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Compare And Contrast The Massachusetts Bay Colony Of New England

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In the 17th c., the Massachusetts Bay Company centered around the trade between England and the Massachusetts Bay Indians. Upon the realization that the original company charter issued by the king did not explicitly bind the company’s meeting to England, the Massachusetts Bay Company founded the Massachusetts Bay Colony during the Great Puritan Migration. The Massachusetts Bay Colony consisted of a large group of Puritans-- those who sought to “purify” the Church of England of the remnants of the Roman Catholic papacy whose name was grievously tainted in the late middle ages. The Puritans were fervently loyal to their ministers who were under religious persecution by the Church of England. Therefore the Puritans followed their ministers to …show more content…

This is ironic because the Puritans left England to save themselves from the imposition of discriminatory laws that persecuted groups for their actions and faith, yet they are adopting the same rigid ideas that the rulers of England had by persecuting individuals who propose ideas outside the scope of their theocracy. Blue Laws upheld certain ideals of the theocracy by outlawing drunkenness which is not seen as holy in the eyes of the Lord, however they are hypocritical to the claim other Puritan laws that are said to be based in the divine principles of the Word. For example, the Puritans outlawed Christmas because the Bible never outlined December 25th as Jesus’ birthday. Blue Laws enforce strict observance of God’s command to honor the Sabbath Day by keeping it holy. Thus, the tipplers were forced to refrain from drinking on the Sabbath. Although the Bible never outlined Sunday as the Sabbath. Rather, the Word says that six days you shall labor and do all thy work, while on the seventh day you are to rest as God did after he completed his creation. Who is to say, then, that the Sabbath is not Saturday or any other day? The Bible does not specifically state that the Sabbath is Sunday just as it does not specifically state that Christmas is December 25th. Therefore, the Puritans establishment of the Blue Laws undermined their theocracy as they began to impose laws that were not derived from God’s word. The Puritans justified their treatment of the tipplers on the ideological grounds that their beliefs in sobriety were pure in the eyes of the Lord and they therefore had an innate duty to bring their brothers and sisters in Christ back to

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The non-Separatist Puritans secured a royal charter from King Charles I to form the Massachusetts Bay Company in 1629. The Massachusetts Bay Company was planned to be a business venture, but was also used as a refuge for Puritans. The Bay Colony quickly became the biggest and most influential of all of the New England colonies. For many years, the charter was used as a constitution for the Company. Governmental power rested with the General Court, who then elected the governor and his assistants.

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