Recommended: The puritans and sex
The New England colonies that settled in North America were predominantly composed of the Puritans, which originated in the rectification of protestant in England. Furthermore, they were the first of the English colony to bestow legal authorization to slavery, recognizing human captivity was acceptable in 1641. Hence, the 1641 bylaw is not purposely aimed for a certain tribe or ethnic group. During that period, there were also white men that were prisoner of war that were sold in some parts in the Caribbean. On the other hand, the Chesapeake colonies (including Virginia and Maryland), who made its mark during the 17th century composed of 70 to 85 percent white settlers were actually “Indentures”, meaning, that they are indebted to whomever
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,
A primary source document is given in the perspective of the participant or the observer. With primary source documents, the researcher can understand as much as he or she can about what happened during that historical time period or event. Some primary source documents include diaries, journals, interviews, memoirs, records of organizations, published materials, and photographs. The children in Puritan England must learn how to write and read so that they can be informed about the principles of religion and the capital laws of the country.
Puritanism was a religious reform movement that wished to purify the Church of England of the remnants of the Roman Catholic faith. The Puritans were persecuted by many denominations across Europe and around 1620, King James I, a member of the Church of England, began oppressing the Puritan community as well. This led the Puritans to flee England and come to the New World where in the words of John Winthrop they were to build a “city upon a hill”. The Puritans settled in the Massachusetts Bay Colonies, more specifically just north of Boston. The most prominent members of this time were John Winthrop.
Religion played that of a great role in the colonial regions. This is so, as colonies, mostly in New England, the colonial settlers were actually driven by religious intolerance in England. As stated in “Puritan New England: Kahn Academy”, “During the 1620s and 1630s, the conflict escalated to the point where the state church prohibited Puritan ministers from preaching. In the Church’s view, Puritans represented a national security threat because their demands for cultural, social, and religious reforms undermined the king’s authority. Unwilling to conform to the Church of England, many Puritans found refuge in the New World.”
The Puritans was a huge deal in the 1600s. It consisted of colonists who were seeking religious tolerance. Puritans were so strict that it was so far fetched from tolerant. One would be punished to not attend church, it was against the law. Men and women were separated through the day long services.
According to Five myths about Puritans - The Washington Post, “But the Puritans didn’t leave England to found a society where all religions would be tolerated. After all, they were granted the pejorative moniker “Puritan” in England because of their efforts to purge Catholic influences from the Anglican Church. They sought religious freedom only for themselves.” This emphasizes how Puritans didn’t care for other people’s religion, they just wanted to be able to practice their own. Despite what they went through to get the freedom to practice their religion, they only wanted it for that specific religion.
The Puritan colonists were bound by laws of morality with judgments with sentences that were the base of fear. The laws were centered on the basics of not going to church daily to practicing witchcraft, adultery, even not having regular sex to procreate. There were many laws of the time with cause and effect that harmed many people. Through the seventeenth century, laws were connected to morality, reflected in the ways Puritans used religious beliefs in the process of rendering judgment and assigning punishments to keep colonists from leaving their colony and gaining freedoms of their own. Puritan Religion ~
The pursuit of religious freedom is not a contemporary idea. For centuries many have valiantly fought against oppression and persecution in order to worship freely without restraint and judgement. Some of the earliest immigrants who migrated to this country did so with the hopes of being able to worship in a manner than aligned most closely with their religious beliefs. Many of the principles that founded this nation are based on the premise of religious freedom and toleration. Undoubtedly one of the most influential and prominent religious factions to land on these shores in pursuit of this right, were the Puritans.
For those who did not share their same religious approach were not welcomed at all. What made it more difficult for people who were not welcomed was the lines between church and state were very blurred. The citizens of these colonies would often take matters into their own hands such as taxes and even consequences for people who did not fit their way of life. These punishments included civil penalties, exile, disqualification of voting and even death. Puritans also believed in witches and demonic possession which fueled the fire for what we know as the Salem Witch Trials which lead to many imprisonments and executions of people accused of witchcraft.
Children growing up in Puritan New England were raised with different expectations and values compared to children in today’s society. We often consider Puritan practices as cruel, but such practices were not uncommon and were viewed differently in the seventeenth century. Children were raised with the Puritan belief of simplicity, taught to respect and obey their parents without question, and were given an education to allow them to prosper in later years as well as strengthen their religion. Sources one and two provide portraits of Puritan children, Elizabeth Eggington and Henry Gibbs, in the seventeenth century. Portraits were often made at the request of how parents wanted their child to be seen.
Similar to Puritan punishments, public ignominy as a consequence for failings of the character is too severe a punishment. These events demonstrate that, as a modern society, America has still not evolved from appointing vigilante-like retribution upon those who seem worthy of such
In today’s society, many people tend to mischaracterize and stereotype the Puritans with the modern sexual attitudes. The Puritans realized that sex is apart of everyone’s natural behavior, however, they believed that during marriage was the only proper time for it. There was only one main limit placed upon sex in marriage, and that was that it couldn’t interfere with your state religion and relationship with God. The leaders of the Puritans put very harsh punishments on adultery because they realized that people were going to engage in sexual acts regardless if they were married or not. A number of people in the group respected the law, and didn’t engage in sex because they weren’t married to anyone.
The Puritans in The Scarlet Letter seem to fit this description very exactly. They have a community that alienates Hester from the rest of them, and forces her to make it on her own without any compassion. They try to act like they are doing Hester good by treating her this way, but really they are condescending toward her for committing such a sin. By failing to demonstrate to Hester that not just the outside world is sinful, but they too are sinners, makes it appear that Hester is the only flawed citizen of their Puritan society. The Puritans in this book create a community so drastically different from the rest of the world, they make their part of the world seem absent of flaws.
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”).