The geography and climate impacted the trade and economic activities of New England Colonies. In the New England towns along the coast, the colonists made their living fishing, whaling, and shipbuilding. The fish included cod, mackerel, herring, halibut, hake, bass and sturgeon.
The New England colonies had very harsh winters and mild summers. This made the growing season only about five months long. Because the soil was rocky and the climate was often harsh, colonists in New England only farmed enough to feed their families. Some of these crops included corn, beans, and squash.
Religion and religious persecution played a key role in the founding of each of these New England colonies. The Separatists and the Puritans left England to found colonies in order to practice their religious beliefs and to escape persecution.
Early Colonial era. Because the Spanish were the first Europeans to establish settlements on the mainland of North America, such as St. Augustine, Florida, in 1565, the earliest Christians in the territory which would eventually become the United States were Roman Catholics.
It has long been understood that the prime motive for the founding of the New England colonies was religious freedom. Certainly what those early colonists wanted was the freedom to worship God as they deemed proper, but they did not extend that freedom to everyone.
They came to the Americas to escape poverty, warfare, political turmoil, famine and disease. They believed colonial life offered new opportunities. Virginia/Jamestown -Jamestown was the first of the 13 colonies after the failure to establish a colony on Roanoke Island.
While Native Americans and English settlers in the New England territories first attempted a mutual relationship based on trade and a shared dedication to spirituality, soon disease and other conflicts led to a deteriorated relationship and, eventually, the First Indian War.
The New England colonists were largely Puritans, who led very strict lives. The Middle colonists were a mixture of religions, including Quakers (led by William Penn), Catholics, Lutherans, Jews, and others. The Southern colonists had a mixture of religions as well, including Baptists and Anglicans.
Basic Tenets of Puritanism
- Judgmental God (rewards good/punishes evil)
- Predestination/Election (salvation or damnation was predetermined by God)
- Original Sin (humans are innately sinful, tainted by the sins of Adam & Eve; good can be accomplished only through hard work & self-discipline)
- Providence.
- God's Grace.
Puritans came to the Americas, like many other people, in order to create a "perfect and ideal christian society". This mind set became the building blocks for the colonies. It became so rooted into the foundation of New England, it affected the colonies economically, socially, and politically.
Puritans in North AmericaPuritans were Calvinists, so their churches were unadorned and plain. It is the oldest building in continuous ecclesiastical use in the United States and today serves a Unitarian Universalist congregation.
Like the Pilgrims, the Puritans believed that the Church of England needed to be reformed, but they elected to remain within the church, rather than separate from it.
Puritans were English Protestants who wished to reform and purify the Church of England of what they considered to be unacceptable residues of Roman Catholicism. In the 1620s leaders of the English state and church grew increasingly unsympathetic to Puritan demands.
The Puritans were members of a religious reform movement known as Puritanism that arose within the Church of England in the late 16th century. They believed the Church of England was too similar to the Roman Catholic Church and should eliminate ceremonies and practices not rooted in the Bible.
The Puritan emphasis on education led to an American school system whereby everyone is taught reading, writing, and arithmetic. Finally, many Americans have adopted the Puritan ethics of honesty, responsibility, hard work, and self-control.
Mather was only the most prominent of the many Puritan divines who saw classical education as an essential preparation for the Christian life of learning.
The New England colonies organized society around the Puritan religion and family farming.
Following its capture, New Amsterdam's name was changed to New York, in honor of the Duke of York, who organized the mission. The colony of New Netherland was established by the Dutch West India Company in 1624 and grew to encompass all of present-day New York City and parts of Long Island, Connecticut and New Jersey.
Mercantilism in Great Britain consisted of the economic position that, in order to increase wealth, its colonies would be the supplier of raw materials and exporter of finished products. Mercantilism brought about many acts against humanity, including slavery and an imbalanced system of trade.
Passengers, now known as the Pilgrim Fathers, included leader William Brewster; John Carver, Edward Winslow, and William Bradford, early governors of Plymouth Colony; John Alden, assistant governor; and Myles Standish, a professional soldier and military advisor.
The Middle Colonies were settled by different nationalities so there is greater emphasis on religious toleration and cultural diversity. This is especially true in the colony of New York.
The Puritans were seeking freedom, but they didn't understand the idea of toleration. They came to America to find religious freedom—but only for themselves. They had little tolerance or even respect for the Pequot Indians, who lived in nearby Connecticut and Rhode Island. They called them heathens.
The United States declared its independence from Great Britain in 1776. The American Revolutionary War ended in 1783, with Great Britain recognizing U.S. independence. The two countries established diplomatic relations in 1785.
Many colonists came to America from England to escape religious persecution during the reign of King James I (r. 1603–1625) and of Charles I (r. 1625–1649), James's son and successor, both of whom were hostile to the Puritans.
Pilgrims and PuritansA Protestant group called the ?Puritans ?wanted to purify, or reform, the Anglican Church.
The Church controlled all aspects of life from birth, through marriage, until death. The Church became the single largest landowner within the colony, developing commercial agriculture to support many of its activities.
Many of the Pilgrims were members of a Puritan sect known as the Separatists. They believed that membership in the Church of England violated the biblical precepts for true Christians, and they had to break away and form independent congregations that adhered more strictly to divine requirements.
The Southern colonies were almost exclusively Anglican (Church of England) because they were English colonies. These churches were supported by the state through taxation. The Southern colonies had greater religious toleration compared to the Northern colonies.
In practice, virtually all New England towns made an effort to provide some schooling for their children. Both boys and girls attended the elementary schools, and there they learned to read, write, cipher, and they also learned religion.
The Great Awakening notably altered the religious climate in the American colonies. Ordinary people were encouraged to make a personal connection with God, instead of relying on a minister. Newer denominations, such as Methodists and Baptists, grew quickly.
Religion played an important rule in developing an educational system in the United States. The Puritans, a strict fundamentalist Protestant sect who immigrated to the New World for religious freedom beginning in 1609, believed that education was necessary in order to read the Bible to receive salvation.
