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Posted on 07/07/2012 7:46:27 PM PDT by Salvation
Adding to the history of Catholicims in early America.
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Basically it means no antagonism.
Just to the north, William Penn’s “holy experiment” of toleration combined with disestablishment placed all faiths on an equal footing, to the relief of some and to the chagrin of others.
Yes, I think that was mentioned in the thread that refers to the United States of America in the title.
Also has all the missions founded by Father Junipero Serra in California.
PS. Don’t tell them that their cities in California have Catholic names. LOL!
That's where the Roman Catholic King of North America (and a bunch of other stuff) divided the continent among various parties for settlement.
He, not the English, set aside a rather drought ridden, desolate, almost abandoned piece of territory called Virginia, to Protestants!
Catholics got the rest of the place ~ at the time he carved out Acadia for Scotland he had hopes for a Catholic King.
Even today it's not exactly clear how the English came to think of Virginia as THEIRS ~ so you'll have to read a lot more of that treaty.
BTW, the TREATY was crammed down the other powers throats. It was called Treaty of London since that is where the King of Spain thought a good place to meet to decide such matters ~ there were cartographers, expert explorers, etc.
The King of Spain specifically prohibited the Dutch from benefitting from all of this and set rules of reciprocal religious toleration for both Catholics and Protestants.
ANYWAY, history always marches on so by 1624, just before the blow up known as the Thirty Years War, there was a Protestant Dutch colony at New York, a Catholic Dutch colony at New Jersey (which seems to have started out long before the Spanish evacuated the region). The English had several settlements in diverse place. By 1638 there was also a Swedish colony in SE PA and Central Maryland.(relocated from Delaware)
All through the period of early settlement ~ for about a century and a half, King Philippe III's rules prevailed in both Catholic and Protestant territories in the Americas. IN Europe the final settlement of the 30 years war led to a different sort of toleration. But, America was huge, wild and wonderful so much of this really didn't matter.
To a degree the Spanish decree that all of North America be Catholic except that part set aside for Virginia prevailed right down to the very end when their own colonies sought independence. Still, when Mexico succeeded Spain, they kept that rule on Texas ~ you had to be Catholic to live in Texas ~ else you had the 3 month visitation rule.
Now, think of the problem the English, Swedish, Dutch and others had with the situation in America. The whole place was Catholic except a very small part reserved for them by the King of Spain. Worse, they held it under the stipulations established by the king ~ and that included a period of reciprocity due Catholic merchants, etc. Anyone else was excluded according to the rule set by the KIng of Spain.
Which means that the English, et al, probably didn't think all that much about it! Nor did the Catholics consider it all that terribly important either. They were free to go to zones set aside by the kIng of spain ~ e.g. to Canada, to Acadia, to New Spain ~ ...... ~ it's all in that Treaty the King of Spain imposed on America when he carved it up to facilitate development.
Still, PA still required that you be a member of a Quaker congregation to run for elective office ~ hence that obscure phrase in the US Constitution about “no religious test’ ~ that is aimed directly at PA and no other place.
bump
** Roman Catholic King of North America **
I’ve never heard of that term before. Source, please.
who pray tell is this “Roman Catholic King of North America”?
That really only lasted until the German immigration began in earnest in the 1740’s.
Tensions rose between Quaker Philadelphia and the rest of the colony which have never really resolved.
There were actual boundary markers placed on the mountains and in other places. As late as 1618 the Spanish were still at work drawing the Acadia line ~ see reports on a place called Spanish Hill PA ~
That Acadia line is very important because most of what we call Massachusetts was part of Acadia, but the future Plymouth Plantation was South of the line.
Thanks to war, subtrefuge, money ~ etc. England was able to extend its range of settlement North of the Acadia line and South of the North Carolina line.
America, in its entirity, was a Catholic Colony of Spain for well over a century. Then a small enclave was carved out for Protestants. Although Philippe III didn't become less Catholic, he became more realistic than his father ~ and thought Peace worth more than controlling how Protestants said their prayers ~ in fact, he had more than the Dutch to worry about since the Hapsburg empire encompassed more than few Protestant areas.
I think the two things Catholics should beware of is discounting the influence of Catholicism in the settlement of America. And, in discounting the influence of Protestant theories of religious tolerance in making it possible for Catholics to live inside the King of Spain's Protestant zone of control.
Today religious tolerance is expected throughout the Americas ~ it existed in only one small place in 1604.
The Shenandoah Valley in Virginia was opened up for settlement by disquieted Germans from Pennsylvania
He was actually quite popular in a strange sort of way, and certainly well respected.
For a period he was King of England.
His son, however, sought to eliminate disputes and carved up North America among his favorites, and others.
The Protestant Reformation in Spain was stopped in its tracks when The King of Spain allowed ALL the priestly orders to conduct missions in the Americas. In Spain you had all the noble families (Which was where the priests came from) leading the Protestant Reformation ~
Bump for Sunday reading!
Ingle, with one ship and his men, completely took over the government of the Palatinate Of Maryland for over a year. He confiscated property and assets from numerous wealthy Royalist Catholic settlers in order to pay for the loss of his ship and its cargo. He captured two Jesuit priests and took them in chains back to London.
Just a little semi-obscure Maryland history for you. My paternal line came to Maryland in the mid-1600's. I know the history quite well. Mr. ingle's attack was not the only one, there was also something of an inter-colonial war with Rhode Island, again going back to Royalist and Parliamentarian strife. In many ways, the English Civil War was played out upon these shores as well.
To paint the conflicts of the era as strictly religious in nature may play well to modern ears, but it is not entirely accurate. It was political through and through. That the two sides were Catholic and Protestant was secondary.
Furthermore, there would never have even been a Palatinate of Maryland without the sympathies of a Protestant. Perhaps he merely wanted them out of England as some cynics have claimed, or perhaps this was a budding sign of the religious tolerance and freedom of religion to come, upon which this nation was founded.
It's also entirely possible that both were true.
Freep-mail me to get on or off my pro-life and Catholic List:
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Very interesting. Thank you for posting it.
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