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Puritan witch trials
Impact of puritans on american society
Salem witch trials and puritans
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In Salem, Massachusetts, the lives of many residents were at the mercy of a few young girls. The town was ruled by religion which opened many opportunities for residents to fear anything that they believed as against them, their religion, or just simply immoral. The people who lived there called themselves Puritans. The Puritans were a group of English Protestants who believed that they must purify the church of England from its catholic practices. In Salem, the residents were ruled by religious leaders who oversaw the town’s court.
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,
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.
1. Puritans were the religious nonconformists in England, who advocated the purification of Protestant Church of England from the "popish stuff. " The most radical of them - a group that included William Bradford, the future spiritual leader and the first-time writer of New England, in principle, did not believe in the possibility of return to the Church of England on the right path. They chose to isolate from it. Massachusetts, where travelers had to disembark, was gray and chilly place at that time of year, and had very little in common with the Earthly Paradise.
They left England in 1630, roughly ten years after the Pilgrims, and significantly out numbered the Pilgrims, eleven ships of Puritans from a higher social and economic status than the Pilgrims, many of them were related to Dukes and Duchesses. They wanted to remain as part of the English establishment, working for biblical reform from within. They saw the purpose in the New World as being that of a biblical witness which was to set an example of biblical righteousness in church and state for England and the entire world to see. When the Puritans arrive in to the Massachusetts Bay, now Boston, they had an abundance of supplies that guaranteed their first year survival through their first winter on the new land. Unlike the Pilgrims, the Puritans were extremely intolerant of anyone and everyone who did not share their beliefs.
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 ~
Salem Witch Trials: Puritans Impact New charter government, lethal frontier war, and political and religious conflicts set the perfect stage for Salem, Massachusetts (Paranoia, the Devil, and Witchcraft). That disaster was known as the Salem Witch trials. The trials was a span of time when people believed in the devil's practice of giving certain humans (witches) the power to harm others (Salem Witch Trials). When the people's superstitions became fear a great deal of innocent people were accused, put on trial, and even murdered (Salem Witch Trials). The first trial began when three girls flew into hysterics on January 20, 1692; their symptoms were so extreme, fear spread quickly (Saari 38,39).
The pursuit of religious freedom is not a contemporary idea. For centuries many have valiantly fought against oppression and persecution in order to worship freely without restraint and judgement. Some of the earliest immigrants who migrated to this country did so with the hopes of being able to worship in a manner than aligned most closely with their religious beliefs. Many of the principles that founded this nation are based on the premise of religious freedom and toleration. Undoubtedly one of the most influential and prominent religious factions to land on these shores in pursuit of this right, were the Puritans.
Were the Puritans tolerant of others? When the Puritans arrived after the Pilgrims in the 1630s, they established Massachusetts Bay Colony, the New Haven Colony, the Connecticut Colony and Rhode Island. When they came over to the new world, they came with their strong religious beliefs that set the foundation of our country today. One of the key influencer of this Puritan movement was John Winthrop.
The Puritans were seeking freedom for themselves, but they didn't grasp the concept of acceptance. They came to America to find religious freedom but only for likeminded people. They
I also have to say that I disagree that the Puritans identify with modern Christianity for a number of reasons. One reason is that the Quakers, unlike the Puritans, had more tolerance for the many different religious beliefs that individuals had. They also believed that each person experienced God directly for themselves. While I think there are people of today who still believe in the notion of predestination, the Quakers reflect modern Christianity in their beliefs and the way they treated everyone. In today's society, we have various freedoms and privileges, where back in colonial times, one would either be banished or executed if rules were broken or were considered ungodly.
During the time of the Puritans, America was just beginning to be populated with Whites and the 13 colonies starting to take place. Now Puritans can’t be found as easily, nonetheless, they weren’t so different from us. Their religious beliefs, family structure, civil rights—today we have thankfully made improvements. On 8 June 2018 Jami Montross, 50 years young—my mother who was born and raised right here in Idaho, answered some of my questions on her thoughts of the Puritans.
Most puritans believed in witchcraft (American Eras vol. 2) which caused a problem in Salem. In Salem some teenage girls in accused a west indian slave woman named Tituba. You couldnt be safe in Salem during this time from being accused of being of a witch. Puritans would accuse other people for doing something suspicious or if they had hate against them. Puritans would also accuse those who did not show up church on Sunday.
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”).
Puritanism was a distinct historical occurrence that coincided with the founding of New England. It was also a way of being in the new world and it has resonated through American life ever since. Puritanism was a religious reform movement that was born within the Church of England in the late sixteenth century. Shortly after the birth of the Puritan religious reform movement it fell under attack of the religious people as well as the royal family. The movement grew in the 3rd and 4th decades of the 17th century to the northern English colonies in the New World.