Article Review 3 Daniel Shyu September 7, 2011 Puritans and Religious Strife in the Early Chesapeake Kevin Butterfields

argument is that while the Puritans were a major part of the Virginia colony in the beginning, one man changed it all, Governor William Berkeley. At the beginning, the Puritans gained a large following in Virginia after the previous ministers did not take religion as seriously as the population wanted. So, the colony asked the Puritans to send down a couple of their ministers and soon Virginia was not completely dominated by the Anglican Church. However, even before the three Puritan ministers had gained a sizable following, there was already dissent in Virginia about the presence of Puritans settlers. At that time, Englands government was extremely pro-Anglican and so the laws in the New World reflected this view. Even in the 1640s, Puritanism was grower stronger in Virginia by the day. This all changed when William Berkeley was appointed as the governor of Virginia. He was stalwart supporter of King Charles I and therefore of the Church of England as well. Following the kings orders, Berkeley tried to eliminate all traces of Puritans in the colony of Virginia. As he purified the colony and maintain the established Church of England, Berkeley also managed to sway political power in his favor. Soon, most of the political leaders were taking the same stance and the effects of the English Civil War trickled into the colonies. The politics of the English Civil War swayed the political power away from the Anglican Church in England; however, this only quickened Berkeleys policies as he was still a staunch supporter of the King and so did not heed to the new laws of England. Eventually, the conflict became a local conflict in the parish at Elizabeth River which the Anglicans eventually won. Kevin Butterfield wrote this article fairly well. He

included many details and facts that supported his argument as well as explained everything in depth. He did a nice job describing the progression of the Puritans in the Virginia colony and how the views on religious tolerance changed step by step. He also brought up a few thought provoking questions that followed up his argument extremely well; one example was how the colony of Virginia wouldve been different if the Puritans were able to last in Virginia and convert the majority of the population without fear of persecution. However, one thing he couldve done better was develop how the last of the Puritans got pushed out of Virginia. Butterfield gave a lot of detail going up to the point where Berkeley is irrelevant but does not give any specific details afterwards.

Citation Butterfield, Kevin. Puritans and Religious Strife in the Early Chesapeake.The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography 109.1 (2001): 5-36. JSTOR. Web. 02 Sep. 2011.