Tahgrant.dadeschools.net



Religious Practices and Beliefs in the Colonies:

Lucinda Evans, Topeka Public Schools

evanslucinda@

Essential question: ‘To what extent was there religious freedom in the colonies?’

Objective: The student will learn about religious persecution in the colonies before the Constitutional period. At the conclusion of the lesson students should be able to answer this essential question; Why was freedom of religion so important to the founders of the document that it would be listed first amongst the five basic freedoms of the first amendment?

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

1st Amendment-United States Constitution

Classroom Activity:

• Students will be divided into 4 or more groups

• Each group will be given an information sheet on one of four religions

• Religions: Puritans, Quakers, Baptists, Catholics

• Each group will create a poster showing examples of religious persecution and freedom in the American Colonies ( limit of 10 words per poster)

• Posters will then be displayed around the room

• Working in pairs students will examine all posters and take notes over what they see on the posters (see attached study guide)

• Extended learning: students will write a one page (or less) essay answering the essential question; Why was freedom of religion so important to the founders of the document that it would be listed first amongst the five basic freedoms of the first amendment?

THE PURITANS

Religion in Great Britain: there was one true religion and that it was the duty of the civil authorities to impose it, forcibly if necessary, in the interest of saving the souls of all citizens

• Puritans were English Protestants who wished to reform and purify the Church of England of what they considered to be unacceptable residues of Roman Catholicism.

• In the 1620s leaders of the English state and church grew increasingly unsympathetic to Puritan demands.

• They insisted that the Puritans conform to religious practices that they abhorred, removing their ministers from office and threatening them with "extirpation from the earth" if they did not fall in line.

• Zealous Puritan laymen received savage punishments. For example, in 1630 a man was sentenced to life imprisonment, had his property confiscated, his nose slit, an ear cut off, and his forehead branded "S.S." (sower of sedition)

• The Puritans believed that the Bible was God's true law, and that it provided a plan for living.

• Puritans stripped away the traditional trappings and formalities of Christianity

• Theirs was an attempt to "purify" the church and their own lives.

• People of opposing theological views were asked to leave the community or to be converted.

• The doctrine of predestination kept all Puritans constantly working to do good in this life to be chosen for the next eternal one.

• God had already chosen who would be in heaven or hell.

• The wealthy were obviously blessed by God and were in good standing with Him.

• The Protestant work ethic was the belief that hard work was an honor to God

• Any deviations from the normal way of Puritan life met with strict disapproval and discipline. Since the church elders were also political leaders, any church infraction was also a social one.

• There was no margin for error.

•

• The devil was behind every evil deed.

• Three English diversions were banned in their New England colonies; drama, religious music and erotic poetry

• Free schooling was offered for all children.

Source Information:





THE QUAKERS

Religion in Great Britain: there was one true religion and that it was the duty of the civil authorities to impose it, forcibly if necessary, in the interest of saving the souls of all citizens

Persecution in Great Britain: The trial of William Penn and his colleague William Mead [in the Old Bailey] in 1670 was a celebrated one. Despite the venomous hostility of the presiding judge to the accused, the jury acquitted them. The jurors in turn were fined and imprisoned for bringing in the acquittal verdict. Eight jurors paid to secure their release. Four, however, sought relief in a higher court. In a ringing opinion the court determined that a judge may not punish a jury for its verdict, however thoroughly he disagrees with it. The case became a landmark in Anglo-American jurisprudence

• Quakers were mocked as trembling with religious zeal

• Despite oppression and imprisonment, their numbers continued to grow throughout the 17th century.

• No men or number of Men upon Earth hath power or Authority to rule over men's consciences in religious matters. West New Jersey Concessions and Agreements, 1676

• Quakers and others who pursued a different belief were banned from holding public or private worship, taxed to support the official church and prevented from following many careers, attending universities or holding office

• Since all human beings are children of God, Friends are called to love and respect all persons and to over come evil with good..

•

• Behavior should be consistent towards every person and situation. Quakers used fixed prices rather than haggling and refuse to take oaths.

•

• They bear witness publicly to their beliefs even if it might result in punitive consequences.

•

• Quakers try to be consistent in word and deed.

•

• One method of harassing Quakers was to lock their meetinghouses..

•

• William Penn provided public, practical education to all children.

•

• William Penn’s imprisonment for his beliefs inspired him to substitute workhouses for dungeons.

•

• Penn suggested union of the American colonies as early as 1696, writing proposals which Benjamin Franklin and others incorporated into the U.S. Constitution a hundred years later.

•

• Penn’s guarantee of religious freedom and the rights of conscience attracted other dissenting groups such as the Moravians, Mennonites and Dunkards to Pennsylvania. For much of the 18th century, Penn's colony was the only place under British rule where Catholics could legally worship in public.

•

• In 1734 the Provincial Council of Pennsylvania defended the liberty of worship granted by William Penn to this colony and successfully withstood the demand of the Governor of the Province that this church be outlawed and such liberty be withdrawn.

•

• This was established permanently in our nation the principle of religious freedom which was later embodied into the Constitution of the United States of America

Source Information:





THE BAPTISTS

Religion in Great Britain: there was one true religion and that it was the duty of the civil authorities to impose it, forcibly if necessary, in the interest of saving the souls of all citizens

• Most responsible for the development of the modern Baptist denomination of Christianity were English Puritan John Smyth (c. 1554-1612) in 1609 and Roger Williams in Rhode Island in 1638.

• Based on the work of these radical Protestants, Baptists adopted an anti-creed like theology in which all authority stems from the Bible.

• Common characteristics include: baptism of mature adults rather than children, independence of local churches, and religious revivals

• Baptist churches today can, in part, trace their roots back to the Anabaptist movement of the Protest Reformation.

• Radical Protestants, the Anabaptists challenged or denied many traditional Catholic beliefs.

• So radical were they that even mainstream Protestants, like the followers of Luther, often persecuted them just as fiercely as they were persecuted by Catholics.

• Partially as a result of their persecution and deaths at the hands of the authorities, these groups were generally pacifists, refusing to harm others.

• Baptists also rejected the close cooperation which existed between church and state during this era.

• Anabaptists were very consciously cutting themselves off from the rest of society.

Sources Information:



THE CATHOLICS

Religion in Great Britain: there was one true religion and that it was the duty of the civil authorities to impose it, forcibly if necessary, in the interest of saving the souls of all citizens

• In the colonial period, a virulent anti-Catholicism reigned and the general hounding and harrying of Catholics was supported by legislation limiting their rights and freedom

• Legislation that barred Catholics from entering certain professions (such as Law), and measures had been enacted to make them incapable of inheriting or purchasing land.

• By 1718 the ballot had been denied to Catholics in Maryland, following the example of the other colonies.

• Parents could even be fined for sending children abroad to be educated as Catholics.

• Samuel Adams-1768: "I did verily believe, as I do still, that much more is to be dreaded from the growth of popery(Catholicism) in America, than from the Stamp Act, or any other acts destructive of civil rights."

• Puritans believed that the Church of England still remained too tainted with Catholic practices and beliefs.

• Puritans were principal contributors to a hatred of Catholicism in the American colonies.

• Georgia, the thirteenth colony, was brought into being in 1732 by a charter granted by King George II, its guarantee of religious freedom followed the fixed pattern: full religious freedom was promised to all future settlers of the colony “except papists,” that is Catholics.

• Rhode Island, famous for its supposed policy of religious toleration, inserted an anti-Catholic statute imposing civil restrictions on Catholics in the colony's first published code of laws in 1719.

• In 1692 Maryland's famous Religious Toleration Act officially ended, and the Maryland Assembly established the so-called Church of England as the official State religion supported by tax levies.

• In Maryland restrictions were imposed on Catholics for public worship, and priests could be prosecuted for saying Mass.

• New York state government issued orders for the arrest of all reputed “papists,” abolished the franchise for Catholics, and suspended all Catholic office-holders.

• The government after 1688 was so hostile to Catholics, noted Catholic historian John Ellis, "that it is doubtful if any remained in New York."

• This strong anti-Catholic prejudice persisted even into the federal period. When New York framed its constitution in 1777, it allowed toleration for all religions, but Catholics were denied full citizenship.

Source Information:





Team Members: ____________________________________ Date _____

Directions: Working in teams of two examine the posters over the colonial religions and fill in the blanks below.

The Puritans:

Give 2 examples of religious persecution:

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Give 2 examples of religious principles:

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

The Quakers:

Give 2 examples of religious persecution:

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Give 2 examples of religious principles:

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

The Baptists:

Give 2 examples of religious persecution:

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Give 2 examples of religious principles:

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

The Catholics:

Give 2 examples of religious persecution:

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Give 2 examples of religious principles:

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

................
................

In order to avoid copyright disputes, this page is only a partial summary.

Google Online Preview   Download