Middle Colonies Essay

The New England colonies consisted of puritans who wanted to purify the church because the Church in England was corrupt. They wanted a place where they could worship freely and work together to

* New England was focused on family and religion mostly. They don’t live apart like the Southern Colonies and the South were also very competitive with agriculture.

During the 17th and 18th century, English residents felt that England was over-crowded and intolerable. They wanted to lessen these problems that rose up because of the large population increase and to establish more religious freedom (Horn). The English believed that the best way to go about this was to colonize the New World. Subsequently, many colonies began to develop, and of these colonies, Massachusetts Bay and Virginia were the most well-known. The early settlements of Massachusetts and Virginia were both established by similar groups of people at the same time; furthermore, their contrasting beginnings as a colony, views on religion, and method of economic stability all contributed to our American heritage today.

Socially the three groups of colonies developed differently. The New England Colonies life was dominated by the Puritan religion.

The New England colonies were a slew of different sects of Christianity, but shared one central point: they were, for the most part, Protestant. The Puritans and Quakers both came the the Americas in search of freedom of worship. However, the majority of those who inhabited the Chesapeake colonies were Anglican and came over for pecuniary reasons. The New England colonies were both the most and least religiously tolerant based on location. Massachusetts was strictly Puritan, while colonies such as Rhode Island were very tolerant of religious differences.

Looking at the world today it is very similar to the Thirteen Colonies. Each region had a different religious belief, their farming season lasted differently and they were governed in an organized manner. The Thirteen Colonies were divided into three regions the New England colonies, Middle Colonies and the Southern colonies, they were founded in 1607. Eventually they were what formed the Unites States (US). The Middle Colonies were known as the bread basket colonies because of the amount of wheat they grew, the England colonies didn’t grow as much wheat because their soil wasn’t as fertile and the Southern Colonies were famous for growing something but it wasn’t wheat, the Southern Colonies grew and traded tobacco, they usually traded tobacco

The middle colonies had many varying motives for founding, religious, economic foundations, and political development. Pennsylvania, New York, and New Jersey all have different reasons for the creation of the colony. Pennsylvania was claimed by William Penn because he wanted a safe place for his, and everyone else’s, religion. New York, however, was founded because the Dutch were seeking great riches; although Henry Hudson, an English explorer they employed, did not find a shortcut through North America, he did claim the land for the Dutch. Comparatively, New Jersey was established and inhabited for its rich and fertile soil. Moreover, New York had different religious motives than those of Pennsylvania and New Jersey. New York, being founded

The northern colonies were much more strict than the middle and southern colonies about what religion you could practice. The only religion allowed in the northern colonies was Puritan and you were exiled if you could not conform to their religion. A good example of this is

In the seventeenth century, religious persecution ran rampant throughout Europe. In attempt to escape the oppression, many fled to less critical countries and territories. One of the popular refuges was colonial America. Settling in the north, these religious refugees made up a majority in the New England population, endeavoring to use it to form their Ideal society. They could use the new land to implement a new civilization reflective of their beliefs.

Compare the ways in which religion shaped the development of colonial society (to 1740) in TWO of the following regions: New England

1. There were several main differences among the British colonial regions. The New England colonies being colonized mainly for religion while the Middle colonies found wealth through industry, whereas the Southern colonies sought more trade and wealth opportunities through colonization. Economically, the New England colonies did not have trade as their primary focused, but still were involved in the processes of fishing, lumbering, and trapping, the Middle colonies found their wealth in lumbering and shipbuilding; the Southern colonies sought to grow and trade cash crops for wealth. The Northern colonies composed of [Separatist] Pilgrims, Puritans, and Quakers had more religious reasons for being founded, but not limited to refuge from religious persecution, and a holy society or “city upon a hill.” The Northern colonies were also religiously self-governing; one example being the Mayflower Compact, while the South had regular laws instituted. Demographically, the colonies started with an overwhelming white population over the blacks, but as the tobacco industry grew and slavery became an increasing practice, blacks began to outnumber the white population.

The thirteen colonies started in 1607, before this England tried to do a colony called Jamestown unfortunately it failed to become a colony. Later the king that had tried to start the Jamestown colony died, then in 1607 the new king and queen Elizabeth I decided to try again this time it worked the first colony was called Virginia and was named after Queen Elizabeth I. Virginia was not dominated by a specific religion they welcomed Baptists, Anglicans, and others. The thirteen colonies included Virginia, Delaware, New York, Massachusetts, Maryland, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New Hampshire, North Carolina, South Carolina, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Georgia.

     Religion was a very important part of everyday life in colonial America. Sometimes people were not allowed to question what they were taught, and if they did so they were punished accordingly. Before 1700 some colonies had more religious freedom then others. While others colonies only allowed religious freedom to a select group, others allowed religious freedom to all different kinds of religions. In the overall there was quite a bit of religious freedom in colonial America

The Massachusetts colony, otherwise known as the ‘Massachusetts Bay colony’ was originally settled by Puritans in 1630. They were plagued by the religious persecutions of King Charles I and the Church of England. Weary from this dogged torment, they left England under the leadership of John Winthrop. These original colonists quickly established many small towns in the name of high religious ideals and strict societal rules. They also planted churches, spread Puritanism and religiously educated the masses, as these were some of their goals. A utopian society that other colonies looked upon with high regards was the ultimate goal.

A significant factor of any civilization, be it vast as the Roman Empire or pitifully miniscule, is spirituality. Religion was (and even remains to be) a big part of North America. New England was strictly Puritan. English Puritans sought out haven in the New World, far away from persecution in the mother country. The Southern colonies consisted mostly of Anglicans, though some may speculate that the Southerners were more concerned with worshipping wealth. The Middle colonies were quite different in that there was no single dominant religion. Pennsylvania, which contained the largest city in all the thirteen colonies, was well-known for its many Quaker residents. However, there was also a fair share of Jews, Catholics, and other faiths, as well as the standard Puritans and Anglicans.