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Founding of Massachusetts
Puritans, people who wanted to "purify" the Church of England, came to the New World because they were being persecuted. The Puritans founded the Massachusetts Bay colony, which had a strict, theocratic system of government. -
Founding of Maryland
Cecelius Calvert, also known as Lord Baltimore, founded the colony of Maryland as a refuge for Catholics in England, who were being persecuted. -
Founding of Rhode Island
Roger Williams, a Puritan minister who was kicked out of Massachusetts Bay for disliking the strict rules of the Puritans, founded the colony of Rhode Island. -
Anne Hutchinson's banishment from Massachusetts Bay
Anne Hutchinson was a woman whose ideas and tendency to speak her mind about these ideas even though she was a woman clashed with the Puritans' strict manner and enforcement of rules and led her to get banished from Massachusetts Bay. -
Founding of Pennsylvania
William Penn, a member of the Quakers or Society of Friends, received a large amount of land in the New World from King Charles II. He used this land to found the colony of Pennsylvania, where the Quaker principles of equality and religious freedom were practiced. -
Voting rights extended beyond church members
(The date just signifies that by the end of the 17th century, voting rights were extended beyond church members in all of the colonies)
In many colonies, only white men who owned property and were in good standing with whatever church ruled over the area could vote. By the end of the 17th century, though, voters throughout the colonies didn't have to be members of the church and only had to own property in order to vote. -
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The First Great Awakening
The First Great Awakening was a religious movement between the 1730s and the 1770s which spread the idea that religion should be practiced with the heart instead of with the head and that religion should be an emotional thing. Image:
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Virginia Bill of Rights
Virginia had established the Church of England as their church, but they established limited free exercise of religion in the Virginia Bill of Rights. -
Virginia Statutes for Religious Freedom
The Virginia Statutes for Religious Freedom made sure that there was separation between government and religion in Virginia, and that there was complete religious freedom.
