Religion in the Thirteen Colonies played a central role in the social and political life of early America. The diversity of religious arrangements in the colonies shaped debates over liberty of conscience and influenced the development of the principle of separation of church and state after independence.
The colonies displayed a wide variety of religious practices. In most of New England there were established Congregational churches dating from the early Puritan migration that set the tone for the colonies. There were established Anglican churches in the Southern colonies such as Virginia, the Carolinas, and Georgia. Maryland initially offered toleration for Catholics [1] before establishing Anglicanism in 1692 after the Glorious Revolution in England. Colonies such as Pennsylvania, Delaware, New Jersey, and Rhode Island had no official church and promoted varying degrees of religious freedom.
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