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Francis J. Bremer And The New England Colonists

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Thesis: Francis J. Bremer advocates the need to understand the New England colonists’ struggling attempts to define the perimeter fence - not just their positions - in order to help us define the limits of acceptable behavior and beliefs today.
Main Points of Evidence:
I. The Puritans had different opinions on how they lived their life.
A. John Winthrop believed that they were unworthy of God’s love and imperfect.
1. Colonists should live as God desired them to in order to realize goodness, truth, and wisdom.
2. Winthrop assumed that the colonists did not need to debate over this belief.
B. Other Puritans thought that their views on what should be practiced and believed were beyond question.
C. Debates on religious views led to agreement or …show more content…

Controversy of Roger Williams’ ideas of a pure church helped colonists establish their perimeter fence.
A. Williams advocated that Puritans should practice religious ordinances with God’s elect while limiting interactions with those who were not.
1. His peers thought his views were too extreme.
2. Massachusetts churches refused to renounce connections with the Church of England.
B. He pushed his belief for purity with the Plymouth Separatists (Pilgrims), but he was also seen as too extreme.
C. In Salem, he argued that women should wear veils outside and questioned the red cross of St. George as a symbol on the English flag.
D. In December 1633, Governor Winthrop persuaded Williams to stop arguing about the appropriateness of the red cross
E. The clergy persuaded the colony’s Court of Assistants to excuse William’s punishment in result of his views.
III. Roger Williams was charged for his controversial views.
A. In April 1635, the General Court charged Williams and ordered the clergyman stop spreading his controversial views.
B. In October 1635 the magistrates ordered that Williams be sent out of the colony and shipped to England.
1. Williams fled somewhere around Narragansett Bay.
2. He then abandoned the hopes of forming a pure

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