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The Role of Religion Was the Big Part of the Shaping and Growth of the Colonial Life in North America.

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The Role of Religion Was the Big Part of the Shaping and Growth of the Colonial Life in North America.
APUSH Essay

Throughout history, the role of religion was the big part of the shaping and growth of the colonial life in North America. Europeans had begun to settle in these American colonies for many reasons. One major reason for their settlements was to gain their freedom from religious persecution. Though as the Europeans came over, they were not very open to any other religions. New England and the Chesapeake are two main regions that had colony religion help shape their development. Though they differed in the amount of importance of other religions and how much it came to effect their own government and how they handled it, each region had the same goal, to leave Europe to worship God in the way they believed to be correct. New England was north of the Chesapeake and was settled by Puritans, a group of English Protestants who in the 16th and 17th centuries supported strict religious discipline, in the early 1600's .The New England colonies, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Maryland were conceived and established "as plantations of religion". The Massachusetts Bay Colony , Plymouth, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New Haven were also included in the colonies of New England. The New England colonies took the role of religion very seriously. The Massachusetts Bay Colony was the most serious colony. The puritans that came to America from the Massachusetts Bay Colony, came to America to get away from the problems growing in the Church of England. Strict rules to obey the puritan religion were made and they faced the penalty's of being fined, banished, whipped, or even imprisoned. Also in Massachusetts, in order to take part in office it was required that you must follow the puritan faith. Rhode Island though, opposite from Massachusetts Bay , had religious freedom. Connecticut followed an Orthodox Puritans belief. An Orthodox Puritans belief meant that people had to obey laws provided for a “Christian Common Wealth”. New Hampshire was Puritan based and Maine had

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