ipl-logo

How Did Puritans Influence American Culture

3005 Words13 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Impact of puritanism on american society

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 …show more content…

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. …show more content…

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

Show More
Related
1887 Words | 8 Pages

1. The Church of England was already turbulent with the tension between the antiquated Catholics and the emerging Protestants. The Puritans were part of a subset of Protestants, so naturally one would expect them to have resolved their issues with the Church of England throughout Protestant control. While the Puritans certainly favored Protestant rule over the Catholics, with whom they had a diametric set of beliefs, they were never favored by the Protestant rulers in turn. Obviously, the Puritans regarded themselves as worthy of their opinions and of a higher place in government.

Read More
480 Words | 2 Pages

The puritans came to New England so they could experience and practice christianity in a new form.[background] Puritans believed every word in the bible was the word of god. That said, the bible mentions Devils and witches. They believed a witch was a person who was controlled by the devil. For example, The devil can make a young girl cry in church. One way the court accepted evidence the suspect in question was a witch was when a woman confused the words when saying the lord's prayer.[background] Because of these actions more people were being accused of being a witch.

Read More
716 Words | 3 Pages

The Puritans went aboard the Mayflower and arrived in Plymouth, where they settled. Puritanism originated within the Church of England during the 16th century and their mission was to purify the Church and to also establish a middle ground between Catholicism and Protestantism. They desired to purify the Church by eliminating every symbol of Catholic influence. In the year 1603 when James I became King of England, Puritan leaders asked for reforms to the Church including the abolition of bishops but this was denied. Contrary to what they had hoped, English leaders became more repressive and Puritans wanted a means of escape so they chose to sail to the New World (Kang 148).

Read More
1729 Words | 7 Pages

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,

Read More
810 Words | 4 Pages

Liberty was the key issue for the Puritans. It was liberty, or the lack of, that pushed men to find safe haven, and it was freedom that enticed them to create a new society that never put state and the church hand in hand. By having a taste of liberty, they were introduced to ideas of equality and democracy which became an important part of the community they built and to the future nation that they will create. The foundation of Puritan principles such as piety, democracy and republican freedom, spread its influence over all the colonies, enlightening the “whole American world”.

Read More
148 Words | 1 Pages

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.

Read More
589 Words | 3 Pages

Following a period of religious decline in the early 1700s, the strong emotions that accompanied a revival left Puritans with a longing to “share [their] joy and tell [their] experience to others.” The “individual freedom and fraternal union went hand in hand.” The act of communicating with fellow Puritans compelled the realization of common beliefs between one another. These new conversations allowed personal religion interpretations to form without the worry of being considered a dishonorable Puritan. Additionally, the nature of individual conversions that accompanied the First Great Awakening signified the focus of Puritanism shifting away from “purifying” the Anglican Church and towards establishing a personal relationship with God.

Read More
590 Words | 3 Pages

About a century later, during the 1630’s, the Puritans decided that the best way to reform was to emigrate away from the Church of England. Author David Hall claims “excitement ran high that a new kind of society was being created, a community without “the unclean conversation of the wicked” as Thomas Weld reported to his former parishioners in England.” They called this society “New England” and the puritans were one of the many religious movements able to escape to it, but their historical timing was in no way unique. The Puritans eventually realized that they’re next step was developing their society, shaping its system to fit their beliefs.

Read More
1072 Words | 5 Pages

In the 1500s, the Protestant Reformation swept through England and caused people like John Calvin to make up their own religions. Henry VIII made the Anglicanism the official religion of England, and any dissenters, even dissenters who belonged to the Church of England, were persecuted. Puritans were some of these dissenters, and they migrated to the New World seeking religious freedom, a place to live the way they believed was pleasing to God. As the Puritans' lives were shaped by their religion, so too did their religious values and ideas influence the political, social, and economic development of the New England colonies. That their belief that people should obey religious authority and their value of unity shaped the northern colonies'

Read More
771 Words | 4 Pages

Puritans and Pilgrims are group of Christians that both originated from England and its church, which is the Anglican Church of England. This group were known as Protestants in the 16th and 17th centuries because of their argument that King Henry VIII as the head of the church is not laying good example as a Christian and that his reformation is contrary to the bible tenets, and he is not worshiping God in the best way that God should be worshipped and they called for change so that they can be worshiping God in the way it was in the beginning of Christianity and to be in total purification and holiness. They still believed that the King is a Catholic member secretly because of his antecedents and the laws he made. In the early years of Christianity, the King is the head of the church and any disagreement with the church is also a disagreement with the king and this was considered treasonable offence. Due to this problem, they sailed to America.

Read More
1238 Words | 5 Pages

This newly evolved society was cause by the “Religious movement known as ‘Puritanism,’ which arose in England late in the sixteenth century” (Foner 64). Puritans did not refer to themselves as puritans but instead “‘godly’ or ‘true protestants’” (Foner 64). They started this movement because they felt that the protestant reformation was not doing enough and were simply not satisfied. It is commonly believed that Puritanism was “An important thread in the development of American civilization” (Int 25).

Read More
1371 Words | 6 Pages

Individuals lay the foundation of America. The Founding Fathers of this unique nation broke their allegiance with Great Britain to create an improved governing body. They desired an individual-centered authority as opposed to Britain’s monarchy, which ruled with tyranny. These Founding Fathers experienced a neglectful democratic monarchy that cared little about the ethical treatment of its people. The domineering actions of Britain challenged these historic individuals to form a new cultural identity.

Read More
366 Words | 2 Pages

In the Early 1600’s in England, King James I during his monarchy came across an issue of a divided Church of England with one of the religious groups known as the Puritans. The Puritans believed that the Church of England needed to be purified, and they wanted the Roman Catholic rituals to be terminated. The Puritans desired to simplify religion and they hoped that King James I would support the idea of “purifying” the church, but instead he wanted to remove Puritans from England. Many of the Puritans fled England to avoid religious persecution. The Puritans ideology is interesting because their colony survives and succeeds past all expectations to fail.

Read More
415 Words | 2 Pages

Puritans are among the most-studied people in history. The most essential reason for this concentrated attention is that scholars have an indomitable sense that in studying Puritanism they are uncovering the roots of American culture, “origins of the American self”. Puritanism is so important that some scholars have treated it as a “consensus”, within which all of American civilization has taken shape. However, Puritanism is not responsible for everything about America, but it was assuredly one of the seminal cultural influences from which America historically derived. Overall, Puritanism which originated from a movement for return in the Church of England, had profound influence on social,political, ethical, and theological ideas of the Americas, which shaped American peoples natural character of being hard-working and making them bear a strong sense of mission.

Read More
1094 Words | 5 Pages

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”).

Read More

More about How Did Puritans Influence American Culture

Related Topics

Open Document