“And Gideon said unto them, I will not rule over you, neither shall my son rule over you: the LORD shall rule over you.” Judges 8:23
When the Pilgrims left England for Holland and then eventually the New World, they did so for religious freedom. They did not want kings to tell them WHO they could worship nor how.
As our nation is forming, many colonies are coming to be. Colonists are establishing towns and farming. They are providing for themselves and worshipping how they desire.
The British Crown was seeing all this and wanted to assert control over the colonists.
So, the Crown organized the Dominion of New England. The sole purpose of this dominion was to have centralized control over the colonies. Once again England was trying to control in the New World.
The colonists did not like this as they came to start a new life with freedoms they set up. The new governor, Edmund Andros, tried to set down legal and structural changes but the colonists were not having any of it.
As soon as King James II had vacated the throne, the colonists overthrew this new government.
However, one of the changes that stuck was the Church of England was now established in the colonies. The Puritans left England to get away from the centralized religion and now it had followed them to the New World.
Governor Andros was highly unpopular and seen as a threat so in 1689, he was overthrown and new authorities established. After this, the colonies reverted back to their previous forms of government (some not even using a charter).
Andros was not a kind ruler. He wanted to have total dominion over the people and did so by asserting his rule of law. He taxed them and told them they left all their rights behind when they left England.
The colonists, for their part, did not accept this logic and set about to overthrow him which we can see they did. Andros went home to England for a bit and the colonists got back to working to build their new country.
Fighting for freedom to live as you wish is our inherent right. God gave us free will. Everyone should be allowed to worship God as they believe God wants them, too.
I’m so grateful our forefathers had the godly insight to fight for my freedom to worship here in America.