Massachusetts Bay Colony Economy

The British colonies of Massachusetts Bay, Pennsylvania, and Maryland hold many divergent and comparable facts in regards to their beginnings as colonies, troubling periods of growth, and their ultimate status in regards to their relationship within the British Empire. Religion played an important impetus to the start of many of these colonies, so that the respective religious groups may experience religious freedom. The economy was a vital component to the growth of the colony and greatly influenced the culture and the trajectory of the colony for centuries. The religious and economic aspect of these colonies ultimately influenced the relationship they each had other colonies, as well as with the British Empire.

The reasons for the founding

of these three colonies are very similar, pertaining to religion. These three colonies were founded by religious sects which were experiencing religious persecution of various degrees (Foner 2014). The founders of these colonies hoped to provide a haven for their religious sects in the New World and for their religions to be practiced freely. While Pennsylvania espoused religious freedom for all; Maryland allowed only freedom of worship for those religions that believed in the Trinitarian (the belief of the Father(God), the Son(Jesus Christ) and the Holy Spirit are coequals), and banned non-Catholics from holding public office (Papenfuse, Jr and Johnson 1999); Massachusetts was the most draconian, forcing all people to worship Puritanism, regardless of their religion, and banning all but those of the most devout members of the Church from holding public office.
Massachusetts Bay was founded by Puritans, who although a product of the Reformation, were seen as extremists by the Church of England. The Puritans viewed the Church of England as still being an extension of the Catholic Church in all but name, and that they were not truly committed to the ideals of the Reformation (Bulliet, et al. 2001). They believed God required them “to establish a true Christian community that would be an example to the world” (Harris, Krout and Rice 1991). Due to these strict beliefs, they attempted to limit any migration of non-Puritans into the colony, forbade any religious worship outside of the Puritan church, and the Church and state institutions were closely intertwined (Foner 2014).
Pennsylvania saw an alternative religious group as its main source of immigrants, the Quakers. William Penn, the founder of Pennsylvania and a Quaker himself, attempted to save Quakers from persecution by the Church of England and decided to create a colony in America. As opposed to attempts by other colonies to establish religious freedom and toleration, none were as successful as Pennsylvania and Penn (Kashatus 2011). While there were disputes over the structure of Pennsylvania’s government, technically it allowed government by representation, Penn attempted to hold direct power in the colony, which lead to conflict early in the life of the colony and which saw the power of the Assembly guaranteed (Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission n.d.).
Maryland saw a different type of religious settler compared to the other colonies, Catholics. It was rare for a disciple of Catholicism to be granted a colonial charter at the time, with the Catholic Church being the target of anger and its followers receiving such persecution in England, but because of honorable service and good relations with King James I, George Calvert was granted the charter which would become Maryland (Maryland Public Television n.d.). The Catholic settlers to Maryland understood the fact that Maryland would have to allow other religious groups to immigrate into Maryland in order for it to become a successful colony. In order to allow this while protecting the rights of Catholics to practice their faith, Maryland instituted some of the most liberal religious freedom acts of the time (Harris, Krout and Rice 1991).
Once colonies had moved past immediate concerns such as survival from disease, starvation, or Native American attacks, they could move onto issues such as how to grow the colony, ways to make govern the colony, and attempt to build a successful colony.

Each of these three colonies pursued these goals differently, faced with their own set of unique challenges, and which culminated with varied results.

The growth and development of Massachusetts Bay saw the implementation of a unique form of government, a type of theocracy that saw the blending of Puritan ideology with government. Another aspect that differed in Massachusetts from Maryland or Pennsylvania was the high level of immigration of females and families (Bulliet, et al. 2001). This allowed Massachusetts to naturally increase its population rather than on relying upon immigration from Europe, minimizing the impact from other religious groups.

The expansion of Pennsylvania, while initially created as a haven for Quakers, enshrined a great toleration for people of all religious backgrounds in the colonial governing

documents.
Maryland’s economy saw its development closely mirror that of the South, a plantation based economy with large amounts of slaves transported in for labor (Harris, Krout and Rice 1991). Maryland’s population growth followed similar paths as Virginia and the southern colonies, large numbers of men and labor, with very little emphasis on families.
Intercolonial divisions amongst the colonies were numerous, with the main reasons being religion, culture, and social status.

These divisions lead to very little cooperation between colonies, and at times, open warfare. Although the British Empire may have lumped the colonies together into one grouping of people, there were thirteen individual and unique colonies.

Massachusetts Bay saw all other religions as inferior to Puritanism. This doctrine of superiority caused Massachusetts to view the other colonies with disdain and created an antagonistic atmosphere.

Pennsylvania had initially rocky relationships with several of its neighboring colonies early in its history due to disputes over vague boundaries and overlapping colonial charters. Most notably was with Maryland to the south over a disagreement as to where the border between the two colonies actually laid. However once these disputes were settled, Pennsylvania saw peaceful relations amongst the surrounding colonies. Due to William Penn’s pacifist philosophy, he also ensured fair and friendly interactions with the local Native Americans, and did not allow land to be colonized without first being purchased from Native Americans. This behavior was not the norm throughout the history of North America (Kashatus

2011).
Maryland’s religious background made it a focal point for religious tensions among the other colonies. Shortly after colonization, Maryland entered a period of time known as the “plundering times”, a civil war within Maryland with roots from the English Civil War, which pitted Catholics against Puritans (Maryland Public Television n.d.). Maryland faced further trouble towards the end of the 17th century with the Coode Rebellion, which saw an end to any attempt at religious toleration and barred Catholics from holding public office (Harris, Krout and Rice 1991).
Massachusetts Bay’s relationship with Britain was hostile because of its tyrannical imposition of its religion over all settlers. This hostile relationship culminated in the colony’s charter being revoked and folded into the short-lived Dominion of New England, under the governorship of Catholic Edmund Andros. This attempt to curtail the power of the Puritans was ultimately a failure, but the Puritans never regained their full power and were forced to allow free practice of religion in Massachusetts.