did massachusetts establish a religious colony?

Question

did massachusetts establish a religious colony?

Answer 1

Well, the original Pilgrims came over at least in part to escape religious persecution...don't know if that's what you qualify as a religious colony or not.

Answer 2

Massachusetts didn't exist when the Pilgrims arrived in 1620 (statehood was still 150 years away at that time). It was the Pilgrims, not Massachusetts, which established a colony in order to escape religious persecution in England and Holland (of course, they turned around and later persecuted anyone who didn't follow their tenets!)

Answer 3

If you mean, was the first Western-Civilization based government in MA explicitly religious, then Yes. Under the Puritans, Massachusetts citizens were required to pay a portion of their property taxes to support the church (the long-ago ancestor of what is now the United Congregational Church, UCC). The church in turn was responsible for things like poorhouses and taking care of orphans.

It was also religious in the sense that certain acts that are not violations of any public disorder, like sacriligious swearing, were considered crimes.

Answer 4

Colonial Massachusetts

http://colonialancestors.com/ma/massachusetts.htm

http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Oracle/5650/mass.htm

http://www.usahistory.info/New-England/Massachusetts.html

THANKSGIVING & PILGRIM WEB SITES

http://www.cumbavac.org/Thanksgiving.htm

The American Colonies

The history of the original 13 colonies is a tangled tale indeed. There are many ways to view the events and, in hind sight, it is easy to think you understand. But no one knew where they were headed at the time and it could have ended up very different.

http://www.dasd-ew.org/history.htm#colonial

http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/modsbook12.html

http://www.usgennet.org/usa/topic/colonial/index.html

http://www.timepage.org/spl/13colony.html

http://www.kidsolr.com/history/

Good luck.

Kevin, Liverpool, England.

Answer 5

YES-this is a fly by night answer but it was what we were given for education in school, is that all persecuted people for religious reasons were the first to come here to America. there was no choice in England and all who came here bonded primarily in this to survive and be a strength to base new beliefs in freedom of religion, old school?