The role of the Church had to do with both England and Spain’s settlement history, with the Spanish trying to win souls for the pope in Rome and defend Catholicism, whereas the English believed that they had to free the native peoples from the tyranny of Spain and Rome. Foner writes, “England expressed its imperial ambitions in terms of an obligation to liberate the new world from the tyranny of the pope.” Also England had no desire to conquer the indigenous people, they just wanted to displace them to get to their land, as opposed to the Spaniards who wished to intermarry, organize their labor, and make them subjects of the Spanish crown. However, while the English were not conquerors, they did displace more of the Native American population than that of any other empire.
For the English, land was the basis of liberty. Explain the reasoning behind the concept and how it was markedly different from the Indians conception of land.
The concept is quite simple, land gave individuals power. The owning of land allowed men the …show more content…
Further, they policed their own actions heavily holding that idleness and immoral behavior were signs of evil. Foner writes, “All Puritans shared many of the beliefs of the Church of England and the society as a whole, including a hatred for Catholicism and a pride in England’s greatness as a champion of liberty. But they believed that neither the Church nor the nation was living up to its ideals” if they shared such a burning hatred for the Church of England and Catholicism then one can only imagine how intolerant they would be towards the