How Did Puritans Influence American Culture

CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

In 1630, 20.000 immigrants coming from England went across the Atlantic to a new world (Maier). They went to a land which God had promised them. It was a land of prosperity where they could settle and build their lives. This moment would be as a turning point in the history of United States after the sailings of Columbus.

There is no better way of introducing the Puritans and their influence in America than by quoting Winthrop’s sermon on his voyage to America “For we must consider that we shall be as a city upon a hill. The eyes of all people are upon us” (Baym, Nina, 2002, p. 105).

The purpose of this article is to understand the influence of Puritanism in the core values and culture of Americans. At this stage of

Alexis de Tocqueville is one of the most quoted scholars in this. In his Democracy in America he observed that Americans are individualistic and this individualism, he explains, is inherited by Puritans. Tocqueville notes on Americans’ self-reliance,

Americans are taught from birth that they must overcome life’s woes and impediments on their own. Social authority makes them mistrustful and anxious, and they rely upon its power only when they cannot do without it. This first becomes apparent in the schools, where children play by their own rules and punish infractions they define themselves. One encounters the same spirit in all aspects of social life. An obstruction blocks a public road, interrupting the flow of traffic. The neighbors immediately set up a deliberative body. Out of this improvised assembly comes an executive power that will remedy the ill before it occurs to anyone to appeal to an authority… (Tocqueville, Democracy in America, 1998, p.

Since James I was declared King, Puritans had to face several persecutions. As a result they left England, and America being their final destination.

Puritanism refers to a movement that arose within the Church of England in the latter part of the 16th century. It sought to purify, or reform the Church and establish a middle course between Roman Catholicism and the ideas of the Protestant reformers. Those who advocated Puritanism were called Puritans. In England of the 16th century, the Puritans were the more extreme Protestants within the Church. They thought that the religious reformation in England had not gone far enough in reforming the doctrines and structure of the church. They wanted to purify their national church by eliminating every shred of Catholic influence (Kang, 2009, p. 148).

1.1. The emergence for a new religious