...in these two regions played a huge role in shaping these developments. The unique societies in both New England and the Chesapeake region would influence how they functioned in future conflicts, such as the unavoidable conflict with Great Britain.
After missing their destination in Virginia after sixty-five days of sailing, a group of English Separatists landed off the coast of New England and founded the first of many Puritan colonies. The first colonies of New England were founded as religious havens exclusively for Puritans fleeing persecution in England. The New England colonies based their culture and laws on Puritan values. They justified things such as taking land from natives and massacring the Pequot Indians because they believed that it applied to passages in the Bible that stated: "Whosoever therefore resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God: and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation." The New England colonies also used the Bible to preserve their social structures. Only the "visible saints" in the communities could be church members and be able to enforce God's laws in the colonies. Religious problems in New England began when people started rebelling against Puritan authority. Quakers were harshly persecuted in New England with floggings and banishment. Anne Hutchinson went against Puritan beliefs claiming if their predestination was unknown than "the truly saved need not bother to obey the law of either God or man." Rodger Williams was an extreme Separatist and considered dangerous to the Puritan orthodoxy by trying to convince Puritan leaders to break all ties with the Church of England. Both Hutchinson and Williams were banished from the Massachusetts Bay Colony and fled to Rhode Island, the most liberal and inclusive of the New England colonies that was considered "the sewer of New England". A union of New...
