17th Century New England’s Colonies History

NB: We do not resell your papers. Upon ordering, we do an original paper exclusively for you.

NB: All your data is kept safe from the public.

Table of Contents

Introduction
Main body
The Quakers colony
References

Introduction

In the 17th century, New England’s colonies were disintegrated: politically, religiously, and ethnically. There was a dissent in the society, because of the difference in beliefs and world views. The majority of the founders’ children tried to find their religion, but usually, they failed.

Main body

Baptism and religious conversion became a problem by 1660. In 1640, the Baptists appeared in the settlements; they considered that each person could be baptized. But since their views didn’t match the Puritan community’s beliefs, the Baptists were prosecuted and arrested.

In 1662, the clergy adopted the Half-Way Covenant, which stated that the Baptized parents could bring their children to church for the baptism. It was an attempt to draw more people to their religion. Even though the Half-Way Covenant was rejected by many church members, by 1680 it was transformed to universal baptism.

In 1660, the Restoration era began in England. The six colonies were established under the Restoration government. The proprietors tried to draw people to their colonies by offering civil liberties and making land acquirement easier. The colonies were ethnically diverse and politically unstable.

James Harrington was a founder of the idea that power must be determined by the distribution of land. He suggested the rotation of the governmental officials. Using Harrington’s ideas, the proprietors wanted to create in Carolina an aristocratic society, where the power would belong to few persons. But instead of engaging in land ownership, the settlers practiced forests exploitation, cattle raising, and slave trade.

In 1664 James, the Duke of York tried to submit the territory of New Netherland and make it English. His policy didn’t attract Englishmen to the colony. Most of the English newcomers adopted the Dutch way of life. The territory was managed by the English people only since the colony was left by the Dutch government in 1674.

The Quakers colony

One of the most extraordinary social phenomena during the Restoration era was the Quakers colony in Delaware. Their beliefs were based on the pacifist ideology and their worldviews were denied by other religious communities. Quakers believed that each person can find salvation within and that God is the inner light. Because of their religion, Quakers were prosecuted and few of them were even executed.

Quakers paid a lot of attention to family and children. They kept their families small to give more love and care to the children they already had. Quakers tried to acquire lands and to provide everything for their young ones. They didn’t have clergy but held weekly meetings, where they could speak anything that was inspired by the inner light. In the Quaker’s society, equality was praised: women were equal to men and people maintained a good relationship with their neighbors.

The Quakers colony moved to the West headed by William Penn, who established the Pennsylvania settlement. He decided to develop this colony rather than create another one. He formed the government and adopted the constitution. Many refugees were attracted to the colony by its friendliness and acceptance of differences in opinions.

The North-American colonies were different in aspects of ethnicity, gender, class, and religion. The governmental policies were also different depending on the territory. The differences were brought together by the English language, the dialects started to merge. One more thing that supported the unification was the legal system that became more simple and common.

References

Hume, D. (1985). History of England [6-Volume Set] (New ed.). Liberty Fund, Inc.

Click Here To Order Now!

17th Century New England’s Colonies History

Do you need this or any other assignment done for you from scratch?

We have qualified writers to help you.

We assure you a quality paper that is 100% free from plagiarism and AI.

You can choose either format of your choice ( Apa, Mla, Havard, Chicago, or any other)