The Protestant Reformation was a movement to get rid of the church of medieval abuses and to restore the belief and practices that the reformers believed conformed with the Bible. The movement ulitmately led to the freedom from dissent. The Reformation, in effect, split Europe into two ideological camps. This allowed new ideas to develop and have a chance to become widespread and practiced in the new world. .
During James's reign, some Separatists moved to calvinist Holland, and a few of these led the founding of Plymouth Plantation in new england seperating themselves fromt he corrupt state church. Half of the members of the Mayflower were made up of Separatist Puritans who had withdrawn from the chruch of england. They fled to the netherlands to practice their relgion freely. Besides wanting to becoming extremely wealthy, one of Christopher Columbus' dreams were to carry Christainity around the globe and liberating Jerusalem from Muslin rule. In the mid 1500s the spanish expedition ventured into the North American continent and the missionary priests converted native americans into Christianity to any native americans they encountered. There were also religious battles that occured in north america trying to impose it with its own religious beliefs. Eventually Protestant English def. catholic rivals and won most of north america leading to anti - catholicism taking root in american soil. A Christian witness to the native Americans was one of the reasons for establishing Jamestown.
The effect of the Protestant Reformation was great influence of religion to the new world. Most importantly, it gave a chance to those who wanted to practice their own belief in religion. .