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**Theme:** Colonies

**Free Response Question**: Analize the extent to which religious freedom exsisted in the British North American colonies prior to 1700 Introductory Paragraph Setting: By 1700, 12 of the 13 British North American colonies were established

Basis for Analysis: Religious freedom is the ability to believe desired religion legally and without persecution

Partitions: Different regions were settled for different reasons (mostly economic or social), this factor contributed to the amount of religious freedom.

Thesis: in the 1700s after almost all colonies had been settled in British America, the regional differences separated the practices of religious freedom and tolerance. **Partition 1:** New England Colonies **Partition 2:** Middle Colonies ** Partition 3: ** Southern Colonies General Information:  The permanent colonies were settled from 1607 to 1733 Virginia- John Smith Massachusetts- John Winthrop Maryland- George Calvert Connecticut- Thomas Hooker Rhode Island- Roger Williams Pennsylvania- William Penn
 * Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Connecticut, and Rhode Island
 * All settled for religious freedom from Church of England
 * Puritan- Based on the belief of predestination and separated from Church of England to be more “pure”
 * Massachusetts had virtually no tolerance of religion, strict puritan beliefs- “City on a hill”
 * New Hampshire and Connecticut were not very tolerant either, both puritan dominated
 * Rhode Island was one of the most tolerant because there was no established religion
 * New York, Delaware, and New Jersey were all settled for economic reasons- trade and profit
 * Maryland and Pennsylvania were settled for religious reasons, Maryland for Catholics (Church of England was Protestants) and Penn for Quakers
 * Pennsylvania was one of the most tolerant no established religion and home to many European immigrants
 * Maryland passed the Religious Toleration Act of 1649 which was written to bring more settlers (most of the newcomers were puritan- causing fighting)
 * Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina
 * All settled for trade and profit
 * Established religion was Anglican and there was not much variation with religion, not very religious colonies but not tolerant either