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The puritans project
The puritans project
Puritan society and its feature
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Puritan Separatists/Plymouth Plantation/Pilgrims/Mayflower Compact: Puritan Separatists were a group of English Puritans who left England to seek religious freedom. They first went to the Netherlands, and in 1620 to America. They were sponsored by Thomas Weston and other merchants who had received a patent for a settlement from the Virginia Company of London. Eighteen families went across the Atlantic in the Mayflower with the agreement that they would send back goods to England to pay for their new land. In November of 1620, the Mayflower landed at Plymouth, outside the bounds of Virginia.
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).
The Puritans were unhappy with the church in England, They stated that the church wasn’t pure and wasn’t the pure way of a church. So they had decided to leave England. The Puritans had decided to settle in New England. They had a strong belief in the Bible, and the pure way of the church. The majority of times the accuser would find that they despised, was jealous of them, or just saw them as unholy.
The Puritans in Massachusetts were very intolerant of other religious beliefs, regardless of the fact that they had been persecuted in England for what they believed. Puritans insisted that regular church attendance was mandatory in order to receive voting privileges. This meant that in order to have a say in anything you had to be a devout Puritan. They often argued about discrepancies within their own religion, such as whether or not sainthood was passed down from generation to generation. Puritans even went as far as to exile other Puritans the did not conform to the standard version of Puritanism.
Although, they left England because of the intolerance they experienced at the hands of the Church of England they too become extremely intolerant. Lastly, the Puritans government in the Massachusetts was a Theocracy, retaining the English system wherein leaders had a divine right to rule and where the authorities. The Puritan Theocracy consisted of a government ran by religious authorities. Church and state were one and the laws of God were the laws of the
The Puritans that had come to the New World aimed at having their church that would be considered as being purer than the Church of England. They were seeking for religious freedom. The Puritans believed in Calvinism, and this made their beliefs hard to abide by them. The Puritan religion was named after John Calvin who thought that the manner in which the Romans practiced Christianity was not right. According to Calvin, God was the supreme being and there was no need of having a Pope, and everyone else was equal.
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.
They believed in congregationalism which allowed them to have power over all the people in the state because the church could have major influence. They did allow some freedom through their Church Democracy. It was a start to them eventually opening up to the world, even if they weren’t ready to. Their sense of Democracy spread to New England; accept it wasn’t the church who dictated it. One major change between the puritans and the people of New England was that New England strongly believed in the separation of church and state.
The Puritans were brave individuals who set out to alter the way their religion should be. Expanding to America was the way to escape the ills of the Catholic Church. Puritans felt that expanding was their right, and it was the only way to uphold God's word. The Roman Catholic Church was headed towards a path of destruction, and this was not what God wanted for his people. In Matthew 5:14, we find one of the major basis of the Puritan belief system.
The Puritans split from the Church of England and the Roman Catholic Church because they believed that the Churches were not upholding the true beliefs of the Bible and the Christian faith. The Puritans’ belief caused them to be rejected and persecuted. Persecutions included arrest, torture, imprisonment, and death. In response to this, the Puritans fled to Holland. By the end of Of Plymouth Plantation, Bradford details corruption and hardship and the first years the Pilgrims experienced in
“ Freedom and prospers when religion is vibrant and the rule of law under God is acknowledged” (Ronald Reagan). The Puritans were people who left New England in search of religious freedom. They believed that the Church’s doctrine was incorrect and didn’t follow God’s intentions. This led John Winthrop ( a Puritan leader) to migrate a large quantity of Puritans to America during the 1600’s. Before they moved to America the Puritans were persecuted and weren't able to practice their beliefs in peace.
According to the social characteristics of the said New England region, the Separatists and Puritans of this region would likely not support the French and Indian War. The Separatists, or Pilgrims, wanted to be separate from the Church of England. However, in these times, it was illegal to not worship the Church of England, so they left for America to avoid religious persecution and worship as they choose. The Puritans, similar to the Separatists before them, left for America for religious reasons. They had tried and failed at reforming the Church of England, so they left Britain and settled in the New England colonies.
In New England, there was no such thing as religious tolerance. Everyone was required to be part of the Church of England whether they believed or not. This led to a disagreement among those who believed that those who were not “visible saints” should not be allowed to worship in the same place as those who were. These colonists were referred to as the Separatists because they eventually separated from the Church of England. Those who chose to stay with the church were called Puritans, although that term could technically be used to describe both.
The puritans are original group which aimed to bring back simplicity and virtue in Christianity. The pilgrims are the separatists who were once puritans but were discontent at reforms. The pilgrims came first to America and settled in Plymouth while the puritans came later and settled in Massachusetts. Pilgrims practiced a form of democracy in their community comprised of working men. On the other hand, puritans are higher in the social and economic status.
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”).