unity of the Godhead, or shall use or utter any reproachfull Speeches, words or language concerning the said Holy Trinity, or any of the said three persons thereof, shalbe punished with death and confiscation or forfeiture of all his or her lands and goods to the Lord Proprietary and his heires." This basically means that anyone who is not a Christian will not be tolerated, rather than the other way around. This law differs from the Puritan regulation of religious tolerance in that the Puritans truly believed that only their religion, the reformed Anglican church or their version of the Church of England, would allow for their goals to be achieved such as eliminating poverty and creating a utopia. This led to the Puritans being known as extremely intolerant of other religions, even other denominations of Christianity. Therefore, the difference between the Maryland Act of Tolerance and the Puritan way of religious freedom is that the Tolerance Act required all forms of Christianity to be tolerated, while the Puritans were only tolerant of their form of Christianity.

Another act of the 1600's that can be compared to the Maryland Act of Tolerance is Roger Williams's "Plantation Agreement at Providence." This agreement basically introduced the idea to keep the church and the government separate, as it was stated by Williams that "Wee agree, as formerly hath bin the liberties of the town, so still, to hould forth liberty of Conscience" (Williams). Along with that, this statement also meant that tolerance was to be guaranteed when it came to religious matters. So basically, the Maryland Act of Tolerance and Roger Williams's "Plantation Agreement at Providence" are very similar, with the only contrasting quality being that Williams introduced the idea of separation between church and state.

With all of that being said, a very important question remains: did our country's early views on religion have an impact on our modern American society? In my opinion, yes, it did. However, it is not in a positive way. I believe that our Puritan ancestors' intolerance for any religion outside of their own is still being passed down today. It is very unfortunate, but I still meet many people in our society who believe that their religion is superior to any other, and that following their religion only way for we will see improvement in our country. This way of thinking is very similar to that of the Puritans. While there are some people who have grown to be tolerant of the beliefs of others, the number of those who still exhibit the above characteristics is alarming. I fully believe that this religious intolerance is a direct consequence of our Puritan history.