Religious Freedoms
...tablished in the colony, which deprived Catholics of the right to vote, hold office or worship publicly.5 Until the American Revolution, Catholics in America were dissenter in their own country. However, they always kept loyal during good an bad times. Many people today view Quakerism as radical as Puritanism because they carried to extremes many Puritan convictions.6 The Quakers, or the Society of Friends expanded the Puritan concept of a church if individuals that was brought on by the Holy Spirit. William Penn founded Pennsylvania as a Quaker Refuge and had two aims for it. First he wanted to launch the “Holy Experiment,” which was spread the teachings of Quakerism’s founder George Fox. Second, “though I desire to extend religious freedom, yet I want some recompense for my trouble.”7 The Quakers had been persecuted very heavily in England because they drifted away from orthodox Christianity. In 1682 Penn arrived in America with mostly Quakers, but he also brought along Presbyterians, Baptists, and Catholics. They were all attracted to Penn’s new colony because of his religious toleration. However, in other colonies in America, the Quakers were still being persecuted. Massachusetts accused eight Quakers of witchcraft and in 1692 Quaker insubordination became a capital crime, of which four were hanged.8 In the 1690’s, George Keith urged the Quakers to adopt a formal creed and train ministers.9 Since the Quakers believed that the bible should be written down and God was within, many of them didn’t follow Keith.10 However, he joined the Church of England and some Quakers followed. The Quakers religious freedoms were tested both in England and in America where they thought they would have the right of free worship. Many people in England opposed the Church of England and wanted to change the way it was run. The first to act upon this was the Puritans. The Puritans wanted to "purify" the Church of England. They did not want to move away from the church as the Pilgrims did. They just wanted to change some of its ways. The Puritans were treated badly in England because of their beliefs.11 Early in the 17th century some Puritan groups separated from the Church of England. Among these were the Pilgrims, who in 1620 founded Plymouth Colony. Ten years later, under the support of the Massachusetts Bay Company, the first major Puritan migration to New England took place. The Puritans brought strong religious ideas to share in all colonies north of Virginia, but New England was their stronghold, and the Congregationalist churches established there were able to bring about their viewpoint about a Christian society for more than 200 years.13 The Puritans were very strict and thought everyone should worship the same way they did. There were so many Puritans that they controlled the government, so only Puritans could vote. The Puritans did not separate state and church and this angered some people. The religious freedom in the New England, the Puritan society, was very had to find. People like Roger Williams who argued that church and state should be separated and Anne Hutchinson who cast doubt on the clergy’s spiritual state. They w...