Virtual Religious Revolution In The Colonies example essay topic

Between the settlement at Jamestown in 1607 and the Treaty of Paris in 1763, the most important change that occurred in the colonies was the emergence of a society quite different from that in England. Changes in religion, economics, politics and social structure illustrate this Americanization of the transplanted Europeans. England's colonies in the New World were becoming an increasingly independent country that started to handle things differently from its mother country. By 1763, although some colonies still maintained established churches, other colonies had accomplished a virtual revolution for religious toleration and separation of church and state. When the colonists first came over to America, they brought with them the ideas the English practiced, which were strict religious schedules and the presence of the Church in the government. However, after the Great Awakening, the colonies relaxed in their religious beliefs.

The people that were referred to as the "New Lights" and ideas such as the Halfway Covenant were major factors in this new religious revival. The Great Awakening served as a virtual religious revolution in the colonies that changed the way religion was looked upon. In a similar economic revolution, the colonies outgrew their mercantile relationship with the mother country and developed an expanding capitalist system of their own. England was a very industrialized country that expected their colonies to utilize their trading abilities to England's advantage. Since the colonies were not very industrialized, their economy relied on their plantations and trade with the Indians and other countries. England tried to control the colonies with laws and Navigation Acts, but finally the colonies rebelled against their mother country.

They became economically self-reliant, which started their capitalist system. The colonies headed towards capitalism and economic independence after an economic revolution with England. Building on English foundations of political liberty, the colonists extended the concepts of liberty and self-government far beyond those envisioned in the mother country. In England, the King and his subjects made the decisions for the country, because the people had no say in the government. However, in the colonies, the government was far more representative. Every town had the right to send delegates to the assembly, and this assembly watched and listened closely to the voters.

These examples of self-government were unimaginable in England. In contrast to the well-defined and hereditary classes of England, the colonies developed a fluid class structure which enabled the industrious individual to rise on the social ladder. An individual's social standing in England depended solely on his wealth and background. The colonies stressed that "mobility, not nobility, determined ranks".

If a colonist was hard working, then he could work his way up, which is an opportunity he would not get in England. The social structure in the colonies was based upon work ethics, as opposed to heredity. The colonies by 1763 were beginning to stray from their mother country, and develop their own society. They underwent changes religiously, economically, politically, and socially, which showed the evolution of a whole new and self-reliant country. This emergence of independence signified the start of a successful and powerful new country. The colonies were beginning to develop their own ideas of Americanization that differed from that of their mother country.