Social
The settlers
The settlers in the middle colonies all have very diverse religions since the colonies accept and tolerate different religions and pride themselves on their religious freedom. Some, of the many, religions that occupy the area are Quakers, Catholics, Lutherans, Jews, Mennonites, Dutch Calvinists, Presbyterians, etc. The people of the Middle colonies came to America to spread their beliefs to the British colonists here. The first well known Quakers in North America , as a mater of fact, were missionaries. However, the bulk of the reason as to why so many people come to the Middle Colonies is to escape the religious persecution that they experience in Britain as there is a lot of civil unrest in Europe. Contrary, in the Middle Colonies, we welcome different religions with open arms and promise to never segregate or persecute religions.
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RAce and EthnicityIn the middle colonies, due to the various races/ ethnicities inhabited in the area, there was not a dominance of one faith. Therefore, as no one faith is “dominant” over another, no one could claim they are superior. Due to this, the race one was does not subject himself/herself to less or more opportunities .This in itself opened the doors to many great opportunities and experiences that one would not encounter in areas with no religious toleration, like the New England Colonies. Therefore, race & ethnicity impacts relationships and experiences as one is not judged based off of the religion they follow and it truly does validate that America is the "land of opportunities."
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religious toleranceThe degree of religious tolerance is exceptional in the middle colonies. At first, there were some misunderstandings between the various religions that coexisted within a region. Overtime, these mixing of beliefs blurred the religious differences and paved the way for a greater acceptance of the religious differences. We view it as a trade-off: For us to practice our beliefs without being ill-treated, we will also have to give the same right to others, particularly to those whose beliefs are different from our own.
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the social ladder
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