what religious groups lived in the new england colonies
New England Colonies A larger group of Puritans arrived in 1630, leaving England because they desired to worship in a manner that differed from the Church of England. Their views were in accord with those of the Pilgrims who arrived on the Mayflower, except that the Pilgrims were "separatists" who felt that they needed to separate themselves from the Church of England, whereas the later Puritans were content to remain under the umbrella of the Church of England. The separate colonies were governed independently of one other until 1691, when Plymouth Colony was absorbed into the Massachusetts Bay Colony to form the Province of Massachusetts Bay.
Massachusetts Bay Colony For the next ten years, there was a steady exodus of Puritans from England, with about 20,000 people emigrating to Massachusetts and the neighboring colonies during the Great Migration.[31] Many ministers reacted to the repressive religious policies of England, making the trip with their congregations, among whom were John Cotton, Roger Williams, Thomas Hooker, and others. Religious divisions and the need for additional land prompted a number of new settlements that resulted in Connecticut Colony (by Hooker) and the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations (by Williams and others). Minister John Wheelwright was banished in the wake of the Antinomian Controversy (like Anne Hutchinson), and he moved north to found Exeter, New Hampshire.
Church of England While embracing some themes of the Protestant Reformation, the Church of England also maintains Catholic traditions of the ancient church and teachings of the Church Fathers, unless these are considered contrary to scripture. It accepts the decisions of the first four ecumenical councils concerning the Trinity and the Incarnation. The Church of England also preserves Catholic Order by adhering to episcopal polity, with ordained orders of bishops, priests and deacons. There are differences of opinion within the Church of England over the necessity of episcopacy. Some consider it essential, while others feel it is needed for the proper ordering of the church.[30] In sum these express the 'Via Media' viewpoint that the first five centuries of doctrinal development and church order as approved as acceptable be a kind of yardstick by which to gauge authentic catholicity, as minimum and sufficient; Anglicanism did not emerge as the result of charismatic leaders with particular doctrines. It is light on details compared to Roman Catholic, Reformed and Lutheran teachings. The Bible, the Creeds, Apostolic Order, and the administration of the Sacraments are sufficient to establish Catholicity. Indeed, not one major doctrinal development emerged from the English reformation, Diarmid MacCulloch, The Later Reformation in England, 1990, p. 55. The Reformation in England was initially much concerned about doctrine but the Elizabethan Settlement tried to put a stop to doctrinal contentions. The proponents of further changes, nonetheless, tried to get their way by making changes in Church Order (abolition of bishops), governance (Canon Law) and liturgy ('too Catholic'). They did not succeed because the Monarchy, the Church and resisted and the majority of the population were indifferent. Moreover, "despite all the assumptions of the Reformation founders of that Church, it had retained a catholic character." The Elizabethan Settlement had created a cuckoo in a nest..." a Protestant theology and program within a largely pre-Reformation Catholic structure whose continuing life would arouse a theological interest in the Catholicism that had created it; and would result in the rejection of predestinarian theology in favor of sacraments, especially the eucharist, ceremonial, and anti-Calvinist doctrine" (ibid pp. 78–86). The existence of cathedrals "without substantial alteration" and "where the "old devotional world cast its longest shadow for the future of the ethos that would become Anglicanism," p. 79. This is "One of the great mysteries of the English Reformation," ibid that there was no complete break with the past but a muddle that was per force turned into a virtue. The story of the English Reformation is the tale of retreat from the Protestant advance of 1550 which could not proceed further in the face of the opposition of the institution which was rooted in the medieval past, ibid. p. 142 and the adamant opposition of Queen Elizabeth I.
History of the Puritans in North America In the early 17th century, thousands of English Puritans settled in North America, mainly in New England. Puritans were generally members of the Church of England who believed that the Church of England was insufficiently reformed, retaining too much of its Roman Catholic doctrinal roots, and who therefore opposed royal ecclesiastical policy under Elizabeth I of England, James I of England, and Charles I of England. Most Puritans were "non-separating Puritans", meaning that they did not advocate setting up separate congregations distinct from the Church of England; a small minority of Puritans were "separating Puritans" who advocated setting up congregations outside the Church. The Pilgrims were a Separatist group, and they established the Plymouth Colony in 1620. Non-separating Puritans played leading roles in establishing the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1629, the Saybrook Colony in 1635, the Connecticut Colony in 1636, and the New Haven Colony in 1638. The Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations was established by settlers expelled from the Massachusetts Bay Colony because of their unorthodox religious opinions. Puritans were also active in New Hampshire before it became a crown colony in 1691.