How Did The Puritans Create A Religiously Repressive Society

The Puritans created a religiously repressive society that greatly influenced the overall development of New England. Although their society revolved around the church, were all of their beliefs detrimental to the evolution of the colony? Regarding New England’s social development, the Puritans’ stress on community, family and education was advantageous because it caused the region to thrive with more families and small towns. Therefore, since Puritans were more likely to come to the New World’s families instead of individuals, New England had significantly more families settle there than in other regions of colonization. Additionally, Puritans emphasized the importance of a community living together and sustaining its members, which resulted in New England being marked by the development of

The Puritans believed that idleness was a sin; more specifically, the blatant waste of time and lack of any substantive achievement was, in a word, useless. Thus, the very economic culture of the New England colonies was impacted. The abundant supply of timber and the importance of fishing in place of agriculture guaranteed that timber and fishing were the most treasured and valued products from the New England colonies. Since the Puritans thought that their wealth indicated that they had won God’s favor, the Puritan merchants worked relentlessly to ensure that that part of Boston became a commercial center in New England so that they would be valid players in the economic scene of the New World. Nevertheless, unlike the Chesapeake colonies, New England did not evolve as a region that was focused on economic activity because it was founded as “a plantation of religion” (Doc J), as opposed to a center for “worldly trade.” Nevertheless, the Puritans’ emphasis on winning God’s favor shows the importance of the merchant class on New England’s economic