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Puritan And Rational Beliefs Essay

349 Words2 Pages

The colonial period was a time where numerous ideas about how life was supposed to be lived came about, but most importantly are the Puritan and Rational beliefs. These shaped a lot of what we believe in today and even parts of our government. The puritan belief system didn’t start in America, but it sure was able to flourish in ways that it was not able to in Europe. The new land allowed for the people to come up with different ways to practice their beliefs. One common belief that was held to be true in this society was the unwavering duty to go to the weekly church services that were held every Sunday. If you didn’t make these services, then you were to be punished for not doing so. This was very extreme and cruel and shouldn’t have been a law, but this new world order allowed for this to happen without any sort of regulation. …show more content…

The literacy rate sailed way above the previous rate that it had been at. This caused them to be one of the smartest generations yet. Even the women who weren’t expected to be literate were still very literate. The other ideology that was very prevalent during this time period was rationalism. This idea allowed for the people to make decisions that they thought were best for them without the fear of religion getting in the way. Many rationalists like Benjamin Franklin were very outspoken on how they wanted the people to be able to try different things and see how they would benefit them. This helped make our country into what it is today. A place where all ideas are able to flow and try and benefit all people of all creeds. In conclusion, the colonial era was a time of great literate prosperity with multiple ideologies flourishing. The examples that we can see from both the puritan and rationalist ideologies prove that and help us understand our beginnings

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The Colonial Period was from 1492 to 1763. During this time many new writing styles and opinions were established by various different writers. Anne Bradstreet, a female poet known as the first Colonial settler and the first woman in England to publish a book of poems. One of her famous poems, “ The Burning of Our House”, refers back to religion and her belief in God/Him many times. The last line of the poem, “ My hope and treasure lies above”, influences the theme to be, spiritual possessions are more important than material possessions.

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Besides English settlers there were numerous other representatives of the European countries settling in the new land. And as the Puritans came to practice their own believes so did other nationalities, as explained in the study material. In my own interpretation America represents change and the believe system as well as the way religion was previously practiced was now changing. This change was greatly influenced by the intellectual movement called Enlightenment, which started in Europe and this influence had bearing on the Great Awakening. Besides Puritans now there were Catholics in Maryland, Quakers in Pennsylvania and the Episcopal Church in the southern states.

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