"Analyze the extent to which religious freedom existed in the British North American colonies prior to 1700.".
The different regions of the British North American colonies had a great impact on the extent of the religious freedom. The Southern Colonies, were the earliest colonies to be settled, but didn't strive for the religious haven the New England Colonies desired. The South based its settlement entirely on the economic gains available. In between both the Southern and New England Colonies lay the Middle Colonies, which were entirely a mixture of the two regions already settled upon. While immigrants played a huge role in the success of the nation as a whole, they were also the basis of many disputes due to the cultural diffusion that was present.
Jamestown, the first successful British Colony, had intentions far different from the various other settlers which came to the New World. With their goal of economically prospering, religion did not have that striking appeal, where as others found it to be one of the most important aspects of life. These English settlers had planned to stay for a short period of time, only coming with the desire to get rich quickly and soon after return to England, which they came from. Many of those that came to America in pursuit of such a profit were males of young ages. According to the British, it wasn't looked upon as necessary to have families travel to North America, if their proposal was to return to England shortly. With the discovery of new land and profitable cash crops, wealth was at the palm of their hands. The news of tobacco being a successful cash crop in 1617 led to the incoming of many more immigrants. With the introduction of tobacco, the slave trade was at stake. Many of those belonging to the landowning upper class were able to purchase slaves in an attempt to increase the production of tobacco on their plantations. Upon the arrival of these African Americans, culturally and ethnically the land had differed from what it was known to be before.