Religion was the key to the founding of a number of the colonies. Many were founded on the principal of religious liberty. The New England colonies were founded to provide a place for the Puritans to practice their religious beliefs. ... The Awakening began as a sense spread that people were lacking religious fervor.
In the early years of what later became the United States, Christian religious groups played an influential role in each of the British colonies, and most attempted to enforce strict religious observance through both colony governments and local town rules. Most attempted to enforce strict religious observance
