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Puritan ideas and values
Puritan theology
The impact of puritans in the development of America
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More handpicked essays just for you.
Puritan ideas and values
Puritan theology
The impact of puritans in the development of America
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Recommended: Puritan ideas and values
The Puritans influenced the development of the New England colonies, including Massachusetts Bay, Rhode Island, and Connecticut through the Puritans’ extreme theological values and ideas that create the theocracy, their hard work ethic that increases their economic stability, and their resistance to tolerate other’s different opinions.
The Puritans went aboard the Mayflower and arrived in Plymouth, where they settled. Puritanism originated within the Church of England during the 16th century and their mission was to purify the Church and to also establish a middle ground between Catholicism and Protestantism. They desired to purify the Church by eliminating every symbol of Catholic influence. In the year 1603 when James I became King of England, Puritan leaders asked for reforms to the Church including the abolition of bishops but this was denied. Contrary to what they had hoped, English leaders became more repressive and Puritans wanted a means of escape so they chose to sail to the New World (Kang 148).
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.”
The Puritans of colonial times were rapidly increasing and experiencing a time of great success in the implementation of a large scale Puritan community, but their achievement did not happen overnight. With religious zeal the Puritans sought to create an ideal society in the New World where the their way of life was law and they could become a model christian community for the world. In order for the Puritans to achieve their goals they needed a united and, therefore, strictly controlled community, and they found that community in New England. In New England they organized a unified and strictly controlled political, economic, and social structure dominated by religion in order to achieve the Puritan dream.
So, they chose to work towards religious, moral and societal reforms. They believed that The Church of England had become a product of governmental struggles and man-made doctrines. The Puritans were one branch of dissidents who decided that the Church of England was beyond reform. Fleeing torment from church leadership and the King, they came to America. They arrived almost a decade later than the pilgrims and settled in Massachusetts Bay.
Puritans and Pilgrims were members of the Church of England who in the 16th century began to protest against what they perceived as serious abuses by religious authorities. Both groups are part of Puritanism, an activist movement after the English Reformation which wanted to purify the Church of England by eradicating both corruption and remaining traces of Catholicism. Each group looked to Scriptures as their authority on religion. Although, the Puritans and the Pilgrims shared a common history, and beliefs there are differences that separated them, such as why they left England, their aspirations of the New World and how they governed their colonies.
Angry about the reformation of the Church of England in the sixteenth century, a group of extreme separatists known as the Puritans sought the absolute expulsion of Catholicism in their sect of Christianity. Their devotion to their religious practices and beliefs ultimately led the Puritans to emigrate to Holland and subsequently to the new world, where they established a colony in New England. The ideas and mindframes of the Puritans are not important to American history because they were simply the first but because they offered ways of thinking that are still ingrained in the American culture today. In laying a foundation for America, whether they realised it at the time or not, Puritans have influence in present day America in the form
In 1620, when the New World was an exciting new place full of new freedoms and opportunities, a group known as the Puritans made the journey from England in order to purify the Anglican church as well as gain economic opportunities that were present in America. John Winthrop lead the first group of Puritans to the new world in order to create a “city upon the hill”, a beacon of light in attempt to spread the word of Christ. They settled in Boston and by 1643 there were 20,000 Puritans in the Massachusetts Bay Colony and more to come. Puritan beliefs began to spread rapidly and have influence on the developing colonies. Many Puritan ideals spread throughout the New England colonies and are also seen in present day American culture.
This newly evolved society was cause by the “Religious movement known as ‘Puritanism,’ which arose in England late in the sixteenth century” (Foner 64). Puritans did not refer to themselves as puritans but instead “‘godly’ or ‘true protestants’” (Foner 64). They started this movement because they felt that the protestant reformation was not doing enough and were simply not satisfied. It is commonly believed that Puritanism was “An important thread in the development of American civilization” (Int 25).
In America they settled colonies like Plymouth and the Massachusetts Bay Colony. They began developing a government that would allow them to stay closely together and practice their religion, this became known as the Mayflower Compact. In America the Puritans began to persecute others that didn’t practice Puritanism. The Puritans left
The Massachusetts Bay Colony was estimated to have a population of 506 in the 1630s. The population then grew quickly, probably because Boston was a popular port city. The population grew to 55,941 between 1630 and 1700. Most of the immigrants that migrated to Massachusetts were from England. The majority of these immigrants were Puritans and their religion meant a lot to them.
What you believed depended largely on where you lived. As mentioned, the Puritans controlled a large area of New England and were predominantly Protestant. The middle colonies which included New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware, attracted people of all religious groups consisting of Catholics, Lutherans, Amish, Jews, Presbyterians, and Cutch Mennonites among others. The middle colonies accepted all religions and tolerance was practiced by all as you were guaranteed freedom of religion.
The impact of non-Separatist people in Massachusetts and its environs. There are two distinct groups of English immigrants who arrived in American just before after the Mayflower. Although they often shared similarities, the Pilgrims (Separatists) and Puritans (Non-Separatists) differed in their opinion regarding the separation of Church and State. Edmund Morgan, in his book the Puritan Dilemma; The Story of John Winthrop, put it this way: "Rulers, however selected, received their authority from God, not from the people, and were accountable to God, not to the people (Morgan).” It is often hard to distinguish the difference between both groups as they incorporated the Bible in their everyday lives.
The Puritans were a group of people who grew discontent in the Church of England and worked towards religious, moral and societal reforms. The Puritans were one branch of dissenters (objectors) who decided that the Church of England was beyond reform. They felt the Church of England’s services were to Catholic. The Puritans did not break with the Church of England, but instead sought to reform it.
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”).