In court today, the issue was whether John Winthrop and the Puritans should be honored as Founders of American Freedom or if their religious practices in the enforcement of laws restricted the citizen's freedom. The prosecution was not in favor of honoring John Winthrop and the Puritans because although the Puritans settled in America first, the Founding Fathers in 1776 established true freedom. However, the defense believes that Puritans should be honored because they mastered the combination of religion and liberty, in addition to association and self-government in order to establish freedom. I believe the Puritans were the true founders and should be honored because they did establish life, liberty (although a small amount), and property …show more content…
The reason why the Puritans should be honored is that they established freedom by enforcing moral customs that keep cohesiveness in the colonies and eventually America. The Puritans established liberty because they gave all citizens a say in the government by taking on equal government positions rather than a hierarchy. In addition, the religion of the Puritans helped educate citizens about the moral standards that keep a society in a state of peace, which allows no infringing upon another's rights and establishes liberty. The Puritans found a land that was perfect because it allowed people to have equality and liberty which is carried out in today's society. The morality found in religion is also a great groundwork for establishing a democratic government because although politics wavers in belief, there is only one true way of being moral. Overall, the defense argues that the Puritans should be honored as the Founding Fathers because they have established both religion and liberty which encompasses the stable democratic government that America still uses
Although, they left England because of the intolerance they experienced at the hands of the Church of England they too become extremely intolerant. Lastly, the Puritans government in the Massachusetts was a Theocracy, retaining the English system wherein leaders had a divine right to rule and where the authorities. The Puritan Theocracy consisted of a government ran by religious authorities. Church and state were one and the laws of God were the laws of the
They kept the original beliefs that the church and state should not be separated but rather work together as one unit. Thereby making a more succinct way of living and governing. One benefit to this type of theocracy is that it kept all members involved in the church and focused on their beliefs. When the Puritans began to arrive in 1629, and their religion affected their approaches toward Native Americans. They considered Native Americans mediocre because of their basic lifestyle, but many thought they could be rehabilitated to
In the year of 1630, a group of people known as the Puritans arrived to America and settled in the Massachusetts Bay Colony in Boston. The Puritans were similar to the Pilgrims in which they were Protestants from England who thought that their reforms of their church were “too Catholic” and needed to be changed further. The Puritans being unhappy with their reforms was the primary reason for leaving England and settling in America, while the Pilgrims stayed behind and were determined to change their reforms. When they came to America, they decided to keep some of their strict rules. For example, church was mandatory and if someone missed a day,
Puritans always seemed to have a reason to justify and action no matter how radical. They didn’t just justify killing people they also justified taking things like land that was not theirs by use of bible passages. The Pequot Indians shared their land with the Puritans. Sharing however, was not something the Puritans seemed to be good at. They wanted the Indians out of the picture and wanted the land for themselves.
The Puritans influenced the development of the New England colonies, including Massachusetts Bay, Rhode Island, and Connecticut through the Puritans’ extreme theological values and ideas that create the theocracy, their hard work ethic that increases their economic stability, and their resistance to tolerate other’s different opinions.
Freedom to Prosecute Religion Colonial America is often thought of as a safe haven from religious persecution. Future colonists had been persecuted for not accepting their countries ' religious doctrine and were willing to travel long distances in search of religious freedom. Religious freedom would still be far from grasp as Puritans would continue their homelands traditions of persecution for many more years. Puritans, unlike the Pilgrims (who sought to completely separate from the Church of England), wanted to purify the Church.
More than 80% of Americans have Puritan ancestors who emigrated to Colonial America on the Mayflower, and other ships, in the 1630’s (“Puritanism”). Puritanism had an early start due to strong main beliefs that, when challenged, caused major conflict like the Salem Witch Trials. Puritanism had an extremely rocky beginning, starting with a separation from the Roman Catholic Church. Starting in 1606, a group of villagers in Scrooby, England left the church of England and formed a congregation called the Separatist Church, and the members were called The puritans (“Pilgrims”).
The Puritan’s goal of coming to the New World was not to create a new life, but to create the ideal model of living for the “corrupt” inhabitants of England. This was coined “The Errand”, the Puritans desire to establish a City Upon a Hill that others could look up to and imitate in order to receive God’s grace. The Puritans failed at building their City Upon a Hill (creating a perfect religious, economic, and political community), however the long-term effects of their efforts have influenced American moral politics throughout its history. The Puritans forever had the attitude of a community that had successfully established a City Upon a Hill. The Puritan lifestyle was heavily influenced not only by religion, but also inside of that, morality.
If the Puritan society followed the first amendment, so much would have been different in our history, most of the people from Massachusetts wouldn't have wanted to change their religion, they would be able to speak freely about what they believe in, and there wouldn't be as many deaths. Most puritans wouldn't have wanted to change their religion because they could choose their own religion. Puritans were fighting, they were fighting for what they believed in, they wanted
The ideas constructed by the Puritans were not simply a principal starting point for American culture because they were the first in the country, but because they offered distinct ways of thinking that are still deep-seated in our culture today. Although many of the ideas of Puritans have evolved or vanished over time, it is important to give credit to the Puritan writers and thinkers such as John Winthrop and John Cotton who offered ideas that were new at the time and that stayed with the American consciousness—culturally, socially, and politically. “John Winthrop's legacy can be seen primarily in the fields of government, commerce, and religion. It was religion that would most impact John's life; his religion would ultimately impact the
I have learned so far that the Puritans had a strict and unique attitude and especially when it came to religion. The Puritans believed that there religion and customs was the correct way and would totally oppose either Franklin’s or Paine’s writings. I decided to put all the knowledge I have gain so far in use to read Thomas Paine “The Age of Reason” passage in a puritan’s point of view. Thomas Paine an English American writer, who influenced the American Revolution, wrote an article where he expressed his feelings and points of view about religion.
History tells us that the Puritans were different than the Pilgrims because they wanted to continue to exist with the Church of England but make it better in the New World. (Settling 2014) The Puritans must have felt some type of loyalty to their native religion because they didn’t put their religion totally aside. It is noted that the Puritans did not want the rituals and other beliefs that involved being a member of their native Church of England.
They wanted to create pure, moral Christian society based on moral living. By hard working, integration of religion in politics, and social development of certain lifestyle practices, Puritans had a large influence on the development of the New England colonies from 1630s through the 1660s. Puritans believed in hard work as the pathway of success since they thought they were favored by God to succeed (Doc I). They tried to shun idleness and believed that being lazy is not profitable (Doc C).
According to Thomas Brooks, "Sin in a wicked man is like poison in a serpent; it is in its natural place. " Many can argue that the Puritan democracy was very corrupt. Stephen Foster, the author of the essay, “Puritanism and Democracy: A Mixed Legacy” states, “New Englanders admitted that no man could read the law of nature alright, that all men were equally corrupt.” Because of this corruptness, Puritans struggled to create a democracy, never viewed others as equals, and even after trying to create a democratic government, they acted as hypocrites.
Essentially, Puritans are expected to follow a strict set of religious and moral guidelines from which their actions and morality are derived. According to Hall’s A Reforming People, these moral expectations first introduced by the pilgrims were the driving force behind the power that the Puritan ministry had over society: “Ministers and laypeople looked first to congregations as the place where love, mutuality, and righteousness would flourish, and second to civil society. …Alongside love, mutuality, and righteousness they placed another set of values summed up in the word “equity.” Employed in a broad array of contexts, the concept of equity conveyed the colonists’ hopes for justice and fairness in their social world.”