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Roots of religious freedom in the united states
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In March 1630, John Winthrop led thousands of Puritans to the New World and selected Boston harbor as a settlement.(pur 46) Boston became an important place and was seen as a center of Massachusetts Bay colony, which attracted much more Puritans to migrate to Massachusetts later on. Overall, Englishmen migrations to the New World were sent by two different companies, which sent the migrants to the two different colonial areas, Massachusetts and Virginia, with the exception of the Mayflower
Religion was very important to the Puritans in the 1600s. John Winthrop a member of the Puritans gentry, wrote to his wife the ‘I am verily persuaded God will bring some heavy affliction upon this land.” A year later he went and lead a group of a group of puritans to New England. By the 1630s another twenty thousand Puritans would come to America. When John became governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, he told immigrants that will have to guide people toward this holy ideal or they were not welcomed.
The history of Massachusetts includes two religious groups. The Pilgrims can to our colony to separate from the Church of England. They came over from Europe on a ship called the Mayflower. After their arrival at Plymouth Rock at 1620 they agreed to sign the Mayflower Compact, a new form of government that made the laws, the majority rules. Later, they celebrated the first Thanksgiving with the Native Americans.
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,
The idea of the United States having Puritan origins is still alive today. In Sarah Vowell’s, The Wordy Shipmates, the topic of how a nation affiliates itself with Puritan perspectives is introduced. She encourages one to look beyond the surface information of the first English settlers’ motives in the 1600s, and to investigate what Puritan views truly are. She mentions the Governor of Massachusetts Bay Colony, John Winthrop, expressing his freedom to enforce his religious views on to a whole colony of people. The superiors of this religious group decided in the colonies what was appropriate for the society they are creating.
Puritanism was a religious reform movement that wished to purify the Church of England of the remnants of the Roman Catholic faith. The Puritans were persecuted by many denominations across Europe and around 1620, King James I, a member of the Church of England, began oppressing the Puritan community as well. This led the Puritans to flee England and come to the New World where in the words of John Winthrop they were to build a “city upon a hill”. The Puritans settled in the Massachusetts Bay Colonies, more specifically just north of Boston. The most prominent members of this time were John Winthrop.
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
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.
This freedom did not apply to religious freedom however. All of the people who lived within the Puritan settlements, such as the Massachusetts Bay Colony, were forced to followed these laws and regulations put forth by the leaders. If people did not conform to these social standards then they would be ostracised from the community. An example of this would be Anne Hutchinson. Hutchinson followed John Cotton’s sermons closely and then began to form her own opinions and beliefs.
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.
People in our current time generation like to complain about how difficult life is without a simple item. One might say that in 2017 people cannot live without their cellphones and or internet. But life was never that simple. In the time of the Puritans arriving to America, they did not have internet or cell phones to help them. In fact, they struggled at the beginning of their arrival.
The Puritans and their Pure Motives People will always be born as well as people will always die, but what gives a certain person value is what they do in their lifetime. This value is calculated depending on what the person’s views on life are, but a universal high value is if someone is a hero. Being a hero is something that should not exactly be sought after and it’s almost as if it’s a sacred task. Some people who do seek it succeed but if they are only looking for personal fame then it fails. Two heroic figures are shown in the two historical accounts, The General History of Virginia by John Smith, and Of Plymouth Plantation by William Bradford.
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, “Freedom from religious persecution motivated the Pilgrims to leave England...and settle in the New World.” [nps.gov]. The settlers did not agree with what the English government made them believe in. They wanted to have independence religiously, with a say, and the only place for this was the Massachusetts colony in the New World. In the colony, the settlers had the ability to believe what they wanted to in harmony without
The Puritans of New England in the mid 1600s lived a harsh reality. The Puritans were Christians of Calvinist thought. What is significant about this was the Calvinist belief of pre-destination. Heaven was a lottery where only a few who lived pious lives were granted the gift of being saved from God’s wrath. This means even those who are good could still go to hell.
