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Religious Requirements for Voting
There were very tight guidelines as to who could vote, to include religion and property. An example would be the Puritan government. You had to be a part of the church and a “Visible saint” to vote, as well as hold some property. Otherwise you couldn’t vote. Over time, a long time, those guidelines were lifted to only having to be a property holder. -
The pilgrims
Back in England, everyone was required to attend and believe the beliefs of whatever religion the ruler was, whether they were of that religion or not, If you objected, you were executed. The Pilgrims left England. They were kind, and more accepting in their colony in Plymouth, and even had Thanksgiving with the Native Americans. -
The puritans
They believed that the Anglican Church could be changed to be purer, but they would get into trouble in England for thinking this, so they settled in a colony in Massachusetts. In their act of getting religious freedom for themselves and making the church purer, they sadly had made some pretty severe punishments for those who disagreed with them, and took away the religious freedoms of other religions. -
Maryland - The catholic experiment
The catholics in the 1600s wanted to have some religious freedom from the Aglean England, so they went to Maryland. There was also economic benefit there, so there were also people who came there for economic growth. -
Dissent in Massachusetts Bay
Anne Hutchinson felt as though the forcefulness of the puritans wasn’t just. When she spoke about it, the puritans found it as a threat to their whole being, and after charging her guilty of Heresy, banished her from Massachusetts Bay. Roger Williams was also from the Puritan colony in Massachusetts with some disagreement. He thought that the church and state shouldn’t be related. He disliked how the Native Americans were treated. He got banished, then bought and founded Rhode Island. -
Quakers in Pennsylvania and New Jersey
Charles II owed William Penn’s family a lot of debt, so to make it up to them, he offered Penn a ton of land in America. Penn took this opportunity to establish a free religious colony, which was made up of the Quakers. They all believed in total equality, and accepted everyone in their community, no matter race, gender, or religion. Though, over three quarters of the male heads of the households spent time in jail for the quakers lack of will to bow to anyone’s whim. -
The First Great Awakening
The first great awakening was eye opening to many people, and has shown why religious freedom should be accepting, speaking of how religion should be from the heart rather than the head. One preacher, George Whitefield, spoke of his religion and beliefs in both England and America. -
Virginia Statutes for Religious Freedom
The people in the colonies (some) wanted there to be religious freedom in all the colonies, and for the government and one specific church to not be related. In 1786, Virginia finally separated the church from the government, giving religious freedom as well, and over time the rest of the colonies came to do the same.
