Puritans Influence On New England Colonies

The puritans come over during the reign of Charles I to escape the theocracy cruelty of the nation. The puritans were peoples who wanted to purify the Anglican Church; they were known as Congregationalists. The first group of ninety puritans came over in 1630 with their leader, John Winthrop, who had the vision of founding a “City upon the hill”; they settled in Boston and created the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Within thirteen years 20,000 puritans were in the new world; they had officially escaped from the harshness of monarchical implemented theocracy because of the greed and money thirst of the king. The settlements of the puritans influenced the development of the New England colonies socially, politically, and economically through the events …show more content…
Roger Williams, the founder of the Rhode Island Colony originated from the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Williams was removed because he believed in the ideals of free religion and native hospitality. “God requireth not a uniformity of religion”, Williams once said. Williams was removed from the puritan colony because of his unorthodox ideas. Williams was then alienated and moved to the future location of the Rhode Island Colony; he was taken in by a nearby native tribe and he requested land from the king to start his own colony. He was granted the colony of Rhode Island and he created the first ideals of free religion. Rhode Island Colony was one of the first to accept the Jewish religion into their colony. In the Rhode Island Colony many of the ideals set by the puritan church were contained within; politically, laws and judicial systems were carried over, socially, some of the ideas of Calvinism, and economically, the skills that the Massachusetts Bay Colony had in fishing and building were transferred into the new colony. The puritan settlement had substantial influence as to how the Rhode Island Colony was founded, and how their ideas were made; without the harshness and strict religious beliefs of the puritans Rhode Island Colony would have never been …show more content…
The Halfway Covenant was created by Reverend Solomon Stoddard, who believed that the colonies were straying away from their original religious beliefs and intentions, Stoddard created this covenant in 1662. His document made the church accessible to all citizens and exposed many of the younger children to the religious beliefs that the members of the church received; this was one of the first partial church memberships ever created. The new settlers to the colonies who came in later years of the settlement of the Massachusetts Bay Colony were not able to be members of the church before the Halfway Covenant, the implementation of this created a more accessible church and the puritan church was able to keep many of their followers in religion together and united under the power and structure of the church. These half members of the church, however, were not allowed to vote or take part in communion. This creation of the Halfway Covenant by the Stoddard allowed for the people of the Massachusetts Bay Colony to be united under one system, and the ideals of the puritan church were strengthened both in and out of the