An Example Of An 'A' Paper - History 451
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4AN EXAMPLE OF AN "A" PAPER - History 451
This paper earned an A because it not only responds in a clear and organized way to the
assignment—discuss the limits Roger Williams, William Penn, and the Maryland Assembly may
have imposed on liberty of conscience—but also because it utilizes primary sources and develops
an original insight—that each author articulated a position on conscience that best suited them.
This argument takes the essay beyond what was required and represents the kind of original
thinking that I admire. There are some minor writing problems and some questionable
statements, as the marginal comments indicate, but the essay's intelligence overcomes these
slight defects, and, overall, it is well organized, clearly written, and cleverly argued.
The text retains the corrections I made on the original. Strikeouts indicate words or phrases to
be eliminated, boldface words or phrases that should be inserted, and
[bracketed text in red]
marginal comments (usually on the essay's contents). The final paragraph in courier new
type is the comment I appended to the original.
Compare the limits, if any, imposed by Roger Williams, William Penn, and the Maryland
Assembly (in the "Act Concerning Religious Toleration") on liberty of conscience.
The New England colonies of Rhode Island, Pennsylvania, and Maryland
[Pa. and Md.
are not in New England]
were founded with the express purpose of dispensing of with a state
church
[not exactly. Rhode Island was “put together.” Maryland did not have a single state
church, but the Calverts did not intend to dispense with state support of a
church]. In this they
deviated not only from the other British coloes in the New World but also from their Motherland
and indeed all the civilizations of western Christendom to date. Before the founding of Rhode
Island, Pennsylvania, and Maryland these three colonies, a state without an official state church
was inconceivable. As the Church of England evolved in Britain, the other British colonies in
North America adopted either Congregationalism, Anglicanism, or Presbyterianism
[never a state
church in the colonies]
as their own “state church.” The idea of a state without a state church was
unprecedented (Cohen 9/30).
In place of the usual state church, Rhode Island, Pennsylvania, and Maryland adopted a
new concept: “liberty of conscience.” Here, “liberty” is synonymous with “freedom.” By
“conscience” our forefathers meant one's personal religious persuasion and its duties, as Roger
Williams explained to Governor John Endicott: “... I speake of Conscience, a perswasion fixed in
the minde and heart of a man, which inforceth him to judge (as Paul said of himself a
persecutour) and to doe so and so, with respect to God, his worship, etc.” (Williams 340) To the
first citizens of Rhode Island, Pennsylvania, and Maryland, civil “freedom of conscience” was
the ability to live freely as a member of one's religion-that is, to perform such religious exercises
as their faith required without fear of prosecution by the state.
[good]
“Freedom to be ruled by
God” is how historian Timothy D. Hall describes Roger Williams's concept of religious liberty
(11), whereas William Penn explained “liberty of conscience” as “the free and uninterrupted
exercise of
our conscience in that way of worship we are most clearly persuaded God requires us to serve
Him in” (Penn 67).
In each of these three colonies, liberty of conscience took the form of what liberty best
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