RELIGION IN BRITISH COLONIAL NORTH AMERICA

Religion in British Colonial North America

Table of Contents

The beginnings of English colonial period in North America3

Religion in the early colonies, Puritanism and the colonies of Plymouth, Massachusetts and Virginia4

Maryland, a colony of Catholic roots in a sea Protestant9

The Great Awakening9

The influence of Puritanism in America11

Religion in British Colonial North America

The beginnings of English colonial period in North America The early seventeenth century witnessed a large flow of migrants from Europe to North America. The first immigrants from what is now the United States crossed the Atlantic long after the Spanish had established their first colonies in the rest of America and, indeed, England was the last European power to arrive in America. Despite the early failures in the late sixteenth century to establish English colonies in North America, the British did not give up the effort, and in 1607 founded the colony of Jamestown in the Chesapeake Bay, which would be the first permanent English colony. The first colonies were provided with a self-reliant communities own exit to the sea. Each of the colonies became a separate entity, with a strong individuality. But despite this individualism, the problems of the trade, shipping, manufacturing and currency transcended the boundaries of the colonies and required the adoption of common regulations, which, after winning independence from England, would step to the Federation. In contrast with the policy of colonization of other countries, the emigration from England was sponsored by the government but by private citizens groups whose main purpose was profit. Two colonies, Virginia and Massachusetts, were founded by established firms, whose funds provided by investors used to equip, transport and maintain the settlers. In the case of New Haven, were wealthy migrants who financed the transportation and equipment from their families and servants? Other colonies such as New Hampshire, Maine, Maryland, Pennsylvania, originally belonged to some members of the middle class or the English nobility, which, as employers, lent money to the settlers with the guarantee of the lands that had been ceded by the King. Nevertheless, the colonies were founded for different reasons and would develop at very different rates, economies, political systems and different religious faiths. The thirteen colonies that eventually came to form the United States were New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina. (Brenda, 1996)

Religion in the early colonies, Puritanism and the colonies of Plymouth, Massachusetts and Virginia

Puritanism was originally an ideological movement started during the reign of Elizabeth I of England, which tended to a complete reform of the Anglican Church Calvinist. Later it became a way of life, an interpretation of the Christian pilgrimage that stressed the importance of personal regeneration, the prayers domestic and a strict moral code. The Bible was regarded by the Puritans as the only legitimate source of doctrine, church organization, liturgy and personal religion. Reading is encouraged in the homes of the Geneva Bible and biblical sermons parishes and regular weekly ...