The Dogmas of Puritanism

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The Puritans were a significant grouping of English Protestants with iconic moral beliefs and values that remain widely recognized even today. The inception of the Puritans branch back to Marian exiles after the dethroning of Elizabeth I of England in 1558- they migrated to New England in 1620, bringing stern religious and educational footholds to the New World. Puritan values and ideology defined and impacted the political, social, and economic development of the New England colonies from 1630 to the 1660s.

The Puritans were known primarily for their concentrated and rigid religious beliefs in the early years of their settlement in New England. They placed utmost emphasis on their God and religious teachings- however, they were also not externally excepting of outside religions and beliefs before 1637 when the Pequot’s Mystic River village was consumed by conflagration. The neighboring colonists attacked and destroyed the village in totality. The immense physical and psychological impact of this incident is exemplified in William Bradford’s account; “It was a fearful sight to see them thus frying in the fire, and the streams of blood quenching the same...” This ungodly happening was caused by a blatant and ignorant lack of religious acceptance- the Puritans were not able to coexist with any forms of foreign religion and worship, and were duly punished. This physical attack shook the Puritans to reality, and the causative effect was a greater degree of religious tolerance. The change in acceptance was exemplified in Nathaniel Ward’s The Simple Cobbler of Aggawam, written in 1647, after the attack. “That state that will give liberty of conscience in matters of religion, must give liberty of conscience and conversation in their ...

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...n the Town Map of Colonial New England- there is only one church, one town hall, and houses are all immediately next to one another.

The Puritans were an unprecedented, iconic group of people, bound together by infallible religious, educational, and familial beliefs- unsurprisingly, their beliefs and moral and ethical values had an omnipresent influence in the political, economic, and social aspects of society in the New England colonies from 1630 to the 1660s and beyond. Their harshly apprehended religious tolerance, stark aggrandizement of education, and inseparable concept of societal unity all played omnipotent parts in the development of New England. In conclusion, the Puritans were an indispensible influence in the New World, and their ideas, concepts, and beliefs will live on transcendently forevermore through the ages in the very fabric of human thinking.

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