As we see our small nation forming, we can see that many colonist loved and believed in God.
In 1643, the New England Confederation was formed with the purpose of uniting the Puritans in the colonies. Their desire was to separate from the Dutch colonists . They supported the Congregational Church.
Their charter provided for the return of fugitive criminals and indentured servants. It also served as a forum for resolving inter-colonial disputes. Though this was a good goal, in the end very little of it came to be.
Some 200 years later, John Quincy Adams wrote this of the new confederation.
“The New England confederacy was destined to a life of less than forty years’ duration. Its history, like that of other confederacies, presents a record of incessant discord–of encroachments by the most powerful party upon the weaker members, and of disregard, by all the separate members, of the conclusions adopted by the whole body. Still the main purpose of the union was accomplished.”
Why did this new confederation last such a little time?
The new confederation was made up of the colonies of Massachusetts Bay, Plymouth, Saybrook (Connecticut) and New Haven.
While their goals were good; keeping the Puritan ways, protecting the colonists, and not starting wars; the confederation just couldn’t agree on many finer points. Men and their laws only could do so much before the arguments began and the confederation broke apart.
America was struggling to become a nation and had many years yet until it officially was united. This was a big undertaking as the new world still had much to be discovered.
Men having their own thoughts, ideas, ways of living was why they left England in the first place, but they were finding out that they still were determined (some) to push their ideas above all others. Unity was still around the corner as the people struggled not only to make a life in the New World but to agree on a form of government.