US History

Colonization and Settlement (1585-1763)

This collection uses primary sources to explore religion during the Colonial period of US History.

A photograph of the inside of a colonial-style church.

Excerpts from *The English in America; the Puritan Colonies*, an 1887 book which examines the established religion of New England.

An engraved image of Cotton Mather with information about this important Puritan religious leader.

An image of Old South Church in Boston, established in 1669 as a church that recognized Massachusetts’ Halfway Covenant. 

Part of the reprint of *The New England Primer*, originally printed in Massachusetts in 1690 for use in educational and religious training. 

Excerpts from the 1649 Maryland Act of Religious Toleration, which allowed all Christians to freely worship in the colony.

Part of a 1914 speech called “William Penn’s Holy Experiment in Civil Government.”

A text of William Penn’s entitled *A Brief Account of the Rise and Progress of the People called Quakers*. 

An early-twentieth-century baseball-type card of William Penn, displaying his image and biography.

Parts of *The History of Virginia* (1855) by colonial historian Robert Beverley; this work explores colonial and native religious practices.

A late-nineteenth-century photograph of Bruton Parish Church, operating since 1674 in Williamsburg, Virginia. 

Part of a 1907 book by Thomas Cary Johnson entitled *Virginia Presbyterianism and Religious Liberty in Colonial and Revolutionary Times*.

An engraving of Jonathan Edwards, one of the leaders of the First Great Awakening.

An excerpt from Jonathan Edwards’s most famous New Light sermon, “Sinners in the Hand of an Angry God.”

Part of *The Great Awakening: A History of the Revival of Religion in the Time of Edwards and Whitefield* (1842) describing the New Lights. 

Questions

1. Puritan New England was the most literate place in the world during the colonial period. Using these documents, discuss what role Puritanism played in colonial Massachusetts and how Puritanism sought to appeal to all citizens of all ages. 
2. After analyzing these documents, discuss how the ideas of religious tolerance took root in colonial America. How did the experiments in religious tolerance in Maryland and Pennsylvania differ? Do you believe William Penn’s writing and popularity made Pennsylvania an attractive colony for religious dissenters?
3. The church in colonial Virginia was based on the state church of England. How did Virginia colonial religion function within the state-established Church of England, dissenting Presbyterian congregations, and in Indian communities? What was the relationship between the church and the colonists? Do you believe the payment system for Anglican ministers was unique to the southern colonies? Why or why not?
4. Please summarize how the sermons of Jonathan Edwards spread New Light religion in the colonies. What do you believe were the colonists’ emotional responses to the sermons? How do you think these sermons would affect Americans today? Do you believe these sermons played a significant religious role in colonial America? 
5. What conclusions can be drawn concerning colonial religion after viewing all the documents in the set? How did religion compare and also contrast among the colonies? Do you believe religion played a significant role in the lives of all colonial Americans? Why or why not? 

Activity

Ask students to explore *[The New England Primer](http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015039619740)* in its entirety to determine how this primary learning tool might have differed for children living in an environment different from Puritan New England. Students should work in groups analyzing the document from one of the following perspectives explored by the documents in this set: Penn’s “holy experiment” Pennsylvania, Catholics in Maryland, Church of England members in Virginia, or New Light households influenced by the Great Awakening. Students may use the Internet to research the perspective in more detail. They should edit the document to demonstrate the individual religious group’s leanings or design a new primer section to complement the group’s unique Christian interpretations.

Teaching Guide: Exploring Colonial Religion

Resources

1. [Religion and the Founding of the American Republic](https://www.loc.gov/exhibits/religion/rel01.html), the Library of Congress. 
2. [Religion in Colonial America: Trends, Regulations, and Beliefs](https://www.facinghistory.org/nobigotry/religion-colonial-america-trends-regulations-and-beliefs), Facing History and Ourselves. 
3. [Religion](http://www.history.org/almanack/life/religion/religionhdr.cfm), Colonial Williamsburg. 

Overview

In British North America, the distinctive religious attachments of the thirteen independent colonies affected their colonization and development. These colonies varied in their approach, from Massachusetts’ initial establishment as a Puritan stronghold to Penn’s “holy experiment” in religious tolerance to Virginia’s reliance on the Church of England for guidance. Each colony employed a moral/religious compass when establishing their rule of law and viewed religion as a way to include or exclude individual members of society. The leaders of religious movements were also leaders in colonial government, since religion and government were inseparable to the seventeenth-century mind. In the mid-eighteenth century, the sermons of the First Great Awakening shook America’s religious foundations to the core and helped to form a new American moral consciousness, which played a critical role in the creation of a distinctive American mindset fully established by the wake of the American Revolution. 

English

Colonial Religion

colonial-religion_01_4f892ac94b1c93c49cf5c05167d3f14d.jpg

“Colonial Influence in a Church Interior,” Digital Public Library of America, https://dp.la/item/4f892ac94b1c93c49cf5c05167d3f14d.

A photograph of the inside of a colonial-style church.

Cite this item

Tips for Students

Item 1 of 15 in the Primary Source Set Colonial Religion