The Puritans sought to create a society that was more pure and righteous than the corrupt society they believed existed in England. The Massachusetts colonies were founded by Puritan separatists who left England in search of religious freedom. They believed that the Church of England was too hierarchical and corrupt, and they wanted to establish a society that was more focused on individual piety and a direct relationship with God. The Puritans emphasized education and literacy, and they believed that all members of the community should be able to read and interpret the Bible for themselves.
The Puritans influenced the development of the New England colonies, including Massachusetts Bay, Rhode Island, and Connecticut through the Puritans’ extreme theological values and ideas that create the theocracy, their hard work ethic that increases their economic stability, and their resistance to tolerate other’s different opinions.
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”.
They wanted to create pure, moral Christian society based on moral living. By hard working, integration of religion in politics, and social development of certain lifestyle practices, Puritans had a large influence on the development of the New England colonies from 1630s through the 1660s. Puritans believed in hard work as the pathway of success since they thought they were favored by God to succeed (Doc I). They tried to shun idleness and believed that being lazy is not profitable (Doc C).
The Puritans in the 1600s had a very important influence in the development of the New England colonies through the 1660s their ideas, values; political, economic and social development would have a lasting effect on the region. The values of the Puritans were greatly rooted in the idea that man was evil and that God alone would save us. By creating this town upon the hill God will reward them for their efforts for trying to reform the Anglican Church. Politically the Puritans were a semi-theocracy that would only allow those who were part of the church to vote. Economically they brought a lasting effect based on their hard work ethic.
The Puritans ended up failing to create their land or kingdom of God in New England primarily due to changes over time from outside influences, forced persecutions, freedom of communal communication, and exposure to new lands and cultures. As the Puritans were in search of a pure land to be able to worship and surround their life in a holy way, they would find it difficult to maintain. To first understand the Puritans and their goals we must first define them and know where and what they derived from. The definition “Puritan” is as:
1. Puritans were the religious nonconformists in England, who advocated the purification of Protestant Church of England from the "popish stuff. " The most radical of them - a group that included William Bradford, the future spiritual leader and the first-time writer of New England, in principle, did not believe in the possibility of return to the Church of England on the right path. They chose to isolate from it. Massachusetts, where travelers had to disembark, was gray and chilly place at that time of year, and had very little in common with the Earthly Paradise.
Seeking to reform and purify the Church of England, the Puritans migrated to New England to build an ideal Christian colony. In the beginning of the Puritan colonization in America, John Winthrop confronted many challenges. With difficult problems repeatedly arising, Winthrop was able to overcome them, as governor and leader, by approval of many. Migrating as families to New England, the Puritans felt compelled to battle the world’s impurities. Winthrop knew England was under the shadow of God’s wrath with all of the corruption of the government.
The Puritan colonists were bound by laws of morality with judgments with sentences that were the base of fear. The laws were centered on the basics of not going to church daily to practicing witchcraft, adultery, even not having regular sex to procreate. There were many laws of the time with cause and effect that harmed many people. Through the seventeenth century, laws were connected to morality, reflected in the ways Puritans used religious beliefs in the process of rendering judgment and assigning punishments to keep colonists from leaving their colony and gaining freedoms of their own. Puritan Religion ~
The Puritans though that brotherhood, community, and religion to be the most important social standings in their colonies, yet were violent towards non-Puritans. The New England colonies were very religiously active compared to other colonies like Virginia, were religion was an afterthought. Because of the Tobacco craze in Virginia, it was only until the mid-1700’s when religion actually became a part of the colony. In general the Puritans were extremely intolerant of other beliefs that were not theirs, and history shows that they could become quite violent towards non-believers. Anyone who was an outsider or deemed non-Puritan would be banished or executed; in Puritan society, the fear of outsiders was ingrained into the mind of Puritan followers,
Under all the Puritan rules lay a desire that God’s love would flourish and spread. The noble Puritan dream might work in a perfect world, but even the unsettled, free America was not perfect. Striving for this dream, however, produced much good. The Puritan settlements emerged as the most educated and economically successful English colonies. Those who were true Puritans enjoyed a life in harmony with their beliefs.
The Puritan’s goal of coming to the New World was not to create a new life, but to create the ideal model of living for the “corrupt” inhabitants of England. This was coined “The Errand”, the Puritans desire to establish a City Upon a Hill that others could look up to and imitate in order to receive God’s grace. The Puritans failed at building their City Upon a Hill (creating a perfect religious, economic, and political community), however the long-term effects of their efforts have influenced American moral politics throughout its history. The Puritans forever had the attitude of a community that had successfully established a City Upon a Hill. The Puritan lifestyle was heavily influenced not only by religion, but also inside of that, morality.
Chapter 3 Outline: • 3.1 The Protestant Reformation Produces Puritanism • 3.2 The Pilgrims End Their Pilgrimage at Plymouth • 3.3 The Bay Colony Bible Commonwealth • 3.4 Building the Bay Colony • 3.5 Trouble in the Bible Commonwealth • 3.6 The Rhode Island “Sewer” • 3.7 New England Spreads Out • 3.8 Puritans Versus Indians • 3.9 Seeds of Colonial Unity and Independence • 3.10 Andros Promotes the First American Revolution • 3.11 Old Netherlanders at New Netherlanders • 3.12 Friction with English and Swedish Neighbors • 3.13 Dutch Residues in New York • 3.14 Penn’s Holy Experiment in Pennsylvania • 3.15 Quaker Pennsylvania and Its Neighbors • 3.16 The Middle Way in the Middle Colonies 3.1 The Protestant Reformation Produces Puritanism
The life of a Puritan was difficult. They came to America from Europe to start a new life, a life of theocracy. When they came to America they landed in the New England area, all staying within the same area forming a community of their own. Here is where they lived by God’s laws and his laws only. These laws made a very strict guide to follow for the Puritans.
Essentially, Puritans are expected to follow a strict set of religious and moral guidelines from which their actions and morality are derived. According to Hall’s A Reforming People, these moral expectations first introduced by the pilgrims were the driving force behind the power that the Puritan ministry had over society: “Ministers and laypeople looked first to congregations as the place where love, mutuality, and righteousness would flourish, and second to civil society. …Alongside love, mutuality, and righteousness they placed another set of values summed up in the word “equity.” Employed in a broad array of contexts, the concept of equity conveyed the colonists’ hopes for justice and fairness in their social world.”
