Religion in Colonial America
When we think of religion in colonial America, we probably think first of the Massachusetts Bay Puritans, as their religious convictions were the most intense in the colonies. Yet in those very different times, religion played a more prominent role in the lives of most people everywhere than it does today. The reason is not necessarily that people's religious faith was stronger then, although being closer to nature and more intimately acquainted with death, concerns with the immortal the everlasting may have been deeper. Whatever the reason, religion was wound up with government, and therefore with people's lives, to a far greater extent than it is today. Separation of church and state was an idea whose time had not yet come in America: The Anglican Church was intimately connected with the British government, including colonial governments; taxes supported religious activity; ministers were paid by the state; crimes against God were often indistinguishable from crimes against person or property. The hand of God was often felt through the monarch's scepter.
Each colony had its own relgious structure, from Anglican Virginia, to Catholic Maryland, Quaker Pennsylvania and Puritan New England, to the Dutch reformed Churches in New Amsterdam, which became New York. Religion was important in all the colonies, not just in New England. The greatest impetus for religious freedom as incorporated into our Constitution came out of Virginia. Your assignment in this project is to search out the religious underpinnings of colonial America and examine how they worked from day to day.
Some documents and web sites to start with:
Updated January 8, 2008