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How the puritans affected the modern american mentality
American puritan morality
How the puritans affected the modern american mentality
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The Puritans sought to create a society that was more pure and righteous than the corrupt society they believed existed in England. The Massachusetts colonies were founded by Puritan separatists who left England in search of religious freedom. They believed that the Church of England was too hierarchical and corrupt, and they wanted to establish a society that was more focused on individual piety and a direct relationship with God. The Puritans emphasized education and literacy, and they believed that all members of the community should be able to read and interpret the Bible for themselves.
The author, Edmund S. Morgan thesis is that the Puritans were not simply a strong religious group of fanatics who prohibited all earthly pleasures, but were actually influenced by human desires and weaknesses. The author uses many main points to support his thesis, one main point is that sexual intercourse was a human necessity and marriage was the only supply for it, but for some puritans marriage did not matter. A few more main points are that, sex could not interfere with religion, on days of fast sexual intercourse was not permitted but some did anyways. Many laws were passed to prohibit adultery Another point is that it was necessary for a servant to go outside his master’s house in order to satisfy his sexual urges. Also marriage was
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”.
Over 100 individuals were suspected to be witches in result to weird behavior before a disaster happens. The puritans set fairly high standards on themselves and others. True puritans could show their commitment by going to church and working their hardest. They also believed God was not the only powerful force among their community.
They wanted to create pure, moral Christian society based on moral living. By hard working, integration of religion in politics, and social development of certain lifestyle practices, Puritans had a large influence on the development of the New England colonies from 1630s through the 1660s. Puritans believed in hard work as the pathway of success since they thought they were favored by God to succeed (Doc I). They tried to shun idleness and believed that being lazy is not profitable (Doc C).
Puritans brought along their own religious practices which were still protected. This sort of situation gives opportunity for influence or in a philosophical way a possible infection in their way of life. The Puritans strict rules and lifestyle, fear of an angry God that communicated through divine providences or events that occurred, and their failure to abide to the high expectations that they burdened themselves,
It was against the law to speak out and have opinions, being expected to work hard was not out of the ordinary. Puritans were expected to live by a strict moral code. Believing that all sins should be punished. “They believed that God would be the one punishing for sins and bad behavior. Friends that suffered from loses, and misfortunes would not be helped by Puritans” (Marvel 73).
The denomination was the main part of a town and it also served as a meeting tribe. lazie or dronish life”(Doc I), he also states: “but have rather studyed and endeavored to redeeme my age as a thing most deare and precyous to me and have often denyed myself in such refreshings” (Doc I). The Puritans believed in personal, as well as collective hoax-government within each participation or settlings. In the Mayflower Compact, one will find all of the essentials of, say, the United States Constitution (minus some details). The wise standpoint of Puritan communities centered fundamentally around God, and the Bible.
The Puritan colonists were bound by laws of morality with judgments with sentences that were the base of fear. The laws were centered on the basics of not going to church daily to practicing witchcraft, adultery, even not having regular sex to procreate. There were many laws of the time with cause and effect that harmed many people. Through the seventeenth century, laws were connected to morality, reflected in the ways Puritans used religious beliefs in the process of rendering judgment and assigning punishments to keep colonists from leaving their colony and gaining freedoms of their own. Puritan Religion ~
The lifestyle that the Puritans lived affected their lives along with others around them, since many spoke out their full mind when someone was not acting how a Puritan would. Puritanism was a very common practice because of its ability to influence other and so both the poor, educated, and the average farmer were all normally was influenced by
We must bear one another’s burthens” (Winthrop 225). This belief that people must love one another despite their mistakes or burdens is essential to Puritan beliefs, and Puritans also believe that people must always be honest and trustworthy. The Puritans, like many other communities, viewed women as subordinates to men; a women’s purpose was to maintain the household, and men were called to provide for their children and wives. Women not only had a “less important” purpose in life but were also seen as less capable or intelligent than their male peers.
Kasiem Noble As Michel de Certeau explains, a place is geometric, it is physical, "space is practiced place.” People give the true definition of a place through their experiences, a “street geometrically defined by urban planning is transformed into a space by walkers.”(de Certeau 117) Authors allow their characters to define the spaces they exist in through their narratives.
Love and Marriage has been a huge topic in the Puritan Era. It is argued by critics that puritans treat Love and Marriage as the meanings of life as they represents the “relationship that structures everything: God’s covenant with believers” (Furey 201). How love situates itself in men’s relationship with god is discussed in many Puritan literature. Two puritan poets, Anne Bradstreet and Edward Taylor have been famous for their expressions of their affection and humility towards God in their poems. Yet, it is argued that they dealt with the topics of Love and Marriage differently.
The theme of perception and acceptance based on appearance is highly emphasized on in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. We currently live in a world where factors like looks, physical characteristics, carriage, fashion taste, knowledge, intelligence, and color of skin, are used as yardsticks of acceptance into the society. In Frankenstein, Victor Frankenstein unfortunately creates an ugly creature that has the appearance of a monster. The creature has to face the challenge of rejection by its creator and the society. For an outcome it has no control over, the monster is inhumanely judged by the society it is created into, thereby resulting in a problem of identity crisis.
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.”
