ABSTRACT
It is well-known that much of colonial America was settled by members of dissenting religious groups seeking relief from the intolerance of their home governments in Europe. The relationship between religion and the different colonial governments varied significantly, as did the relationships among the different religious groups. There was also a wide range of attitudes toward religious tolerance in the original thirteen colonies at different times; consequently, the background for individual colonies must cover a substantial span of history to account for the changes that took place over time. In many ways, the colony of Georgia was similar to the other Southern colonies of North and South Carolina and Virginia; in other aspects, it was very different. Along the spectrum of attitudes toward religious tolerance to be found in the colonies, Connecticut and Massachusetts were generally the most religiously homogenous and the most intolerant of dissenters.
