Puritans: The First Form Of Democracy In New England

In the year 1630 during the reign of King Charles the first, Puritans came to the New World. The first group of Puritans to land in New England, led by John Winthrop, traveled overseas to form a new, pure church and have religious freedom their way. The Puritans started out with just nine hundred people, but quickly grew to over twenty thousand. They began by settling in Boston, Massachusetts, forming the Massachusetts Bay Colony, an economically successful colony. They soon spread to form and settle Connecticut, Rhode Island, and New Hampshire. Their religious beliefs had an extreme influence on the development of New England and played its part in creating one of the first forms of democracy in the New World. John Winthrop wanted himself

A Theocracy is a system of government where priests rule at the hand of God. The Puritans made their own government and a general court that represented the whole colony. The government’s main purpose was to help enforce God’s laws which were what all members of the Puritan communities had to live and breathe by. The Puritans used the purest form of democracy, they held regular town meetings where both men and women could come and speak about any issues and ways to go about obtaining and handling the necessities of the community. Along with the town meeting came the requirement to vote, however, the only people allowed to vote were the white male land owning church members. This is not exactly representing the entire community, but it was still very good for this time. Another boundary was set on the preachers, they were not allowed to hold a spot in the political office. If a preacher was to lose his job preaching, which happened very often, he would have to find another job, which could not be in the political office. The political life of the Puritans did not bend in any way for any

New England’s society was shaped by the religious beliefs of the Puritans and their determination, good and bad, to enforce their beliefs. Politically, they lived as a large theocracy, but introduced to New England the purest form of democracy, influencing not only New England, but later the United States of America, to form and live under a democracy. They also had great influences on New England and England itself economically. They became excellent fishermen and highly skilled ship craftsmen, as well as helping not only their own economic system, but also Europe’s economy through the resources they sold to England and bought back as a much more useful resource, such as the beaver furs. The Puritans also became very successful in the trading industry and because of this they were able to come by everything it was that they needed. All of these great influences still have a part in how America lives