Puritan Ideas And John Winthrop's Impact On American Culture

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

He and John Winthrop were much alike through in their preachings, sharing similar goals. In fact, Cotton even aided Winthrop in the banishment of many opposers to their way of life, such as Anne Hutchinson. Cotton’s written legacy includes a body of correspondence, numerous sermons, a catechism, and in 1646 a shorter catechism for children titled Milk for Babes
Cotton too has a sermon that is well known, and it is called “God’s Promises to His Plantation”. It is essentially a pep-rally. He begins with a lovely sermon and goes on to explain that the soon-to-be-American’s are people of destiny, people who are important and remembered in history. They’re special and different, another instance of American exceptionalism and the overall overwhelming pridefulness both the United States and the back then Puritan’s share.
During this farewell sermon, Cotton also states “In a vacant soil, he that taketh possession of it, and bestoweth culture and husbandry upon it, his right it is.” Upon God’s authority he tells the Puritan’s that what essentially becomes a base for Manifest Destiny, something John Winthrop also preached later