How Did John Calvin Influence The Massachusetts Bay Colony

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John Calvin’s teachings otherwise known as Calvinism were introduced to England just as the country was breaking away from the Roman Catholic Church, and with its definite order and spiritual comfort to the poor it became a popular religious ideal for the people of England to turn to. When the Church of England allowed anyone to attend church not just the visible saint (a Calvinistic idea of a person who felt the holiness around them and lived a life displaying it to other Puritans), the extreme followers of Calvinism were disgusted that they had to share a church with the unholy and agreed to break away from the Church of England.
King James I both in charge of both the church and the government, therefore he opposed the Separatists because …show more content…
They also had strong leaders who guided them through the hard times.
The moderate Puritans found support in the English parliament, however; Charles I dismissed Parliament in 1629. These Puritans now feared for their faith, therefore they got a charter to establish the Massachusetts Bay Company and came to America.
The Massachusetts Bay Colony was not very democratic because only adult Puritan males were allowed to have a say in government which was only two-fifths of the colony’s population. Town governments only allowed male Puritan landowners to have a say in government. As in terms of the provincial government, Governor John Winthrop distrusted the commoners and feared democracy.
Nonbelievers living in the colony had to pay taxes to the government supported Puritan church just like the Puritans. Quakers, however, were fined, flogged, and sometimes banished from the colony all together in extreme cases some are even hanged in Boston …show more content…
American law is based on British law as well. Connecticut attracted a mixture of Dutch and English settlers due to the high fertility by the Connecticut River and was settled by a group of Boston Puritans. Maine attracted fishermen and fur traders, however after many years of trying to colonize in the region it was absorbed into the Massachusetts colony in 1677, it was a part of Massachusetts for around one hundred and fifty years. New Hampshire also attracted fishermen and fur traders as well, it became a part of the Bay colony in 1641, but the King of England separated the two colonies in 1679 and made Massachusetts a royal colony.
The rise of the Puritan population in New England pushing inland onto the Native American’s land causing hostilities to arise between them. This caused the Pequot war which almost completely eliminated the Pequot tribe, and lead to mistrust between the
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