The Effects of Religion on the New World

1082 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: New England and Southern Colonial society differences

Since the day Christopher Columbus landed in the Caribbean, religion and commerce has played a major role in shaping the New World. Religion defines cultures, changes history, and molds civilizations. During the seventeenth century in the New England and Southern colonies religion influenced colonists lives. Although the majority of settlers bound for the colonies started in Europe, religion and commerce would lead them in different directions. The New England colonies became defined by their religion, while the Southern colonies were defined by their production of tobacco.

Religion was influential in creating the different social aspects in the New England and Southern colonies. The Pilgrims in 1620 were the first colonists in the New England area (Roark 107). They were Separatists from England, who believed the Church of England was corrupt and helpless. In 1630 the Massachusetts Bay colony was established by John Winthrop and 700 of his Puritan followers. Who had left England to lead a move pious life (Roark 108). Their goal was used to set a shinning example of godliness for the people of England. The colonists conviction to their goal was so strong they made a covenant between one another and god Their determination attracted thousands of new settlers. They were comprised mostly of middle class families, as well as a large number of Puritan ministers. The colony had the highest ratio of preachers to population in all of the Christian Community (Roark 110). They believed in the idea of hierarchy and mutual dependence on each other. Their strong religious beliefs, commitment to family and their sense of community defined the social orders of colony. The Southern Colony in Jamestown Virginia was established when the Virginia...

... middle of paper ...

...functionality. The New England colony had extremely strong religious ties that showed in the way in which their community developed. The Southern colonies had far less religious influence their main attraction was to the major production of tobacco and other crops. The presence of the English government differed between the two colonies as well. The New England colonies stayed very independent of the King of England. The Southern colonies had far more influence since King James made Virginia a royal colony. Religion has always been extremely vital in the way in which civilizations develop whether it is the presence of religion or the lack there of.

Works Cited

Roark, James L., Johnson,Cohen, Stage, Lawson, Hartmann. The American Promise . Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2005.

Winthrop, John. “Liberty is the proper end and object of authority”. Our Nations Archive .

Show More
Related

  • Comparing and Contrasting the New England and Southern Settlements

    547 Words  | 2 Pages

    The New England and the Southern colonial settlements were united in several areas that created the opportunity for each group of colonies to grow. However, these groups of colonies took divergent paths when it came to the founders’ motives to settle the New World, the importance of religious and social orientation, economic approaches and political developments. These different approaches were ultimately successful beyond the early founders’ expectations.

    Read More

  • Similarities Between New England And Southern Colonies

    204 Words  | 1 Pages

    The New England and Southern colonies, although they had their differences, did share a similar government system. However, the differences on a economic, religious, and social level overrode the similarity shared, making the two regions different nonetheless. The New England’ colonies focus on a business economy made them a central area of trade and commerce, but in the long run created society open to innovation and brought in new inventions. Whereas the Southern colonies’ focus on agriculture economy brought a sensation of profits for the mother country, but later attributed to the introduction of slave codes. Then, in the New England colonies, the religious restrictions increased tensions between the Separatists and Puritans, which later

    Read More

  • Chesapeake Colonies Dbq Essay

    1357 Words  | 3 Pages

    The New England colonies, however, were created to be a religious haven for those who opposed the English church. Both regions developed economic and political systems that catered to the desires of the respective populations and the geographical conditions. The Chesapeake and New England regions were both essential to Triangular Trade, but they contributed in different ways due to their differing economic systems. Also, due to these different economic systems, two types of governments emerged in the regions, both helping to lay out the foundation for

    Read More

  • New England Colonies Dbq

    565 Words  | 2 Pages

    In the 17th century, the British colonies still identified themselves as European, but as the colonies expanded and grew more populous, they developed differing geographic, social, and economic systems. This difference between New England, and Chesapeake, is caused by the motivations for settlement between the two regions. While the New England colonies were mainly settled for religious motivations, most notably by the Puritans, the Chesapeake colonies were settled for economic prosperity. Also, while the Chesapeake colonies were mainly settled by individual young men seeking a profit, the New England colonies were settled by families hoping to settle and expand.

    Read More

  • Compare And Contrast The Government, Religion Geography And Economy Of New England And America

    2229 Words  | 5 Pages

    The Puritans who were seeking religious freedom were the first to affect New England religiously. Therefore, religion was heavily influential in the New England colonies. This area was strictly Calvinist, and there was little to no tolerance for any other religion. This homogeneity allowed for a rigorous sense of local order. The church was an equally-important partner with town governance in preserving social order (Church and State were not separate!) In every colony except for Rhode Island, law required everyone to attend worship services on the Sabbath and every taxpayer to contribute to the support of the

    Read More

  • Effect of Geography on English Colonies in America

    1211 Words  | 3 Pages

    The New England, Middle and Southern colonies were all English ruled, but yet very different. Among their distinctions, was the geography which played an important role in shaping these colonies. New England attracted Puritan farmers who wanted to separate from the Catholic Church. But because of the bone dry soil in the North, these colonists found they couldn't continue with their traditional ways of farming. However, with the immense amounts of water that surrounded them, they found that they could fish and trade. The Middle colonies on the other, hand had a moderate amount of everything. The fertile soil and the major seaports such as Philadelphia and New York, allowed these Middle colonists to make a living any way they saw fit. This led to the brisk development of the Middle Seaboard . Unlike the Middle and Northern colonies, the Southern colonies had large amounts of fertile land allowing for the development of large plantations. Because farming the plantations was the economic thrust for the South, towns and cities developed slowly. Thusly Geography greatly affected the lifestyles of these regions in the New World.

    Read More

  • A Comparison Of The New England And The Chesapeake Bay Colonies

    980 Words  | 2 Pages

    The colonists had different reasons for settling in these two distinct regions. The New England region was a more religiously strict yet diverse area compared to that of the Chesapeake Bay. The development of religion in the two regions came from separate roots. After Henry VIII and the Roman Catholic Church broke away from each other, a new group of English reformers was created called the Puritans. The Puritans came from protestant backgrounds, after being influenced by Calvinistic ideas. When their reforms were thwarted by King James I of England, they fled to the New World in what is now known as the "Great Migration". The Puritans were then joined by Quakers, Protestants, and Catholics in the religiously diverse New England area. These diverse religious factions were allowed to live freely but under the laws of New England. It was due to this religious freedom that these people came to escape religious persecution back home. The New Englanders had a religion-based society and religion was based on family. As the Bible highly regarded family, it condemned adultery. Adultery was considered a punishable crime. Adulterers were marked as impure by a letter "A" stitched on their clothing, as in the book "The Scarlet Letter" by Nathaniel Hawthorne. As religion was a very high priority in New England, it was very much less severe in the Chesapeake Bay region. The one established church in the region, the Anglican Church of Jesus Christ, was only then established in 1692, more than 70 years after the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth Rock.

    Read More

  • Dred Scott Decision

    1109 Words  | 3 Pages

    ... Brinkley, Alan PhD; McPherson, James PhD. The American Journey. New York, New York: Glencoe/McGraw-Hill, 2003

    Read More

  • Comparison of Colonies

    1819 Words  | 4 Pages

    Many colonies were founded for religious purposes. While religion was involved with all of the colonies, Massachusetts, New Haven, Maryland, and Pennsylvania were established exclusively for religious purposes.

    Read More

  • Religion in Early America

    870 Words  | 2 Pages

    American colonies were clearly established with the intent to all live together with Christian beliefs, but with so many interpretations and versions of the same religious scripture, freedom to practice whichever adaptation feels right became most important in colonial life. And as a safe haven for those who were persecuted in their home countries, America truly flourished as a place for the religiously tolerant.

    Read More

  • Compare And Contrast The New England Middle And Southern Colonies

    895 Words  | 2 Pages

    Southern colonies were hilly coast with grew cotton, tobacco, rice, sugar cans .also they had specific regions which gave way to religious freedoms.The founders of the Southern Colonies were, for the most part, out to make money. They brought their families, as did the New England colonists, and they kept their families together on the plantations.In the Southern Colonies and travel environment controlled social life. The Southern Colonies had a hard-and-fast three class system. Upper-class rich colony owners, middle-class small colony owners, lower class.The southern colonies were established early on after the settlement of Jamestown in 1607. At first, the south also relied on the forests and the water, but tobacco and cotton later emerged as cash crops. Initially, these crops were harvested by indentured servants, but with the growth of plantations, planters started to import slaves from Africa. In the South, there was a great divide between the rich and the poor. The Church of England was the dominant religion and the center of life for southerners. Laws were made by county governments and the economy centered around the large

    Read More

  • Religion In America, 1492-1790

    2179 Words  | 5 Pages

    Religion in the New World exploded into the land with the colonization of thousands of immigrants. It played an important role in the development of thought in the West. Religion was one of the first concepts to spark the desires of people from other countries to emigrate to the new lands. While many religions blossomed on the American shores of the Atlantic, a basic structure held for most of them, being predominantly derived from Puritanism. Jamestown, the first permanent English settlement, showed the link the new settlers had to God when Sir Thomas Dale said the following in 1610:

    Read More

  • Religious Freedom in Virginia

    1192 Words  | 3 Pages

    Though religion had been so significant in the early colonies, by the mid-1700s church attendance had begun to decline, and organized religion was no longer considered an essential part of colonial life (founders.archives.gov). In fact, in his diary Travels in the Confederation, Johann David Schoepf commented that “religion generally, is now very faint among them,” and...

    Read More

  • Differences between the New England and Chesapeake Colonies

    1222 Words  | 3 Pages

    The political difference between the New England and Chesapeake region was that New England government associate more with religious matter than the Chesapeake government. The New England regions included the Massachusetts Bay Colony, the Plymouth colony, the New Hampshire colony, Maine colony, Connecticut colony, and Rhode Island colony. Massachusetts colony for example was governed as a theocracy government. As the first governor of Massachusetts colony once stated in A Model of Christian Charity (Written on board the Arbella on the Atlantic Ocean, 1630),"we shall be as a city upon a hill" a holy commonwealth that could be served as an example community to the rest of the world. The Massachusetts Bay colony placed great importance on religious matters. Only the church member were allowed to vote or held office position. Those who held office position would enforce the law requiring attendance at services. Jamestown, Maryland and the Carolinas were some colonies in the Chesapeake regions. The governments in these regions were less concerned about...

    Read More

  • Civil War: Inevitable or Avoidable

    1841 Words  | 4 Pages

    Roark, James, et al. The American Promise: A History of the United States, 4th ed. Boston:

    Read More

More about The Effects of Religion on the New World

Open Document