American History & Religion

Religion was of paramount importance in the early colonies. It influenced their way of thinking, speaking and life, as a whole.

The first colony was at Virginia in 1607. The people who formed part of this colony left England to avoid religious persecution. These people were referred to as Puritans. Puritans are so-called because they strive to attain “purity” of worship and doctrine. The Puritans were only after changes of the system not total separation from the church. Puritans immigrated to North America because they dislike the practices and leadership of the Church of England at that time.

Most of the Puritans settled in New England. The immigrants were comprised mostly of large families – women, men and children. This point in history is often referred to as Great Migration.

In the seventeenth century, the social and economic troubles in England created two major English colonies in America- Chesapeake colonies in the south and New England in the north.

New England and Virginia

New England colonists differed from their Chesapeake counterparts. Chesapeake was comprised mostly of poor and short-lived servants while New England was made up mostly by “middling sorts” who preserved their freedom because they have money to be able to travel across the Atlantic.

New England settlers practiced a more demanding faith than the Anglicanism practiced in the Chesapeake. New England settlers were called Puritans because of their quest to purify the Protestant faith, whether in England or creating a New En-land if needed.

New England environment is characterized as colder, less abundant, but far healthier than Chesapeake. It is hilly land of dense forests, sharp slopes, stony soils, and a short growing season. New England settlers have to work hard to be able to farm. It did not offer much prospect of becoming wealthy. New England was described as, “the air of the country is sharp, the rocks many, the trees innumerable, the grass little, the winter cold, the summer hot, the gnats in summer biting, [and] the wolves at midnight howling.” But the Puritans were grateful having to work hard. One explained:

If men desire to have a people degenerate speedily, and to corrupt their mindes and bodies too … let them se[e]cke a rich soile, that brings in much with little labour; but if they desire that Piety and Godlinesse should prosper … let them choose a Country such as [New England] which may yield sufficiency with hard labour and industry. Emigrants who wanted to become rich could go farther south to the Chesapeake.