Native American Puritan Beliefs

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Puritan Beliefs and the Resistance from the Native Americans Here I will discuss some of the Puritan beliefs revealed that led to tensions, conflicts, and concerns among the colonists and the Native Americans. The Puritans assumed when the smallpox epidemic hit it was God’s sign for them to take over the land. They also used it to justify taking over everything and robbing sacred Indian graves. They didn’t think it was the natives’ fault they were inferior but the result of not reading and practicing the gospel. The conflicts is the start of the 1637 Pequot War. There was a dispute between the Pequots and the English. The British instigated the battle and the Pequot fought back. They expected to fight the warriors again at Ft. Mystic but instead found women, children, and old men. They did not take mercy on them and they burnt their wigwams, and massacred the ones trying to escape. It is estimated they killed hundreds of people. The Puritans believed they could restore the colonists’ faith by killing the Indians who they considered were working for the devil. In …show more content…

Most of these reverends shared the same Calvinist theology. They were free to practice how it suited their needs. Each preacher had his own philosophy of how it was taught. They insisted that they were the true Christians and it was their destiny to spread God’s word to the world. They formed “Praying Towns” in the New World with the hope of introducing it to Native Americans and their English culture. The Bible was translated to their native language. It forced the Indians into fighting a war when they planned to evict them from their land. It became apparent that the spread of Puritanism was not successful and the “Praying Towns” were decreasing. Even if they managed to convert some Native Americans they characterized them as traitors. The wars had the Puritans scared for their lives and more efforts to paint the Native Americans as