Notes

The discussion of the southern colonies in the previous chapter focused on their economic and agricultural development. By contrast, the settlement of the northern colonies is generally discussed in terms of religious and political developments. You will notice this distinction right away when you read chapter 3. Note that Chapter 3 combines a discussion of both New England (Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Connecticut) and the middle colonies (New York, New Jersey, Delaware and Pennsylvania). On the AP* U.S. History examination, you will be expected to recognize distinctions between these regions.
While settlers who came to the southern shores of North America were most often looking for a better life economically, those who came to the northern regions were more often looking for religious freedom. They came from traditions of religious dissent. Theological descendants of Martin Luther and John Calvin, they were the Puritans and Quakers. In this chapter we'll study some basic history of these religions and look at how the religious beliefs played out in colonial life and government.

Up until the early 1500s, all Christians were Roman Catholics. Then a German friar named Martin Luther publicly questioned certain church practices, and was later forced out of the Catholic church. He founded what became known as the Lutheran church, and with it, the Protestant Reformation. Another early reformer, John Calvin, developed doctrines that would eventually become central to the Puritans, who settled New England. King Henry VIII similarly broke with the Catholic church in the 1530s, declaring himself head of the Church of England, otherwise known as the Anglican church.

Despite Henry VIII's break, many English subjects remained faithful to the Catholic church and its practices. Others, particularly a subgroup of the Anglicans called the Puritans, wanted Catholic elements removed from England more quickly. A small group of Puritans was so committed to radical church reform that they broke with the Anglican church entirely and became known as Separatists.

During the reign of King James I, the Separatists were exiled from England, and temporarily settled in Holland. From there many moved on to America, sailing in a ship called the Mayflower. Before leaving the ship, the men on board wrote and signed the Mayflower Compact. This agreement outlined a plan to form a simple government, ruled by the will of the majority. It was the first document of its kind in the Americas. The Separatist settlers, also known as Pilgrims, finally disembarked, moving into Plymouth Bay in 1620.

The Massachusetts Bay Company left England in 1629 with more economic aims than their Pilgrim counterparts. Upon its arrival in North America, the Massachusetts Bay Company founded the colony of Massachusetts. The Bay Colony's first governor was John Winthrop, who served for the next nineteen years.

A group of religious dissenters that came to America toward the end of the same century was the Quakers—members of the Religious Society of Friends. This group formed in the mid-1600s under the leadership of George Fox. Their basic belief was that all people could directly experience God's will by nurturing their individual connection to him. This belief led logically to the idea that all people were equal, and as such should be neither bowed to, nor subjected to war or religious persecution.

William Penn was an early Quaker and a friend of Fox. He received a grant of land from King Charles II to repay a family debt and founded the colony known as Pennsylvania. Putting his Quaker beliefs into practice, Penn allowed true freedom of religion in his colony and kept no standing army.