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William Penn, an English Quaker, sought to construct a new type of community with religious toleration and a great deal of political freedom.It is believed that Penn's political philosophy is embodied in the West Jersey Concessions and Agreements of 1677, which is an earlier practical experience of government constitution prior to the establishment of Pennsylvania.
The new British government's discouragement of religious dissent gave the Cavaliers license to harass the minority groups. Because of his father's high position and social status, young Penn was firmly a Cavalier but his sympathies lay with the persecuted Quakers. To avoid conflict, Penn withdrew from the fray and became a reclusive scholar. [20]
The colony was captured by the Dutch in 1655 and merged into New Netherland, with most of the colonists remaining. Years later, the entire New Netherland colony was incorporated into England's colonial holdings. The colony of New Sweden introduced Lutheranism to America in the form of some of the continent's oldest European churches. [40]
This religious rift is commonly called the Antinomian Controversy, and it significantly divided the colony; Winthrop saw the Antinomian beliefs as a particularly unpleasant and dangerous heresy. [84] By December 1636, the dispute reached into colonial politics, and Winthrop attempted to bridge the divide between the two factions.
Between 1714 and 1818, an intellectual change took place in the Thirteen Colonies that changed them from a largely distant backwater into a leader in various fields, moral philosophy, educational reform, religious revival, industrial technology, science, and, most notably, political philosophy, the roots of this change were homegrown. [14]
Roger Williams was born in London, and many historians cite 1603 as the probable year of his birth. [6] His birth records were destroyed when St. Sepulchre church burned during the Great Fire of London, [7] and his entry in American National Biography notes that Williams gave contradictory information about his age throughout his life. [8]
[7] [8] The Rhode Island colony was very progressive for the time, passing laws abolishing witchcraft trials, imprisonment for debt, and most capital punishment. [9] [10] The colony also passed the first anti-slavery law in America on May 18, 1652, though the practice remained widespread in Rhode Island and there exists no evidence that the ...
The charters defined the relationship of the colony to the mother country as free from involvement from the Crown. For the trading companies, charters vested the powers of government in the company in England. The officers would determine the administration, laws, & ordinances for the colony but only as conforming to the laws of England.