#1: Analyze the differences between the Spanish settlements in the Southwest and the English Colonies in New England in the seventeenth century in terms of TWO of the following: Politics, Religion, Economic development. The Spanish and English were involved in the New World both religiously and economically. But, their approaches were quite different in many ways, such as time, place, and their actions to the native peoples that lived in the New World. The Spanish were Catholic. They wanted to gain numbers to support Catholicism and show that it is the true religion.
Early settlers had a variety of reasons for seeking a new homeland. The Pilgrims of Massachusetts were spiritual, self-disciplined English people who wanted to escape religious persecution. Other colonies, such as Virginia, were founded principally as business ventures. Colonists viewed America as a place they could go to practice their religion freely. However, most people looked badly upon religions outside of their own.
Different motivation stands for each of these people in what they did for the reformation. Calvin born and raised a Frenchman, had received a degree in law to find out he was not interested in the subject had changed his interest in life to religion reformation. At a young age Calvin had been in an area where the population was being stirred by the writings about the Catholic Church by Luther and Erasmus. Calvin was enlightened by the idea and thought that Luther had about the Catholic Church. Calvin’s motivation for his acts during the reformation was to start a transition into making and becoming a healthy Church that was seen correct under the eyes above the Bible.
First, there is the main theme of both colonies, religion. The summer of 1607 the first colonists stepped foot onto Virginian soil. Observing the settlement of New Spain, the Virginia Company of England also wanted to reap the benefits of the New World “The Virginia Company investors hoped to found an empire that would strengthen England both overseas and at home" . While the colony was run under the pretext of Christianity, the settlers of Jamestown were guided more by their productivity than religion. “…on the whole, religion did not awaken the zeal of Chesapeake settlers…What quickened the pulse of most…folk was a close horse race, a bloody cockfight, or –most of all-an exceptionally fine tobacco crop” On the other hand, the Plymouth colony, settled in 1620, had very different grounds for emigrating from England.
Spanish Colonization of North America Spanish colonial efforts in the sixteenth century forever changed the culture of several societies in North America. Led by Spanish conquistadores, missionaries and the Monarchy of Spain, colonial efforts in North America were motivated by two main goals. First, Spain wanted wealth and knew that the New World would offer wealth through trade and the land’s rich resources. Second, Spain believed that the spread of Christianity to the Americas was their religious duty because the people of the Americas had not yet heard the word of god. While they certainly accomplished their goals, it is no secret that the Spanish colonial efforts in North America were tyrannical and caused lasting changes to several cultures that call the Americas home.
The monies from these sales financed wars and expensive lifestyles of the popes, archbishops and bishops. Some one thousand years earlier, Augustine had similar reservations about the Catholic Church as Luther. He felt the Bible must stand as the ultimate religious authority, not the church officials. Augustine also believed salvation could be reached only by God’s divine grace; it could not be achieved through good works. Luther later formed Protestantism on these two central beliefs.
During the late 1600's and early 1700's, European nations such as England began to colonize the "New World". One of the first areas to be settled in was New England and the Chesapeake Bay. Although they were both settled by mostly English settlers, they quickly formed into 2 different societies due to religious, political, and economic differences. New England was mostly settled for religious purposes. The Puritans came to escape religious persecution and the Separatists came because they wanted to leave the Church of England.
A hurricane of religious revivals swept through the United States, mostly to counteract the rationalistic ideas of early Calvinists, who believed only a select few could be saved. These new religions however, encouraged all to be saved, as Charles G. Finney states in document B, "Harlots, and drunkards, and infidels, and all sorts of abandoned characters, are awakened and converted." Perhaps the most famous groups of these religious revivalists, were the transcendentalists. They were a group of writers who questioned the doctrine of the established churches, criticized materialism and the pursuit of profit, and believed in artistic expression over wealth. They
Question: What were the key characteristics of religion in colonial America? Focus on the motives for settlement, the Puritan influence, and the union of church and state. Thesis: Although the colonists moved to America for religious freedom, the Puritans had a strong influence on their religious views. Roadmap: The colonists moved to America because they believed that the Church of England was corrupt in persecuting them, and not allowing freedom of religion, but some still did not get freedom of religion in America and were persecuted by the Puritans, who set up a union of church and state. I Motives for settlement A.
Although William was born in Germany, he inherited his thrown in the Netherlands where he led the Dutch revolt against the Spanish crown. William had always believed in free practice of religion and pitied religious movements such as the Calvinist movements in France and the Netherlands (heritage-history). William’s beliefs about religious freedom led him to defeat the Catholic forces under the control of Louis XIV of France. Because of this defeat, the Catholics were driven out of the Dutch Republic (bbc.co.uk). Many Calvinist refugees fled to Holland and Zealand from other provinces because these countries were religiously tolerant.