England
When 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 also 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 become a society quite different from that in England. 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. During the mid-1600's England was a Christian dominated nation; the colonies, however, were mainly Puritans. When Sir Edmond Andros took over a Puritan church in Boston for Anglican worship, the Puritans believed this was done to break their power and
If fishing was not a settler's strong point, then they could try their hand at farming. Getting the land to farm on was the easy part. England was too preoccupied by the struggle between Parliament and Stuart Kings, to perfect effective imperial control over the colonies in America. The Puritan church in New England was almost entirely separated from the state, except that they taxed the residents for the church's support. These changes in religion, economics, politics, and social structure illustrate this Americanization of the transplanted Europeans. Through the years certain anomalies occurred, as colonial governments furthered themselves from the government of England. Unlike the well-defined social classes of England, the colonies had a streamline class structure, which gave individuals the chance to rise on the social latter. This would take money from the colonists and put it in the pockets of England. The colonies broadened the notion of liberty and self-government far beyond what England had ever envisioned. England could not do this because England so defined the social classes and they did not have enough land that they could give to every male and his indentured servant. 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 basically what mercantilism means. However, it did not work because the colonies figured out ways to make the raw materials on their ships into useable goods at the colonies themselves instead of at England. This show of religious freedom was a way in which the colonies had religious toleration and differed from the Christian church in England.
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