The earliest Puritans who settled in the New World were well-organized and had specific beliefs about problems that existed in the Christian church. They did not immigrate to the New World in flight, but rather to be able to reform their faith in a style that was not yet available to them in Europe. Originally, the intent was to return to England after their political and religious views were well-established and they were firm in their faith of both realms. First, because of their dissent and disdain for the Church of England, there needed to be distance in order to reorganize themselves. The physical separation also enabled the Puritans to focus on what was most important to them and their faith, such as salvation, which is viewed differently and has less emphasis in the Church of England, predestination, and the first coming of Christ, which began Church history. The Puritans also have a belief of sacred space which will be essential when the end comes and the sacred place of salvation is revealed (Guendouzi).
The original settlers were members of a group known as the Massachusetts Bay Colony. They believed if they lived according to the word of God, they would be blessed with a good life. The ideals of faith and harmony were valued within the community. However, if they did not follow God’s plan, his wrath would be cast upon them. When differences of opinion arose, leading to disharmony within the colony, the dissenters were banished.
The colony of Rhode Island, namely Providence, was established when one of the colonists created disharmony within the group in Massachusetts. A highly educated settler, Roger Williams, was a believer in an individual’s freedom to worship as one deemed fit. Williams was also troubled that the Puritans had a troubled break with the Church of England. Another area of dissent with the Puritans was that Williams believed that England should protect the land rights of the Native Americans. He believed that just taking the land instead of purchasing it from the Native Americans was a sin. This was a contrast to the charter of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. He also believed that giving to the church should be a voluntary matter and not enforced through taxes. Additionally, the extreme though of separation between church and state caused great disharmony within the group. He was banished from the colony after being found guilty in court of generating and promoting dangerous opinions.
In 1636, Williams fled from Massachusetts and went to Narragansett Bay where he founded a Baptist church. He purchased the land from the Native Americans and it was named Providence to thank God. In 1644, he was granted a charter to oversee all Rhode Island colonies. His welcoming of religious tolerance made his colony the most liberal of his time. Accepting all religions and having a policy advocating the separation of church and state opened the doors for Quakers and the first Jewish settlement (A P Study Notes).
Another dissenter from the Massachusetts Bay Colony was Anne Hutchinson. She dissented with the principals of the Puritan faith. Instead of needing to lead a life that was deemed to be holy by the Puritan leaders in order to be granted salvation, Hutchinson believed that one needed only to have faith and saving grace from God. An educated woman, Hutchinson hosted meetings in her home that initially reviewed sermons and discussed Scriptures, but developed into her developing her own interpretation of the word of God, including that moral conduct and salvation have no direct relationship. She was viewed as a threat to the Puritan leaders and was not acting in the expected role of a submissive wife. In 1638 she was arrested, tried, and found guilty for sharing the belief that moral conduct and piety were not the primary necessities for salvation. She left Massachusetts for Williams’ colony and later for New York (A P Study Notes).
As the Massachusetts Bay Colony continued to increase in size, the number of differing opinions continued to grow. In 1635, Reverend Thomas Hooker founded Hartford, Connecticut. His government was unique since it did not seek any governmental powers outside of Connecticut. Voting rights were also not limited to members of the Puritan church (Founders of Hartford).
Although most of the original settlers had similar mindsets about religion and government, there were a few that had differing opinions. By being exiled from the community or choosing to leave on their own accord, enabling these differences to develop into other religious and types of government only diversified the New England area in its earliest days.
Works Cited
Armah, Ayi. Salvation History in Two Thousand Seasons. Christianity and Literature, Spring
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Lake, Peter & Questier, Michael. “Puritans, Papists, and the “Public Sphere” in Early Modern England: The Edmund Campion Affair in Context.” The Journal of Modern History, September,
2000. Web. 14 April 2013.
“Massachusetts Bay Colony.” The New England Colonies. A P Study Notes, n.d. Web. 14 April
2013.
“The Founders of Hartford.” Society of the Descendants of the Founders of Hartford. n. p., n. d.
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