<P> The numbers grew rapidly through a very high birth rate and low mortality rate, reaching nearly four million by the 1860 census . From 1770 until 1860, the rate of natural growth of North American slaves was much greater than for the population of any nation in Europe, and was nearly twice as rapid as that in England . </P> <P> Protestantism was the predominant religious affiliation in the Thirteen Colonies, although there were also Catholics, Jews, and deists, and a large fraction had no religious connection . The Church of England was officially established in most of the South . The Puritan movement became the Congregational church, and it was the established religious affiliation in Massachusetts and Connecticut into the 18th century . In practice, this meant that tax revenues were allocated to church expenses . The Anglican parishes in the South were under the control of local vestries and had public functions such as repair of the roads and relief of the poor . </P> <P> The colonies were religiously diverse, with different Protestant denominations brought by British, German, Dutch, and other immigrants . The Reformed tradition was the foundation for Presbyterian, Congregationalist, and Continental Reformed denominations . French Huguenots set up their own Reformed congregations . The Dutch Reformed Church was strong among Dutch Americans in New York and New Jersey, while Lutheranism was prevalent among German immigrants . Germans also brought diverse forms of Anabaptism, especially the Mennonite variety . Reformed Baptist preacher Roger Williams founded Providence Plantations which became the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations . Jews were clustered in a few port cities . The Baltimore family founded Maryland and brought in fellow Catholics from England . Catholics were estimated at 1.6% of the population or 40,000 in 1775 . Of the 200 - 250,000 Irish who came to the Colonies between 1701 and 1775 less than 20,000 were Catholic, many of whom hid their faith or lapsed because of prejudice and discrimination . Between 1770 - 1775 3,900 Irish Catholics arrived out of almost 45,000 white immigrants (7,000 English, 15,000 Scots, 13,200 Scots - Irish, 5,200 Germans), Jon Butler, Becoming America, The Revolution before 1776, 2000, p. 35, ISBN 0 - 674 - 00091 - 9 . Most Catholics were English Recusants, Germans, Irish and blacks who lived in Maryland where half the Catholic population lived, New York and Pennsylvania . Presbyterians were chiefly immigrants from Scotland and Ulster who favored the back country and frontier districts . </P> <P> Quakers were well established in Pennsylvania, where they controlled the governorship and the legislature for many years . Quakers were also numerous in Rhode Island . Baptists and Methodists were growing rapidly during the First Great Awakening of the 1740s . Many denominations sponsored missions to the local Indians . </P>

Who were the original 13 colonies settled by