US History Essay During the seventeenth century, the Puritans landed in New England to form the Massachusetts Bay colony. John Winthrop, the first Governor of the colony, saw the place as a political and religious refuge. He described it as “a city upon a hill.” In England, the Puritans were not free to practice their faith and were persecuted by the Anglican Church. The Puritans wanted to create an ideal society where they could practice religion at will. These people risked everything just so they could freely practice their faith. Their sole purpose in settling in America was to sustain and practice their religion. The Massachusetts Bay colony was very different from their counterpart, Jamestown. Jamestown colonists consisted of mainly single men who came to the New World to merely make money. These money-hungry profiteers were interested in milking the land for cash crops and other sources of revenue. The Puritans, on the other hand, formed communities where they could closely practice their faith together. They had a big focus on families and community worship. The Puritans also created a government, which was based on the idea of the rule of the majority. The Jamestown colony was not interested in making communities. The Puritans’ priorities were centered on their religion and the teaching of it. This is clearly shown in their focus of education. The purpose of education to them was to teach the children religious and moral values. This would prove to be a very good way to. Every community of 50 families had a teacher and every community of 100 families had a school. The Puritans emphasis on religious education supports the fact that they had moralistic plans for the New World. The Jamestown colonists, however, were not as concerned with education. Although the Puritans came to the New World for religious freedom, they did not accept people whose religious beliefs differed from those of the Puritans in the community. Anne Hutchinson, a religious reformer, held meetings at her house to read the Bible to puritan men and women.
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Show MoreUnlike the Chesapeake Bay colony, the New England colonies were founded because of a desire for religious freedom. The Puritans wanted to 'purify' and fix the morally corrupt parts of the Church of England that were created by King Henry VIII; however, they faced discrimination and were subject to violence. The reformers fled England, working together to create a model of the perfect society, with strong family values. The Puritans generally were not wealthy, with many leading simple lives and using their time to help others in their community. John Winthrop, the first governor of the New England colony, constructed the society around family and religion. Puritans established many churches in the hopes that England would copy their model. The religious influences in the society were clear in the New England Primer, a textbook for Puritan children, in which they described the persecution of their people. The discrimination against the Puritans created a s...
The Puritans were English Protestants that came to America around 1630. John Winthrop led the Puritans to America in hopes of creating a pure Christian society separate from the authority of the State and the Church of England. They followed the beliefs of John Calvin who preached predestination. Under Calvinism each individual is born being chosen by God either for eternal salvation or damnation. The Puritans modeled their lives, both personal and within their communities, after the New Testament. They created strong, functional, and for some time successful societies in the Massachusetts Bay Colony in the town of Boston. The Puritans taught mainly reading as writing and math skills were not felt to be important. Establishing the first schools for children, they also founded the first American College, Harvard.
The Puritans were Protestants who did not agree with the Anglican Church. In order to live as they want, the Puritans arrive at Massachusetts in 1630. People who want to seek land leave Massachusetts and establish colonies like Connecticut. In addition, the king of England had given two friends a large piece of land in the north of Massachusetts. John Mason took what later became the colony of New Hampshire, and Ferdinando Gorges took the area that later became the state of Maine.
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’s religious beliefs caused them to believe very strongly in hard work and improving themselves and their society. Economically, Puritan New England fulfilled the expectations of its founders. Their economy relied on fishing and shipbuilding because they were located so close to the Atlantic Ocean. The Carolinas economy was based farming and trading only for goods they could not produce themselves. But their failure came from their perfect soil. “South Carolina’s swampy coast, so perfectly suited to growing rice, was less suited for human habitation. Weakened by chronic malaria, settlers died in epic numbers from yellow fever, smallpox, and respiratory infections.” (Davidson p. 56) Their population grew from immigrations. “The Mid-Atlantic had rapid growth of people and wealth but political wrangling as well as ethnic and religious diversity made for a higher level of social conflict”(Davidson p. 77) So although their population and wealth were in good standing they had problem with their governing. “The colonial population remained small and fractious. The company made matters worse by appointing corrupt, dictatorial governors who ruled without an elective assembly.” (Davidson p.
Though the Puritans, as well as some later groups, fled to the American colonies to escape religious persecution or restrictions, the fact remains that the Puritans had been granted "a charter from King James" for their settlement. Thus, the colonists who came to America for religious reasons were serving the primary purpose of generating profits for the Mother country of England (Boorstin et al.
These Puritans left for the New World in 1630. They were concerned about the religious oppression they were enduring in England. Therefore, Winthrop wanted to establish a Christian colony in the New World where they could escape persecution (McMichael 66). This shows the similarity between the Pilgrims and the Puritans in regard to the need for religious escape. Winthrop was also similar to Bradford in the way he felt about religion. "Winthrop found his guiding principles in the Scriptures and in the teachings of Puritanism" (McMichael 66). The literature also states that the Puritans needed a divine purpose for everything in their lives. " It shows the Puritan's need to find divine sanction for there acts and shows their craving for evidence of a divine purpose in even the trivial events of their daily lives" (McMichael 66). This shows how important religion was to the Puritans and that it was one of the main reasons for them coming to the New
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.
“Mans first priority in life is to do God's will in order to receive future happiness.” In these colonial times many villages were devoted to God. Well, the Puritans were at least. God created this Earth we live and breathe on every single day. Most of the passages within this unit have been written for the reader to expand their knowledge on the earth and what it gives everyone and the people of these times lived through this time period. Major factors in this time period are the Puritans, Rationalists, and the Native Americans.
Puritans fleeing religious persecution in England settled New England. They were a highly religious people. Document A, John Winthrop’s “ City on a hill” speech, shows how they lived according to God’s will and were very community oriented. Their towns were very planned out with a town/ church meetinghouse in the centre, and land plots for everyone in the community. This is shown in Document D, Articles of Agreement in Springfield Massachusetts 1636. Family was also very important. Since they were very religious and family is highly regarded in the Bible, marriage was advocated and adultery was a huge crime. Adulterers were made to wear the letter A on their clothing. Since they were a very close-knit people, they travelled as big families and sometimes as communities. This mass travel is depicted in document B that is a ship’s list of emigrants bound for New Engla...
The Puritans first became a sect in England, where they became dissatisfied with the Church of England and sought reform. They led a civil war but their victory was short-lived and they came to North America to escape persecution. “The Puritans believed that the Bible was God’s true law and that it provided a plan for living.” They wanted to live according to this belief and that is what brought the separation between them and the Church of England. For the Puritans, God was to be the motivation of all their actions (Kizer, Kay). They believed in piousness, righteousness, and hard work. (Campbell, Douglas).
...nt Salem Covenant of 1636 says, “promising unto our best ability to teach our children and servants the knowledge of God, and of His Will, that they may serve Him also” (Doc C). They stressed the importance of education because children needed to learn how to read to be able to read the Bible. In a statement about education in New England, 1643, it proclaims, “One of the next things we longed for, and looked after was to advance Learning, and perpetuate it to Posterity; dreading to leave an illiterate Ministry to the Churches… it pleased God to stir up the heart of one Mr. Harvard” (Doc E). Mr. Harvard established the first college in the New England colonies, Harvard College, which was founded to train ministers. The values and ideas of the Puritans influenced the political, economic, and social development in the New England colonies from 1630 through the 1660s.
The Puritans also had a unique relationship with God that was much stronger than the relationships they had even with their own families and friends. The Puritans that they were flawed and helpless and that they were very capable of being very sinful beings. There was also a belief in the covenant of works. This meant that if you followed all of Gods laws, and did good things that would make him happy, you would then go to heaven. They believed that they were knit together as a body in the most strict and sacred bond and covenant with the Lord. "We do hold ourselves straightly tied to all care of each others goods and of the whole, by everyone and so mutually.(Bradford,35). This also showed how cautious the Puritans were not do to anything that might offend The Lord, and not allow them to get into heaven.
Education, frugality, family, and hard work were main ideas that shaped the Puritan society in the 17th century. The Puritans were a strict, religious group of people that settled in Boston and created the Plymouth Bay Colony. According to Edward Taylor, “Make me, O Lord, thy Spining Wheele complete./Thy Holy Worde my Distaff make for mee./Make mine Affections thy Swift Flyers neate/ and make my Soule thy holy Spoole to bee”(230). This conveys that the Puritans believe in God and that he can make them into something holy. John Winthrop is writing as a Puritan and he says, “Therefore let us choose life,/ that we and our seed,/ may live by obeying his/voice and cleaving to him,/for he is our life and/our prosperity”(257). Winthrop is stating
Some Puritans of this time did not like the sound of their ever nearing future and believed it was not in god’s will for these things to happen. Therefore they grouped together in order to make a new, pure model society in the area of New England in America. The Puritans simply did not agree to what was happening to their religion in their homeland so they set off for a fresh start.