AbstractsEducation Research & Administration

New England and French Canada are adjacent communities on the Atlantic seaboard of the North American continent. Both are quite old, dating respectively from 1608 and 1620. Both were founded at about the same time through for obviously different reasons. Both represent the earliest movements of population westward from Europe to North America, precursors of the vast migrations which were to follow in the years afterward. Both represent organized settlements of people, each in its own way, fairly homogeneous in outlook; hardy stock; pioneers. There are some outstanding differences between these two settlements. The newcomers to French Canada were French Roman Catholics, peasant farmers, while those who came to New England were middle class English Protestants, Puritans, preceded by a small band of Separatists or Pilgrims who were farmers, artisans, and laborers. France under the influence of the Church saw to it that priests were sent out with colonizing expeditions. United Catholicism could be seen from the beginning in New France. It was planned that way. No story of New France could fail to bring out the importance of the priests and missionaries in those early years of struggle. The peasants looked to the heroic leadership of their cures. The Separatists and Puritans left England to come to a community where they might worship as they wished. Initiative and independence in worship marked the beginning of the New England colonies. [...]