History

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In the 1600’s the Puritans were a group of people beginning to colonize America to escape the religious persecution they faced in their native England. When the Puritans arrived in the North American colonies in 1620, they built their society based on a strict interpretation of the Bible. This created such a restrictive environment that those living in the Puritan lifestyle had a difficult time advancing as a society. Due to the strictness of the Puritan religion, the society was impacted negatively by being held back in advancements in the areas of arts, societal freedom, and religious acceptance. From the Puritan interpretation of the Bible, Puritans saw the Arts as ways the Devil led a person toward immorality and away from God. The Puritan society as a whole was one that was heavily influenced by views of the Bible. The Puritans believed that anything that would take away from their pursuit of salvation was sinful. This belief led the Puritan society to look over the area of the Arts, not wanting to look at or create things that they considered lustful and sinful. When the Puritans were looking over these artistic areas, they said things of this nature were a, “waste of precious time" (Morison). This then led the Puritans to be held back as a whole because of the various cultural advancements that the Arts bring into a society. The Puritan culture and religion was therefore being oppressed because these various aspects of their lives could not be expressed freely. If they participated in these various artistic activities they would be faced with the scrutiny of their peers by hearing that they were participating in acts of “vanity,” (Morison). These practices would lead them away from God and the goal of the Puritan society wh... ... middle of paper ... ...coming a society of wealth. The Puritans had the values of hard work and education that America is founded on but because of their views they were not able to express these views and thus negatively affected themselves and negatively affected the way the American people view the Puritans and their society. The Puritans were so conservative that they prevented their society from advancing. This lack of societal advancement set the Puritans up for failure which eventually led to the Puritans themselves dying out as a culture leaving a negative impact and influence on American society as a whole. Due to the strictness of the Puritanism religion modern society was impacted both negatively and positively by building America’s core values and leading to the Puritans being held back in advancements in the areas of arts, societal freedom, and religious acceptance.

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