Puritans founded Massachusetts Bay 1630, church‑state voting

They had a charter from the Massachusetts Bay Company to settle land in New England. The Puritans founded the Massachusetts Bay Colony north of the Plymouth Colony that had been established by the Pilgrims ten years earlier.

They wanted to implement strict discipline and conformance to Christian moral codes across all aspects of society, including government, education, and the justice system. Massachusetts would be their “city upon a hill” – a model Puritan ...

The concept of civil rights or ... could not vote. Also, in Massachusetts and Plymouth, men had to be a church member before they were allowed to cast their ballot....

As European powers competed to colonize the Americas, the foundations of what would become the United States began to take shape. This unit explores the varied goals and strategies of French, Dutch, and English colonizers, the development of colonial regions, the rise of slavery, and the emergence ...

It was successful, with about 20,000 ... in the 1630s. The population was Puritan and was governed largely by a small group of leaders strongly influenced by Puritan teachings. It was the first slave-holding colony in New England, and its governors were elected by an electorate limited to freemen who had been formally admitted to the local church...

The Puritans allowed this because they needed a wide variety of people and skills for their colony to succeed. But there was not too much room for religious disagreement in the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Puritans' faith was very strong and they spoke about it with fury.

The Puritans in · Massachusetts Bay · believed in a · separation of church · and state, but not · a separation of the · state from God. restricting future freemanship and · the right to vote only to Congrega- tional Church members in order to · guarantee a “godly” government.

While it’s true that the first generation of Massachusetts men were required in 1631 to be full church members in order to vote or hold political office, that requirement was modified in 1658 and permanently retired in by 1664.

In their new home, the Puritans ... example, John Cotton, a leading Massachusetts cleric, implemented a law that no man could vote unless he was both a Puritan church member and a property owner (non-Puritans were dispossessed of their private property)....