What Was the Religion of the People Who Lived in Colonial New Hampshire?
Puritanism was the primary religion of colonial New Hampshire. The Puritan Church eventually gave way to the Congregationalist Church, which is a combination of Puritanism beliefs with Protestant, Quaker and Baptist denominations.
Outside of colonial Rhode Island, Puritanism was the dominant religion for all New England colonists. Puritans led strict religious lives, and dissenters were treated harshly. In 1689, the English Parliament passed The Tolerant Act, which stopped corporal punishment for dissenters, such as cropping the ears of Quakers or publicly whipping Baptists. This act freed other religions to establish churches in Puritan colonies without punishment. Puritanism and Congregationalism remained the predominant religion until the Great Awakening ignited the Protestant movement in the mid-18th century.
