For example, the 1629 charter of Massachusetts declared:
Our said people be so religiously, peaceably, and civilly governed that their
good life and orderly conversation may win and incite the natives of that
country to the knowledge and obedience of the only true God and Savior of
mankind, and the Christian faith, which is the principal end of this plantation
colony. The 1632 charter issued by King Charles II to Lord Baltimore set forth
the goals for Maryland colony, noting that:
Our well beloved and right trusty subject Cæcilius
Calvert, Baron of Baltimore being animated with a laudable and pious zeal for
extending the Christian religion hath humbly besought leave of us that he may
transport a numerous colony of the English nation to a certain region having no
knowledge of the Divine Being. When Lord Baltimore and his group finally
arrived at the land designated by the charter, Father White, a member of the
expedition, reported: We celebrated the mass. This had never been done before
in this part of the world. After we had completed the sacrifice mass, we took
upon our shoulders a great cross which we had hewn out of a tree and advancing
in order to the appointed place. We erected a trophy to Christ the Savior.
In 1653, Quakers and other Christian groups began to
settle North Carolina; their 1662 charter explained that they were: Excited
with a laudable and pious zeal for the propagation of the Christian faith in
the parts of America not yet cultivated or planted, and only inhabited by
people who have no knowledge of Almighty God. The 1663 charter for Rhode Island
set forth the colonists’ intent: Pursuing with peace and loyal minds, their
sober, serious and religious intentions of Godly edifying themselves and one
another in the holy Christian faith, a most flourishing civil state may stand
and best be maintained with a full liberty in religious concernments.
The 1680-1681 charter for Pennsylvania declared: William
Penn out of a commendable desire to convert the savage natives by gentle and
just manners to the love of civil society and Christian religion, hath humbly
besought leave of us to transport an ample colony unto a certain country in the
parts of America not yet cultivated and planted. The charter of Connecticut,
and the early documents in New Hampshire, New Jersey, and other areas, was a
virtual restatement of the Christian goals reflected above. America’s First
Governments Originally, a charter provided adequate civil government for most
colonies. However, as population increased, so did the need for more elaborate
governments. It was this need which resulted in the “Fundamental Orders of
Connecticut” not only the first constitution written in the United States but
also the direct antecedent of our current federal Constitution.
