Difference Between North and South

Throughout the course of history, humans have always strived to ascertain certain freedoms in order to better their lives. Humans in North America are no exception, and one of many freedoms they sought to attain was religious tolerance. Throughout the history of the British North American colonies prior to 1700, the extent of religious freedom allowed generally increased as you moved south and was rarely extended to any non-Christian.

The New England colonies were founded mainly by religious groups who sought freedom from the Church of England. The Separatist Pilgrims in Plymouth were the first group to seek freedom, and their leader, William Bradford, said his greatest fear was non-Puritan settlers. The non-Separatist Puritans, who merged with the Plymouth Colony to form the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1629, believed the purpose of the government was to enforce God’s laws. Only Puritans could be freemen and believer or nonbeliever, and everyone had to support the church through taxes. New Haven, which was later absorbed by Massachusetts, required compulsory church attendance and had the strongest church-government alliance of any region. The government enjoyed a high degree of social harmony because of common beliefs, a goal stated by Winthrop in his “City Upon a Hill” speech. Dissenters, such as Quakers, were fined, flogged, banished, and sometimes even hung. Two famous challengers of Puritan ideals were Anne Hutchison and Roger Williams, who were both banished to Rhode Island in 1638 and 1636, respectively. Williams ended up founding the first Baptist church in America at Providence. Rhode Island was the exception in New England. It was filled with outcasts, and complete freedom was offered, even to Catholics and Jews. There were no oaths regarding religious beliefs, no compulsory attendance at worship, and no taxes to support a state church. Other than this exception, most New England colonies extended little religious freedom to citizens that challenged the main religion of the colony.

The diverse middle colonies were much different. New Netherlands, which later became New York, was a mainly Dutch business venture. The Dutch West Indies Company was more interested in profit than religious unity, allowing very diverse religious and ethnic differences among the settlers. When it became New York, the diversity prevented a strong sense of community or control over religious practices. The Quakers of Pennsylvania, who focused on justice and peace, had been persecuted in other areas and thus, offered much religious freedom here. William Penn, the founder of Pennsylvania and its holy experiment, believed strongly in human freedom and included strong religious freedom in Pennsylvania’s Frame of Government. Pennsylvania would even accept religious misfits exiled from other