American Colonies :: American America History

American ColoniesWhen settlers from England came to America, they envisioned a Utopia, where they would have a say in what the government can and cannot do. Before they could live in such a society they would have to take many small steps to break the hold England had on them. The settlers of America had to end a monarchy and start their own, unique, form of government. They too had to find a way that they would have some kind of decision making power. The most important change that the colonies in America had to make was to suit a society quite different from that in England. By 1763 although some colonies still maintained established churches, other colonies had accomplished a virtual transformation for religious toleration and separation of church and state. During the mid-1600s England was a Christian dominated nation the colonies, however, were mainly Puritans. When Sir Edmond Andros took over a Puritan church in capital of Massachusetts for Anglican worship, the Puritans bel ieved this was done to break their power and authority. The Puritan church in New England was almost entirely separated from the state, except that they taxed the residents for the churchs support. The churches in New England had no temporal power, unlike the church of England. Many seaport towns like Marble head and Gloucester, became more religious as time pasted. This show of religious liberty was a way in which the colonies had religious toleration and differed from the Christian church in England. Unlike the well-defined social classes of England, the colonies had a streamline class structure, which gave individuals the pass off to rise on the social latter. New settlers living on the coast could become rich by fishing and selling what they caught. If fishing was not a settlers strong point, then they could try their hand at farming. Getting the land to farm on was the easy part. The head right system gave each male 50 acres, and 50 acres to each indentured servant he might b ring over. England could not do this because England so defined the social classes and they did not have large land that they could give to every male and his indentured servant. In a similar economic revolution, the colonies out grew their mercantile relationship with England and developed their own expanding capitalistic system. The idea of a set amount of wealth in the world and that if one were to become wealthy, he or she had to take from someone who is already wealthy, is essentially what mercantilism means.