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COBBLESTONE
(Peterborough, NH)
Jan. 2000, pp. 10-13
Copyright 2000, Cobblestone Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved. Reprinted with
permission.
RELIGIOUS FREEDOM IN COLONIAL AMERICA
by Louise Chipley Slavicek
America's first colonists came to the New World in search of religious freedom. Yet
all the early colonies--whether settled by the French, Spanish, Dutch, or English--set up
established or state-supported churches patterned after the government-run churches of
Europe. Many of the first settlers came from countries where church and government had
long been connected, and they had not been free to choose a religion.
Things did not seem much different for them in America at first. The original colonial
governments required all residents to support a specific church, regardless of individual
religious beliefs. In Virginia (the first permanent English settlement in America), for
example, all households were taxed to support the Anglican Church--just as in England.
Several other southern colonies also named the Anglican Church as their state church.
Most of the New England colonists, however, did not want to re-create England's
official church in their new homeland. These were the Puritans. They accused the
Anglicans of putting too much stress on ritual aspects and not enough on Biblical
teachings. In the New World, the Puritans hoped to worship without Anglican
interference. Yet, although they sought religious freedom for themselves in America, they
did not extend that freedom to others. Consequently, every New Englander was
compelled by law to support and attend the local Puritan (also called Congregational)
church. Any religious DISSENT was prohibited. Catholics and non-Puritan Protestants,
such as Quakers, sometimes were fined, imprisoned, whipped, or BANISHED by
government officials. Those rejecting Puritanism, warned one Puritan leader, "shall have
free liberty to keep away from us, and...be gone as fast as they can."
In 1635, Massachusetts's Puritan rulers banished a minister named Roger Williams for
daring to criticize the colony's close bond between church and government. Soon after,
Williams founded Rhode Island, the first American colony to guarantee separation of
church and state. He unconditionally supported religious liberty for all. The colony
quickly attracted Catholics, Jews, Baptists, and others fleeing PERSECUTION elsewhere
in America and in Europe.
About fifty years later, Englishman William Penn founded the colony of Pennsylvania
as a refuge for his fellow Quakers. Quakers had been persecuted violently in both
England and America. They emphasized pacifism (peacefulness) and the equality of all
people before God. Like Williams, Penn established complete religious freedom in his
colony. By the late 1700s, Pennsylvania had become home to more than four hundred
different religious groups--the most religiously diverse colony in the New World.
By showing that people of many religions could live together peacefully,
Pennsylvania and Rhode Island helped promote an acceptance of religious diversity
among Americans. And along with this tolerance came an important change in the
Colonial population.
From about 1700 on, America's population began to become more diverse. People
from many different countries and faiths flocked to the New World. When the
Revolutionary War began in 1775, nine of the original thirteen Colonies still had staterun churches: the Anglican Church in Virginia, Maryland, North Carolina, South
Carolina, Georgia, and New York and the Congregational Church in Massachusetts,
Connecticut, and New Hampshire. But in almost all these colonies, dissenters now
outnumbered members of established churches! No one religious group remained large
enough to control every other group. Even the once-powerful Massachusetts Puritans
were forced to make important CONCESSIONS to dissenters. They began to permit
Baptists and other non-Puritans to use income from taxes to support their own churches.
Local governments throughout the Colonies were finding it increasingly difficult to
enforce belief in one religion.
Thus, the pattern of religious persecution slowly was being replaced by religious
freedom. The way was paved for the Bill of Rights, with its guarantee of full religious
liberty for all Americans.
***
DISSENT is a difference of opinion, or a disagreement.
BANISHED means forced by official orders to leave a place.
PERSECUTION is the act of being harassed or punished for one's beliefs, race, or
religion.
CONCESSIONS are acknowledgments that certain points are true or just.
***
The Separatists, or Pilgrims, were the first to leave England in pursuit of religious
freedom. This painting* portrays an idealized version of the first Thanksgiving.
Roger Williams was forced to leave Massachusetts (and his family) rather quickly in
1636. Government officials threatened to arrest him and ship him back to England
because he refused to stop discussions of freedom of religion.
John Winthrop served as governor of Massachusetts and was one of the most famous
Puritan leaders. He was governor when both Roger Williams and Anne Hutchinson were
banned from the colony for their religious beliefs.
***
Louise Chipley Slavicek received her master's degree in history from the University of
Connecticut. She has written more than twenty articles on historical subjects.
***
*Picture referred to in this article is not available in this format but can be found in the
original publication.