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Colonial era for essay
The pre history of the puritan presence in new england
The pre history of the puritan presence in new england
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The Puritans built homes, meeting homes, and towns. The meetinghouses served as religious places. Economic- In the founding of Jamestown settlers would waste their time on finding gold and sliver rather than planting crops or repairing the
The puritans came to New England so they could experience and practice christianity in a new form.[background] Puritans believed every word in the bible was the word of god. That said, the bible mentions Devils and witches. They believed a witch was a person who was controlled by the devil. For example, The devil can make a young girl cry in church. One way the court accepted evidence the suspect in question was a witch was when a woman confused the words when saying the lord's prayer.[background] Because of these actions more people were being accused of being a witch.
Historical Puritans The puritans created the Puritans religion were created to cleanse the corrupt and sinful practices in England and enforce public morality. The puritans believed that churches specifically Roman Catholic were full of hierarchies and so the Puritans escaped England and to gain religious freedom “They [puritans] contended that The Church of England had become a product of political struggles and man-made doctrines. The Puritans were one branch of dissenters who decided that the Church of England was beyond reform”(Kiser). The Puritans headed for america and created a “pure” religion and lifestyle. They strictly followed the bible and were calvinist.
In the year of 1630, a group of people known as the Puritans arrived to America and settled in the Massachusetts Bay Colony in Boston. The Puritans were similar to the Pilgrims in which they were Protestants from England who thought that their reforms of their church were “too Catholic” and needed to be changed further. The Puritans being unhappy with their reforms was the primary reason for leaving England and settling in America, while the Pilgrims stayed behind and were determined to change their reforms. When they came to America, they decided to keep some of their strict rules. For example, church was mandatory and if someone missed a day,
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”.
However, they were never successful in doing so. In nearly all of colonial America, there was some religious intolerance, with the exception of few colonial areas. In a quite ironic manner, the Puritans displayed and acted out much religious intolerance, even after facing much scrutiny concerning their religion, in England. This statement is proven, when “Puritan New England: Kahn Academy”, mentions “Although many people assume Puritans escaped England to establish religious freedom, they proved to be just as intolerant as the English state church.” The main and pretty much only, exception, would in this case be Rhode Island, seeing as though it was founded by former Puritan Roger Williams, who had been banned from the colony (in opposition to being executed), as a result of the questioning of their actions towards local Native American tribes, he decided to create Rhode Island, as a place of refuge for those seeking religious tolerance, or who had simply been banned from the previous colony they had resided
Freedom to Prosecute Religion Colonial America is often thought of as a safe haven from religious persecution. Future colonists had been persecuted for not accepting their countries ' religious doctrine and were willing to travel long distances in search of religious freedom. Religious freedom would still be far from grasp as Puritans would continue their homelands traditions of persecution for many more years. Puritans, unlike the Pilgrims (who sought to completely separate from the Church of England), wanted to purify the Church.
The people of America (colonists) were tired of being controlled by England. They wanted to be free and independent. They believed that they were able to control themselves and be their own country. They wanted England to let go of their control and to view them as independent and their own country.
Christian settlers back then according to Wikipedia Christianity was introduces to North America as it was colonized by Europeans in the 16th and 17th century. However for the Pilgrims there purpose was to try and escape the religious persecution and by doing that they would have to separate themselves from the church their leader was William Bradburd. Where on the other hand the Puritans purpose to escape the religious persecutions by purifying the church. One wants to separate while the one just want purity, there leader was John Winthrop.
In England, during the 17th century, the groups that didn’t fit in with the religious society and culture of England but wanted to form their own communities. At that time, Jamestown had proven to England that the New world was The Virginia Company gave them charters to colonized Although, Puritans wanted to keep their rigid laws and strict culture based just christianity, the other English colonists who were more tolerant to other religions such the quakers and the Rhode Islanders. The Puritans who colonized the Massachusetts Bay area and the Chesapeake area, influenced the communities in many differents way. In the communities, people lived in the town and kept their farms on the outside to be closer to the church and to watch over each
Upon researching the Puritans I found many interesting things such as their origins, their colonies, their religion and their way of life. Through extensive research I found that their origin goes back deeper than I thought it did. The process through which Puritanism developed had been initiated in the 1530s when King Henry VIII repudiated papal authority and transformed the Church of Rome into a state Church of England. But the Church of England retained much of the liturgy and ritual of Roman Catholicism and seemed, to many dissenters, to be insufficiently reformed. The Church of England wasn't good enough so some people broke away from that church in hopes to reform it and make a better and purer church.
After the Puritan Religion was formed and split off from the Church of England, they could not fully escape all the “unholy” practices of the Church of England. This led to many different families leaving England to go to America. “The fact that the Puritans had left England to escape religious persecution did not mean that they believed in religious tolerance. Their society was a theocracy that governed every aspect of their lives” (Baracskay). The idea of a theocracy is extremely dangerous because it creates a system without balance.
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”).
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.
According to Thomas Brooks, "Sin in a wicked man is like poison in a serpent; it is in its natural place. " Many can argue that the Puritan democracy was very corrupt. Stephen Foster, the author of the essay, “Puritanism and Democracy: A Mixed Legacy” states, “New Englanders admitted that no man could read the law of nature alright, that all men were equally corrupt.” Because of this corruptness, Puritans struggled to create a democracy, never viewed others as equals, and even after trying to create a democratic government, they acted as hypocrites.
