Religious Freedom in The Colonies

Religious freedom in the British North American colonies prior to 1725 was greatly differentiating between different regions. Three major regions would be the New England region, the middle colonies, and the Southern Region. The New England Colonies were for the majority Puritans and Pilgrims. Puritans believed the Anglican Church could still be fixed, but the Pilgrims believed it was beyond fixing. Certain colonies provided more religious freedom then others. For example Rhode Island provided the most religious freedom out of any other Colony. Rhode Island was a refugee for refugees, and thus multiple people would enter the colonies of different religions. Plymouth was founded by Pilgrims, and Massachusetts Bay was a refuge for all Puritans. Massachusetts Bay attempted to create a “city upon a hill” which “ the church was almost indistinguishable from the state” (Brinkley 38). This meant those who were not Puritan would have much less rights. In the Middle regions Maryland would become “ a refuge for English Catholics like Calvert himself,” (Brinkley 33). Maryland became a refuge for all Christians eventually because the Catholics that were once in charge of Maryland were inundated by Protestants. The Catholics while they still could, insured their power in society by granting all Christians religious freedom. Pennsylvania was mostly a Quaker colony and was mainly a refuge for Quakers. Although they were not violent people so they would not enforce this harshly. “New Jersey, like New York, was a colony of enormous ethnic religious diversity and the weak colonial government made few efforts to impose strict control over the fragmented society” (Brinkley 45).   In the Southern Colonies the Carolinas gave religious freedom to all Christian faiths, eventhough the proprietors were Anglican. Thus the Colonies were widely different in the amount of religious tolerance.