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Analysis Of John Winthrop 'New England Primer'

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During the seventeenth century, many Puritans were migrating to the New World, specifically to the Massachusetts Bay Colony. In 1630, while en route to Massachusetts Bay, John Winthrop described America as a “city upon a hill”. In order to be the “city upon a hill”, everyone in the Puritan society had to strictly and willingly adhere to the law of the Puritan theocracy, in hopes of honoring the covenant which they had with God. The “New England Primer” was a device which associated letters of the alphabet with Puritan values, providing easier memorization of the alphabet as well as the Puritans’ values. By combining religion and education, as well as installing Puritan ideals into the youth, the “New England Primer” helps to establish the “city upon a hill” to which …show more content…

Winthrop illustrates what it takes to be the “city upon a hill” in saying, “When God gives a speciall Commission he lookes to have it stricktly observed in every Article” (Winthrop 157, 156). The previous quotation implies that the Puritans must know and honor each of the values which God is commanding the Puritans to follow. Therefore, the combination of education and religion helps to establish a firm foundation for the Puritans’ value system since most of the knowledge Puritan children have comes from the “New England Primer”. Furthermore, “The New England Primer” reflects many of the specific values and commandments which John Winthrop writes about. For the letter H, the “New England Primer” says, “My Book and Heart Shall Never Part”, which teaches Winthrop’s idea that the Puritans are “Commaunded … to love the Lord our God” (Primer 205; Winthrop 157). By teaching the youth that they must embrace their religion, the community will love the Lord. In this way, the “New England Primer” drives the community to be the “city upon a hill”

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The way I interpret the Winthrop’s view on his document is that he acknowledges that there will be a difference in wealth, but you have to help your family then the people who are below you. It talks about how the lord will repay you and how you need to help the poor. So it seems to know that there will be a difference in wealth, but that you cannot just keep all the money for yourself and ignore the poor, you have to help your fellow man. It would be almost impossible to implement the things Winthrop talked about. We have seen how countries tried to implement communism and how countries have tried to implement theocracies.

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The Primer is trying to establish that the religious teachings were essentials to live by. What the Puritans considered to be their letter “B” states, “Thy Life to Mend This Book Attend”, meaning for Puritans to revolve their lives around this book of religion (The Bible). Also, most of the letters’ excerpts include characters from the bible whom they had a profound respect for. For instance, letters “P” through “S” include names of significant people from the bible and their involvement from years before the Puritans formed. Queen Esther was mentioned in context to her involvement to “Save the JEWS” from their awaiting fate.

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