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The impact of Puritans on the
Short note on puritanism
Puritans influence on society today
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More handpicked essays just for you.
The impact of Puritans on the
Short note on puritanism
Puritans influence on society today
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Affliction, massacre and people taken captive during the war were considered either punishment form angering God or testing of your faith. Being Puritan was considered the way to
The New England colonies that settled in North America were predominantly composed of the Puritans, which originated in the rectification of protestant in England. Furthermore, they were the first of the English colony to bestow legal authorization to slavery, recognizing human captivity was acceptable in 1641. Hence, the 1641 bylaw is not purposely aimed for a certain tribe or ethnic group. During that period, there were also white men that were prisoner of war that were sold in some parts in the Caribbean. On the other hand, the Chesapeake colonies (including Virginia and Maryland), who made its mark during the 17th century composed of 70 to 85 percent white settlers were actually “Indentures”, meaning, that they are indebted to whomever
The New England colonies settled because they wanted to have religious freedom which was the most important factor to the colonists. The people that made up these colonies just wanted a place to have freedom to worship. However, The New England colonies developed different from the colonies in the Chesapeake. Jamestown and New England had different economies, government and demographic make-up of the population. It was important for the New England colonies to have religious freedom.
What Caused the Salem Witch Trials of 1692 In Salem, Massachusetts there were Witch Trials held during the summer months of 1692. Throughout the seventeenth century in New England, witchcraft was said to be a crime punishable by death. Puritans came to New England in the early 1600’s to practice their Christianity in the purest form possible. They believed every word in the bible and that the words of God were to be followed down to the last sentence there was. Havoc started occurring around the town and 19 women along with men were hanged for witchcraft.
Religion played that of a great role in the colonial regions. This is so, as colonies, mostly in New England, the colonial settlers were actually driven by religious intolerance in England. As stated in “Puritan New England: Kahn Academy”, “During the 1620s and 1630s, the conflict escalated to the point where the state church prohibited Puritan ministers from preaching. In the Church’s view, Puritans represented a national security threat because their demands for cultural, social, and religious reforms undermined the king’s authority. Unwilling to conform to the Church of England, many Puritans found refuge in the New World.”
In 1630, the Puritans set sail for America. The Puritans established their own religion when they arrived in Boston. The Puritans believed that all sins must have a punishment. One common punishment was death and the other was carrying something for the rest of your life that symbolized the sin committed. Branding and banishment were also common punishments the Puritans believed in.
The pursuit of religious freedom is not a contemporary idea. For centuries many have valiantly fought against oppression and persecution in order to worship freely without restraint and judgement. Some of the earliest immigrants who migrated to this country did so with the hopes of being able to worship in a manner than aligned most closely with their religious beliefs. Many of the principles that founded this nation are based on the premise of religious freedom and toleration. Undoubtedly one of the most influential and prominent religious factions to land on these shores in pursuit of this right, were the Puritans.
Puritans disagreed with the people who followed Church of England which made them secede and practice on their own. Although, leaving the church made Puritans victimized. Puritans that separated, Separatists, strayed away from the Church of England and made a pact with the Virginia Company of London to voyage the May Flower to Virginia. The Separatists, also referred as Pilgrims, landed in Plymouth, Massachusetts. The Pilgrims did not believe they were under jurisdiction of the Virginia Company of London so they created the Mayflower Compact which was an agreement of majority rule and a promise to defend any other member of the group if ejected.
Puritans always seemed to have a reason to justify and action no matter how radical. They didn’t just justify killing people they also justified taking things like land that was not theirs by use of bible passages. The Pequot Indians shared their land with the Puritans. Sharing however, was not something the Puritans seemed to be good at. They wanted the Indians out of the picture and wanted the land for themselves.
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,
Puritans believed the devil could persuade people to do evil things. Puritan Ministers compared women women to Eve implying that women were no good from the beginning of time, the minister, Samuel Parris, might have led to the witch hunt with the push to believe in evil things. These beliefs lead to strict physical and mental punishments. Some punishments were sitting in stocks and splitting of tongues. Another punishment was cutting off hands or ears.
The article “The Godly Family of Colonial Massachusetts” states that the Puritans never considered family life a private affair. Instead they considered family life part of a larger political/economic and social/cultural world. The Puritans attempted to further their economic and political statuses through marriage. For example, they tried to marry into influential or wealthy families. They also used marriage as a way to keep the family trade or craft, in the family.
More than 80% of Americans have Puritan ancestors who emigrated to Colonial America on the Mayflower, and other ships, in the 1630’s (“Puritanism”). Puritanism had an early start due to strong main beliefs that, when challenged, caused major conflict like the Salem Witch Trials. Puritanism had an extremely rocky beginning, starting with a separation from the Roman Catholic Church. Starting in 1606, a group of villagers in Scrooby, England left the church of England and formed a congregation called the Separatist Church, and the members were called The puritans (“Pilgrims”).
Puritanism was a distinct historical occurrence that coincided with the founding of New England. It was also a way of being in the new world and it has resonated through American life ever since. Puritanism was a religious reform movement that was born within the Church of England in the late sixteenth century. Shortly after the birth of the Puritan religious reform movement it fell under attack of the religious people as well as the royal family. The movement grew in the 3rd and 4th decades of the 17th century to the northern English colonies in the New World.
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.”