Changes

====Migration to America====

====Migration to America====

Starting in 1656 the Quaker missionaries arrived in the [[Massachusetts Bay Colony]], a Puritan controlled colony which took a hard line against dissenting views.  The authorities seized the new arrivals immediately, imprisoned them, burnt their literature, and expelled them from the colony.  Laws were also passed fining ship captains who brought Friends to the colony, as well as people who defended the Friends or owned Quaker literature; the colonial leadership was more concerned with the Quaker beliefs they considered seditious, rather than their religious dissent.<ref>Barbour and Frost (1988)  p.51</ref>  The missionaries were undaunted, however, and began sneaking into the colony, disregarding the persecution handed down to them.  In an effort to maintain control, the colonial government enacted the death penalty for any Quaker who had been expelled from the colony three times; in August of 1659 Quaker missionaries William Robinson, John Stephenson, and Mary Dyer defied the law and were executed in Boston. In 1661 the General Assembly passed a "Cart and Whip" bill, which led to arresting Friends and transporting them to [[Rhode Island]] while whipping them in each town they passed through.

Starting in 1656 the Quaker missionaries arrived in the [[Massachusetts Bay Colony]], a Puritan controlled colony which took a hard line against dissenting views.  The authorities seized the new arrivals immediately, imprisoned them, burnt their literature, and expelled them from the colony.  Laws were also passed fining ship captains who brought Friends to the colony, as well as people who defended the Friends or owned Quaker literature; the colonial leadership was more concerned with the Quaker beliefs they considered seditious, rather than their religious dissent.<ref>Barbour and Frost (1988)  p.51</ref>  The missionaries were undaunted, however, and began sneaking into the colony, disregarding the persecution handed down to them.  In an effort to maintain control, the colonial government enacted the death penalty for any Quaker who had been expelled from the colony three times; in August 1659 Quaker missionaries William Robinson, John Stephenson, and Mary Dyer defied the law and were executed in Boston. In 1661 the General Assembly passed a "Cart and Whip" bill, which led to arresting Friends and transporting them to [[Rhode Island]] while whipping them in each town they passed through.

The Quakers found Rhode Island to be much more welcoming, as it was a colony founded by the Massachusetts religious exiles [[Roger Williams]] and [[Anne Hutchinson]].  There was a high rate of conversion in the colony, for Williams and Hutchinson did not try to organize their own church.<ref>Barbour and Frost (1988) p.53</ref>  By the 1670s the Quakers emerged as the dominant political and religious faction in the colony. Quakers for a while controlled West Jersey, where they created landed estates.<ref>It was a separate colony that later merged with East Jersey to form New Jersey.</ref> They established prosperous farming settlements in Virginia and North Carolina.

The Quakers found Rhode Island to be much more welcoming, as it was a colony founded by the Massachusetts religious exiles [[Roger Williams]] and [[Anne Hutchinson]].  There was a high rate of conversion in the colony, for Williams and Hutchinson did not try to organize their own church.<ref>Barbour and Frost (1988) p.53</ref>  By the 1670s the Quakers emerged as the dominant political and religious faction in the colony. Quakers for a while controlled West Jersey, where they created landed estates.<ref>It was a separate colony that later merged with East Jersey to form New Jersey.</ref> They established prosperous farming settlements in Virginia and North Carolina.