Rudy Zizhong Guo HIST 20 #68645 9/14/2015 A Puritanical Liberty A cornerstone of American society, liberty has been a fundamental part of the United States and its people. However, it wasn’t always so; during the time of the colonial colonization, liberty was defined in a much different way. The Puritan’s idea of liberty was much more rudimentary. While the Puritans had immigrated to America in search of religious freedom; they were not very accepting of many other religions. In 1645, John Winthrop, a Puritan and the founder of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, addressed the Massachusetts General Court concerning the subjection of liberty. Winthrop argued that there were two opposing sides of liberty: natural liberty and moral liberty. While …show more content…
However, Puritanism was not simply a set of ideas rather a state of mind, zealously pursuing the true faith that alienated many who held differing religious views. (Foner, Give Me Liberty, 2014) The Puritans were not interested in liberty as we know it, only the right to worship God, in their own way without fear of persecution. The notion of natural liberty was rather liberal to their belief. To the Puritans, natural liberty simply meant that men have the liberty to do as he pleases, for good or evil. Winthrop states that natural liberty “makes men grow more evil and, in time, to be worse than brute beast. (Foner, Voices of Freedom, 2014) Natural liberty took away from the Puritans desire to worship God because it give men a choice. In that, natural liberty was found to be incompatible and inconsistent with the Puritan belief system and deemed evil by nature. If men were allowed or left to pursue their natural liberties, they would eventually become consumed by its evil. Natural liberty was often associated, by the Puritans, with non-believers; such as the Irish, Indians and “bad Christians. (Foner, Give Me Liberty, …show more content…
In order to combat natural liberty; moral liberty must be imposed. Puritans believed that enforcement of moral liberty would foster proper behavior, as it is ordered by the government and the church. Winthrop urged people to exercise their moral liberties by respecting people in authority. While one could argue that liberty imposed by the human authority is rather a restriction than freedom; the Puritans believed that such authority would cure the evil cause by our natural liberties. However, in terms of John Winthrop’s Speech to the Massachusetts General Court; moral liberty could easily be equated to Puritan authority. While natural liberties were anything that opposed Puritan belief. They felt that following moral liberty would help them become “more Christ-like”. (Foner, Voices of Freedom, 2014). The Puritans assumed moral liberty was good because it resulted in an adherence to Puritan