Why was the Protestant Reformation movement created religious rivalries in Europe that carried over into exploration of the Americas?

Answer 1

The Protestant Reformation in Europe occurred a few years before the exploration of the New World. When Columbus returned to Spain from the West Indies telling King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella that he had discovered "India", (which after returning from a second voyage he corrected himself) it started a race to claim parts of this New World. In 1620 a group known as the Pilgrims arrived in the Massechusetts Bay area at Plymouth and set up a colony based around the Church of England, which is a branch of Protestant Christianity. Of the many groups that attempted to settle the New World, one group in particular stand out: the Huguenots (non-Catholic frenchmen), was lead by the French explorer Jean Ribault to a place in present day Virginia. The Huguenots then spread out across the eastern coast of North America. In 1649 the colony of Maryland gathered its leaders, all of whom were Catholic, and discussed their fears of religious persecution by the Huguenots and set up the Act of Toleration which allowed freedom to practice one's own religion.

Meanwhile, in Carolina, there was a group of colonists known as the "Goose Creek Men" because most of the early colonists settled in the Goose Creek Area. Most members of this group were Anglican. Some of their leaders were James Moore, Sr., William Rhett, and Cheif Justice Nicholas Trott. The Goose Creek Men wanted to avoid having to pay quitrent, tax on land,and to continue to trade with the Indians. They particularly wanted to keep the newer colonists-the Dissentes- from gaining power in the colony. The Huguenots entered the colony around 1680 and sided with the Anglicans. The Dissenters disenfranchised so that the Dissenters would have more power. In 1695 Governor John Archdale agreed to the request and the Huguenots lost their voting rights. Two years later the Goose Creek Men passed a law granting the Huguenots citizenship which returned their voting rights. The Huguenots then sided with the Goose Creek Men, giving the Anit- Proprietary party greater power. This later lead to the Dissenters losing power.

In 1704, Governor Nathaniel Johnson called an emergency meeting of the Commons House of Assembly. The meeting commenced before the Dissenters from Colleton County could get there. The Anglican members voted to bar all Dissenters from holding office. Through the Church Act of 1704, they also established the Anglican Church as the official church of the colony. This meant that all tax money (including that which was paid by the Dissenters) would be used to fund the Anglican Church's ministers and churches. This ended religious equality among the settlers.

The Dissenters looked to England to overturn the laws. The English House of Lords declinded the Church Act, calling it "repugnant to the law of England". This did not end the religious disagreement however. In 1706, the Assembly passed yet another Church Act that again established the Anglican Church, but this time it gained very few priviledges. Through the Church Act of 1706, the Dissenters also regained the right to hold office and worship freely. This restored Carolina's religious equalityand divided the colony into ten parishes. When Church Act of 1706 ended most of the tensions between the Protestants and the Catholics, it ended a conflict that had been pulled from Europe, halfway around the world, to the Americas. This was how the rivalries in Europe carried over into the exploration of the New World.