Jeff Scudder
AP US History
Summer Assignment
Essay #3 "How did religious disagreement in both Europe and North America lead to colonization?"

	One of the central reasons for the colonization in North America was religious disagreement in Europe and North America. In result, many Europeans wanted to get away from Europe and so they migrated to North America and eventually made Colonies. Several locations of colonies were made for this reason. Most of the religions people practiced in the colonies were less harsh forms of Catholicism in Europe. The Puritans were a good example of a modified catholic religion.
	After the death of Queen Elizabeth, King James 1 came to power, and unlike the previous queen, did not allow any religious tolerance. Many groups such as the Puritans faced prosecution if they did not follow all the rules of the Church of England. The Puritans had to move somewhere. Some went to the Netherlands and others to the West Indies, but most migrated to Massachusetts Bay and New England in a large migration of over twenty thousand people in less than two decades this is now known historically as the Great Migration. The Puritans moved because of religious disagreement in Europe.
	Religious dissenters known as the Pilgrims however; founded the first colony in New England. They wanted to establish their own independent church because they believed the one in England was too corrupt. One hundred and two people backed by the Virginia Company of England, set sail on the Mayflower in search of religious freedom in 1620. They arrived in current day Plymouth, Massachusetts, where they created the Mayflower Compact, which was a self-government for the colony.
	Through Indian relations and hard work, these colonies succeeded, but it also brought about the beginning of internal religious conflict. Thomas Hooker did not like the fact that only male members of the church could vote, so he took a group of followers south and founded Hartford, which later became Connecticut. Roger Williams from Salem, Massachusetts believed in religious tolerance and the separation of church and state, and he emigrated to Narragansett where he purchased Indian land and founded Providence, only later to be the capital of Rhode Island. Other people such as Samuel Gorton and his followers were banned from the Massachusetts Bay colony, so they moved to Narragansett to seek religious freedom. All the disagreements and migrations greatly increased the colonies of North America, especially in New England.
	Major colonization of North America began partly because of the religious disagreements going on in England. Once some people left, more and more followed and by 1670 the population in Massachusetts alone was over forty thousand. Colonization also spread out within New England due to disagreements and varying beliefs between groups of people. Because of this, Connecticut, and Rhode Island were founded, and this made an excellent foundation for the future growth of the thirteen colonies.