Faithful Bodies by Heather Miyao Kopelson

Kopelson, a professor at the University of Alabama, examines an issue of history that is often overlooked. She compares religious practices in three different American colonies, and how they shaped views on race and social class. Before I go further, I want to refer to the young adult classis “The Witch of Blackbird Pond.” Though a secondary source and a work of fiction, it illustrates a famous difference in colonial life; the carefree attitude of the West Indies versus the harsh practice of New England. It also illustrates the Puritans’ abuse of the Quakers. Anyone who has studied US history of the 17^th century will probably ask “why were the Puritans so afraid of the Quakers, when the Quakers were pacifists and unlikely to be a physical threat?

For starters, look at the portrayal of the relationship between Natives and the settlers, with regard to Christianity. The native tribes were encouraged to convert, often by force, while at the same time there was war. If the Protestant Anglo settlers, many of them Puritans, held the natives in low regard, why would they care if they became Christian? One possibility is that it was a way to pacify them and reduce their threat to the settlers, who encroached on the tribes’ lands. According to the author, the punishment for native-on-settler offenses were greater than if it were the other way around, so we know the relationship was unequal. So when the natives were pushed to convert, maybe it was a way to control them and keep them from gaining power.

Kopelson also discusses the way African slaves in Bermuda practiced Christianity and the way the white viewed it. There was no equivalent of King Philips War on the island, and less fear of slave rebellions in the 1700’s. This led to less paranoia about how the slaves (or freemen) worshipped. But there was still a paternalistic attitude towards their conversion to Christianity, and it was often used as a way to keep mixed-race children enslaved. White settlers would take in and raise mixed-race kids on the condition that they be raised Christian.

The economic dynamic of the New England colonies and the West Indian colonies was stark. You had the English planters in Bermuda with huge land grants from the King, using slave labor to grow sugar. In Massachusetts, in New England, however, you had cold weather, so there wouldn’t be any sugar plantations. Life was a bit tougher than the warm island of the Caribbean, and there was the constant threat of natives attacking you. The Puritans who settled the area were desperate to maintain absolute control, and no disagreement could be tolerated. This led to abuse of Quakers, whom the Puritans deemed rebellious and harsh punishments for “immoralities,” because the Puritans didn’t want anyone having too many rights.

Just because slavery was less common in the north, doesn’t mean there weren’t any human rights abuses. Things could be lousy up in the north as well as down in the south.