Chapter Four Lecture
Northern Colonies
Spring 2009
1. The Northern Colonies were populated by different groups of religious dissidents.
Most of them fled the reformed Protestant Church (Anglican Church) that was created by
Henry VIII.
Would it make sense that they would extend religious freedom to fellow settlers in the
New World?
a. Golden Rule.
b. One True Religion.
1. We should behave to our friends as we
would wish our friends to behave to us.
Aristotle, 320 B.C.
1. Our religion is the one true religion.
2. What you do not want done to yourself,
do not do to others.
Confucius, 470 B.C.
2. Every Religion that differs from ours, is
false.
3. Therefor all things whatsoever ye would
that men should do to you,
do ye even so to them: for this is the law
and the prophets.
Holy Bible, Matthew.
3. Therefore we are justified in persecuting
Jews, because they deny the truth of Jesus
Christ.
4. Alternative Golden Rules.
4. We are justified in persecuting
Catholics, heretics, non-believers, because
they are damned to Hell and we will help
them get there quicker.
a. Who has the gold, makes the rules.
b. He who has guns can use these firearms
to get the gold.
2. State:
Massachusetts
A. Settled By:
Puritans:
B. Beliefs
Everyone should acknowledge God's truth
Predestination
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Conformity: "Contrary minded men" were
asked to leave1
No Christmas or Easter holidays
No cards, no dancing
C. Kicked Out
Roger Williams, 16312
1. Why?
He believed that God created and spoke to
Native Americans
He disagreed that everyone should be
forced to attend church service
2. Moved to and Settled
Rhode Island
Permitted Freedom of Worship
D. Kicked Out
Anne Hutchinson, 16383
1. Why?
She believed that God spoke to women and
directly to common people
2. Moved to and Settled
Roger William's Rhode Island4
Then New York
E. Kicked Out
Quakers, 16565
1. Why?
Inner Light
God spoke directly to each individual6
2. Moved to and Settled
Pennsylvania, William Penn
1
James L. Roark, Michael P Johnson, Patricia Cline Cohen, Sarah Stage, Arizona State University, Alan
Lawson, and Susan M. Hartmann, The American Promise: A Compact History Third Edition Volume I: To
1877 (Boston, Massachusetts: St. Martin's, 2007), 87.
2
Roark, The American Promise, 78.
3
Roark, The American Promise, 89.
4
Roark, The American Promise, 77
5
Roark, The American Promise, 91
6
Samuel Eliot Morison, Henry Steele Commager, and William E. Leuchtenburg, A Concise History Of The
American Republic (New York: Oxford University Press, 1983), 35.
2
F. Kicked Out
Pequot and Wampanoag "Indians,"
16757
Metacomet-(King Philip)8
1. Why?
Land Stealing
2. Moved to and Settled
Farther West
G. Kicked Out
Witches, 1692: 100 accused, 19 executed9
1. Why?
Voodoo, Witchcraft
Spectural Evidence
2. Moved to and Settled
?
3. State:
Chesapeake
A. Settled By:
Anglicans
B. Beliefs
Church of England
Sunday attendance and religious
conformity were "required" of all
residents10
C. Kicked Out
Catholics
Lord Baltimore11
1. Why?
Did not acknowledge Martin Luther
(Protestant), John Calvin and Henry VIII's
religious truths
2. Moved to and Settled
Maryland
7
Roark, The American Promise, 97
Roark, The American Promise, 97
9
Roark, The American Promise, 92
10
Roark, The American Promise, 64
11
Roark, The American Promise, 64
8
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4. State:
New York
A. Settled By:
Dutch (New Amsterdam)
B. Beliefs
Protestant
C. Kicked Out
Mormons12
1. Why?
polygamy, different interpretations
2. Moved to and Settled
Ohio
Missouri
Illinois
Utah
Question: Since America began as diverse
religious refuges for dissidents who did not
want to extend the same privileges to
others, how did the New World change
them by 1787 and the Bill of Rights, into a
society that valued religious toleration and
diversity?
Modern Progress. Two-thirds of American
church goers now believe that there are
many different paths to Heaven and
alternative reasonable interpretations of the
Bible.13
Quakers.
Out of the religious ferment of Puritan England came the Society of Friends, commonly
known as Quakers. They believed that religious authority rested neither in the Bible nor
in a priestly hierarchy but in the Inner Light of Jesus Christ in the soul of every man . . .
Since every man had some of God's spirit, all men were brothers and all were equal.
Samuel Eliot Morison, Professor of History at Harvard, Henry Steele Commager,
Professor of History at Amherst College, and William E. Leuchtenburg, Professor of
History at University of North Carolina, A Concise History Of The American Republic
(New York: Oxford University Press, 1983), 35.
In 1652 the first Quaker missionaries appeared in the English colonies. Severe laws were
passed against them in every colony but Rhode Island, and in Boston three were hanged;
12
Joseph Wheelan Invading Mexico: America's Continental Dream And The Mexican War, 1846-1848
(New York: Carroll & Graf Publishers, 2007), 212; Roark, The American Promise, 289, 290.
13
Pew Forum, Religion & Public Life: Landscape Survey (Washington, DC: Pew Forum, 2008.
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but finally by passive resistance they wore down the authorities and won a grudging
toleration. Samuel Eliot Morison, Professor of History at Harvard, Henry Steele
Commager, Professor of History at Amherst College, and William E. Leuchtenburg,
Professor of History at University of North Carolina, A Concise History Of The American
Republic (New York: Oxford University Press, 1983), 35.
Mormons.
The Mormons' large numbers, insularity, and sharp business practices had aroused the
hatred of their Gentile neighbors in Ohio, compelling them to move westward. In
western Missouri, the situation was even worse: spiraling mob violence murders, arson,
and armed clashes between Mormons and Gentiles prompted Missouri Governor Lillburn
Boggs to call out ten thousand militiamen to either drive the Mormons from the state or
"exterminate" them. In 1838, the militia massacred eighteen Mormons at Haun's Mill
and rounded up Smith and six other church leaders. Convicted of treason, they were
sentenced to death. Militia Colonel Alexander Doniphan, who had previously defended
Mormons in the courtroom, was ordered to carry out the sentence. Doniphan refused,
declaring that it was illegal to court-martial civilians, and executing them would be "cold
blooded murder." The Mormon leaders were eventually released. Joseph Wheelan
Associated Press reporter, Invading Mexico: America's Continental Dream And The
Mexican War, 1846-1848 (New York: Carroll & Graf Publishers, 2007), 212.
Neighbors branded Mormons heretics and drove Smith and his followers from New York
to Ohio, then to Missouri, and finally in 1839 to Nauvoo, Illinois, where they built a
prosperous community. But dissenters within the church accused Smith of advocating
plural marriage (polygamy). Non-Mormons caught wind of the controversy and
eventually arrested Smith and his brother. On June 27, 1844, a mob stormed the jail and
shot both men dead. James L. Roark, Emory University, Michael P Johnson, Johns
Hopkins University, Patricia Cline Cohen, University of California, Santa Barbara, Sarah
Stage, Arizona State University, Alan Lawson, Boston College, and Susan M. Hartmann,
Ohio State University, The American Promise: A Compact History Third Edition Volume
I: To 1877 (Boston, Massachusetts: St. Martin's, 2007), 289.
The embattled church turned to an extraordinary new leader, Brigham Young, who
immediately began to plan a great exodus. In 1846, traveling in 3,700 wagons, 12,000
Mormons made their way to eastern Iowa; the following year they arrived at their new
home beside the Great Salt Lake. Young described the region as a barren waste, "the
paradise of the lizard, the cricket and the rattlesnake." Within ten year however, the
Mormons developed an irrigation system that made the desert bloom. They
accomplished the feat through cooperative labor, not the individualistic and competitive
enterprise common among most emigrants. Under Young’s stern leadership, the
Mormons built a thriving community. James L. Roark, Emory University, Michael P
Johnson, Johns Hopkins University, Patricia Cline Cohen, University of California, Santa
Barbara, Sarah Stage, Arizona State University, Alan Lawson, Boston College, and Susan
M. Hartmann, Ohio State University, The American Promise: A Compact History Third
Edition Volume I: To 1877 (Boston, Massachusetts: St. Martin's, 2007), 290.
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Pew Study.
Most Americans agree with the statement that many religions – not just their own – can
lead to eternal life. Among those who are affiliated with a religious tradition, seven-inten say many religions can lead to eternal life. This view is shared by a majority of
adherents in nearly all religious traditions, including more than half of members of
evangelical Protestant churches (57%). Only among Mormons (57%) and Jehovah’s
Witnesses (80%) do majorities say that their own religion is the one true faith leading to
eternal life. Most Americans also have a non-dogmatic approach when it comes to
interpreting the tenets of their own religion. For instance, more than two-thirds of adults
affiliated with a religious tradition agree that there is more than one true way to interpret
the teachings of their faith, a pattern that occurs in nearly all traditions. The exceptions
are Mormons and Jehovah’s Witnesses, 54% and 77% of whom, respectively, say there is
only one true way to interpret the teachings of their religion. Pew Forum, Religion &
Public Life: Landscape Survey (Washington, DC: Pew Forum, 2008.
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