Before 1700, the British North American colonies had opposing views on the degree of religious freedom in the new world. There was not one colonial society but three regional orders, New England, the Middle Colonies, and the South, unified by the different acts of the British Empire and by the English origin of most of the settlers. New England was mostly comprised of the Puritans, the mid-Atlantic Colonies consisted of the Quakers, and the South was not all about religion, but more for using the land to make money. Religious freedom is being able to believe in anything you would like, and not be persecuted for those values by the people around you. Although there was, to some extent, religious tolerance in the colonies, it was not always shown by those whom promised it.
             The area of New England consisted of the colonies of Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, and Connecticut. Between 1620 and 1640, the English Puritans settled this area as their utopian city, after being persecuted by English state leaders and the Anglican Church. The Puritans believed that God singled out very few people for Salvation, and not every one was a member of the Congregational Church. To become a member of the church, one must prove to other church members that he or she had experienced a religious conversion or had been saved. The people that had been saved were known as "the elect," or the " visible saints." Being a visible saint meant that the person was a full church member. One of the influential English Puritans was Roger Williams, the founder of Rhode Island, and a member of the party that opposed clerical organization of the established church. After several incidents with the colonial government, Williams settled in Salem as a teacher in 1634. Williams then challenged the validity of the Massachusetts Bay Charter that gave colonists the right to settle Native American lands without purchasing it. In 1635,...