Macey VonBerge English 3H November 3rd, 2016 Early American Literature Influence In the 1630’s, a group of eenglish protestants set sail to the New World to seek religious freedom from the Church Of England who did not allow them to reform the church or have different beliefs. This group of people are known as the Puritans. Religion plays the biggest role in influencing eEarly American cultural identity because it influencesd the Puritan’s actions, and was the basis of the Puritan’s government. The colonists turn to religion to have a high power, God, in their life, to build the walk way of life and how it should be lived. Religion plays the biggest role in eEarly American culture because of how it influences the Puritan’s actions.The Puritans …show more content…
The government officials are highly influenced by the church officials and Puritan faith. As it states in The Crucible, “You must understand, sir, that a person is either with this court or he must be counted against iti, there is no road between.” (Crucible Act 3). This statement, given by Danforth, sums up the attitude of the authorities toward the witch trials.The court and government of Salem are now technically belonging to God. Since the court is conducting the witch trials, anyone who questions the trials is the court’s enemy. The court does God’s work, so an enemy of the court must be a servant of the Devil.The church and state join together to become more powerful to the citizens of the colony. As it states in the “Salem Witch Trials” video from the History Channel, “The villagers used witch hunts as a powerful tool to get rid of their real or imaginary enemies, and the authorities did nothing to stop them.” (Salem Witch Trials from History Channel). The Puritan colonies are is a blend of theocracy and modern democracy. All residents of the colonies are required to attend church, but not all residents are members of the church. The church and state are separate, but work together to maintain Puritan faith. Puritan law penalizes sexual misconduct with whipping, branding, or even execution. This is all to keep the faith as pure as possible in the colonies, and the church needs the churches help to accomplish this. Government is an influence on Early American culture; however, the church influences the government to follow the Puritan laws. For that reason religion is a more substantial influence on Early
There were a number of religious factors that contributed to the Salem Witch trials but most of the people in Massachusetts during the trials were Puritans. The Puritan lifestyle was influenced by the church and Christian beliefs. Puritans believed that God expected them to live according to the scriptures and to set a good example so the people that remained in England would change their sinful ways. Puritans were expected to follow a strict moral code and anything other than that was considered a sin and deserved to be punished. When difficulties in the community began the blame was on the Devil and the witches.
The puritans traveled from England on the Arabella in January of 1630 to escape to a place where they could instill their own religious and political values into their society; Stephen Foster writes about the puritans in the narrative entitled Puritanism and Democracy: A mixed Legacy. Stephen grants the puritans with creating a society based off of religious freedom and reformation of the English church. Their social constructs consisted of hierarchies and accepted inequality. The puritans are credited with laying the foundation to the democratic system of America along with early aspects of political and social constructs found in current day America.
In the 1700’s the Puritans left England for the fear of being persecuted. They moved to America for religious freedom. The Puritans lived from God’s laws. They did not depend as much on material things, and they had a simpler and conservative life. More than a hundred years later, the Puritan’s belief toward their church started to fade away. Some Puritans were not able to recognize their religion any longer, they felt that their congregations had grown too self-satisfied. They left their congregations, and their devotion to God gradually faded away. To rekindle the fervor that the early Puritans had, Jonathan Edwards and other Puritan ministers led a religious revival through New England. Edwards preached intense sermons that awakened his congregation to an awareness of their sins. With Edwards’ sermon, “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” he persuades the Puritans to convert back to Puritanism, by utilizing rhetorical strategies such as, imagery, loaded diction, and a threatening and fearful tone.
During the time of the Salem Witch Trials the intertwining of religion and government did not allow citizens of Salem, Massachusetts the right to a fair trial, so it was the states responsibility to separate the two. In the 1600’s the Puritan religion was greatly enforced by the government. It wouldn’t be until many years later that separation of church and state became a law.
Religion was a huge part of law, the court, and the state in Puritan New England. The Puritan church was mixed with the state and often they seemed to almost combine. Laws were a combination of the state and religion (Yale 9). Referring to church and state, David Yale wrote, “The distinction is far from clear” (Yale 9). This was in contrast to the Puritan founders who origionally wanted church and state to be separate, but able to work together (Yale 9). The Church had so much power in the state, it ultimately organized the civil government (Yale 9). If a person would rebel against the government and criticize or defy the Puritan rule, it would be considered a sin against God. Religion also had a association with questioning in the courts and religion was part of the prosecution. An example of this is during the examination of Sarah Good by John Hathorne. The examination starts off with this text. “(Hathorne) Sarah Good what evil spirit have you fimiliarity with. (Sarah Good) None. (H) Have you made no contact with the devil. (S G) Good answered no. (H) WHy doe you hurt these children. (S G) I doe not hurt them. I scorn it. (H) Who doe you imploy then to doe it. (S G) No creature but I am falsely accused” (Linder umck.edu). This shows a trait in Hawthorne's prosecution style where he...
While residing in England, the Puritans and faithful Catholics faced prosecution, which led to their immigration to the New World. Most left England to avoid further harassment. Many groups and parishes applied for charters to America and, led by faithful ministers, the Pilgrims and Puritans made the long voyage to North America. Their religion became a unique element in the New England colonies by 1700. Before landing, the groups settled on agreements, signing laws and compacts to ensure a community effort towards survival when they came to shore, settling in New England. Their strong sense of community and faith in God led them to develop a hardworking society by year 1700, which Documents A and D express through the explanation of how the Pilgrims and Puritans plan to develop...
In a theocratic society, the church is at the top of the societal pyramid. With the church being at the top, they were often the authority of the town or society. Ministers being the head of the church, were the main people to follow the law out. In The Crucible by Arthur Miller, in 1692 in Salem, Massachusetts there was a discovery of witchcraft. When they began to struggle with finding all the witches in the town, they call upon Reverend John Hale, a Puritan minister and the witch expert, to help. Hale gladly traveled to Salem to help them with their crisis at hand. Hale was not your classic Puritan minister. Along with attempting to “ purify “ the church, Hale was an “ expert “ in witchcraft. He took pride in
The puritans were very religious. They wanted to show everyone what happens if you are good and believe in god and the heavens. If you do bad things you would be punished or be killed. If you do good things you can be hand chosen to go to heaven.
Religion was the foundation of the early Colonial American Puritan writings. Many of the early settlements were comprised of men and women who fled Europe in the face of persecution to come to a new land and worship according to their own will. Their beliefs were stalwartly rooted in the fact that God should be involved with all facets of their lives and constantly worshiped. These Puritans writings focused on their religious foundations related to their exodus from Europe and religions role in their life on the new continent. Their literature helped to proselytize the message of God and focused on hard work and strict adherence to religious principles, thus avoiding eternal damnation. These main themes are evident in the writings of Jonathan Edwards, Cotton Mathers, and John Winthrop. This paper will explore the writings of these three men and how their religious views shaped their literary works, styles, and their historical and political views.
The church and Christian beliefs had a very large impact on the Puritan religion and lifestyle. According to discovery education, “Church was the cornerstone of the mainly Puritan society of the 17th century.”( Douglas 4). Puritan laws were intensively rigid and people in society were expected to follow a moral strict code. And because of Puritans and their strict moral codes, any act that was considered to go against this code was considered a sin and deserved to be punished. In Puritan theology, God h...
In 1630, the Massachusetts Bay Company set sail to the New World in hope of reforming the Church of England. While crossing the Atlantic, John Winthrop, the puritan leader of the great migration, delivered perhaps the most famous sermon aboard the Arbella, entitled “A Model of Christian Charity.” Winthrop’s sermon gave hope to puritan immigrants to reform the Church of England and set an example for future immigrants. The Puritan’s was a goal to get rid of the offensive features that Catholicism left behind when the Protestant Reformation took place. Under Puritanism, there was a constant strain to devote your life to God and your neighbors. Unlike the old England, they wanted to prove that New England was a community of love and individual worship to God. Therefore, they created a covenant with God and would live their lives according to the covenant. Because of the covenant, Puritans tried to abide by God’s law and got rid of anything that opposed their way of life. Between 1630 and the 18th century, the Puritans tried to create a new society in New England by creating a covenant with God and living your life according to God’s rule, but in the end failed to reform the Church of England. By the mid 1630’s, threats to the Puritans such as Roger Williams, Anne Hutchinson, and Thomas Hooker were being banned from the Puritan community for their divergent beliefs. 20 years later, another problem arose with the children of church members and if they were to be granted full membership to the church. Because of these children, a Halfway Covenant was developed to make them “halfway” church members. And even more of a threat to the Puritan society was their notion that they were failing God, because of the belief that witches existed in 1692.
The Puritan government during the time of this play is a theocracy—a government of God, run by the town’s minister. This means that the people cannot elect their own leaders. In The Crucible, the minister of the town is Reverend Samuel Parris. Mr. Herrick says to Danforth, “Mr. Parris command me, sir. I cannot deny him.” This shows that he, Mr. Parris, holds a definite authority over Mr. Herrick. In this theocracy, the people have to obey the minister and his appointed colleagues no matter what. The townspeople will be condemned by the government if they can not recite the Ten Commandments whenever they are asked to do so. The government of Salem basically was the Church.
Puritanism as a religion declined, both by diluting its core beliefs and by losing its members. This phenomenon was at work even in colonial days, at the religion’s height, because it contained destructive characteristics. It devolved into something barely recognizable in the course of a few generations. We can observe that the decline of Puritanism occurred because it bore within itself the seeds of its own destruction.
The literature of Puritan America reflects the beliefs and values of the settlers in many ways. The first example is from the poem “Here follows some verses upon the burning of our house”. The quote “Adieu, Adieu, all's vanity. Then straight i’gin my heart to chide…”(Line 36-37) means that she wants to fix her thoughts and actions. The reason that I say this is because the Puritans believed that only the elct get to go to paradise. In this quote Anne Bradstreet is saying goodbye to the way she was, and saying hello to the person she is going to become in order to be apart of the elect.
Religion played a huge part in Salem Massachusetts during the witch trials. They left England for religious freedom but in Salem they don't offer that there is just one religion Puritanism. Puritans were wanted to live by a fixed set of moral code, they believe that all sins should be punished. The Puritans also believed God would punish sinful behavior. Puritans also believed that the Devil was a real God. Everyone was faced with a struggle between good and evil, but they believed that Satan would select the weakest individuals which was children, women, and the mentally ill to carry out his work because their will was easily bent. Puritans who fell into the Satans hands were considered witches. In Salem, Witchcraft was on of the greatest