A country in which the president is God is practically the nation in which Puritans chose to build and live in when they migrated to Massachusetts. Puritans lived under a theocracy, meaning that they entrusted the way they were governed in the words and teachings of the bible. They believed that God expected them to live according to the Scriptures and to set a good example as his people. Punishments were carried out based on the wrongdoings against the bible and its laws. Abiding by those laws was the only way to salvation. Going to Church was a serious requirement, working on Sunday was looked down upon and seen as unchristian-like, and the breaking of some of God’s commandments was a serious offense. With such standards in place, a very …show more content…
Punishments are definitely not as harsh as those carried out by the Puritans such as prison time. People suffer these punishments based on evidence, physical proof, instead of the accusation and speculation that led to the deaths in Salem during the witch trials. Though it is dis-advised by the bible and the Puritans, people still work and labor like they would any day. Instead of going to church multiple times a day or multiple times a week, people tend to go on just Sundays or just on religious holidays like Easter or Christmas. From what was seen in the Salem witch trials, it is safe to say that the Puritans would have a much different way of celebrating these events as well. To conclude my life would be mostly me being taught by my mother and helping her in the kitchen, making sure I didn’t do anything that would get me killed if I lived as a Puritan. Now I go to school and church and help my parents when I can, and I don’t fear death if I do wrong or commit a sin. Life between puritan and modern society is mostly different in many ways, but there are also similarities. These similarities represent the continuities from the colonial period to now and the differences represent the ways
Social aspects of the puritans life has lead to numerous social aspects in the average
The conditions were not as bad, but if people were awaiting trial, had to sit in a dark room and ate hardly anything. They did not treat them kindly at all. Many of the people executed were innocent people that just had integrity and would not lie and confess. If people did not plead innocent or guilty, they would be executed were freed. Ironic that they just let them out, because they were innocent. Hysteria was a big part, also, the girls would put on an act just to cause hysteria in the colony, and get other people hurt (Boyer). Salem Witch Trials was as bad as it gets and for some of the same reason same reasons the Japanese Internment Camps were
trial and others like it. The Puritans felt they would all be punished by God, not
Edmund S. Morgan's The Puritan Family displays a multifaceted view of the various aspects of Puritan life. In this book, we, the audience, see into the Puritans' lives and are thereby forced to reflect upon our own. The Puritan beliefs and practices were complicated and rather "snobbish," as seen in The Puritan Family.
The difference in the Salem Witch Trials is that the punishment was more sever, changing circumstances take place constantly, and based on grieve and vengeance. The Salem Witch Trials also happened in the past, coordinated, it was confined only to Salem, and it was based off of beliefs not events.
Year 1692, Hundreds of people, accused with the conviction of witchcraft, stoned to death, or in confinement with no justice trials. “From June through September of 1692, nineteen men and women, all having been convicted of witchcraft, were carted to Gallows Hill, a barren slope near Salem Village, for hanging” (The Salem Witchcraft Trials of 1692) What caused the mass hysteria and disaster of Salem; for, the answer is unknown. Yet, many events and factors had contributed to the accusations, the punishments, and the confessions of the sentenced. Many colonists in Massachusetts were puritans, seeking religious tolerance. Ironically, the Puritan code was strict and disciplined. Dress was dictated to the church and the public were anticipated
The Puritans didn’t understand that the individual households allow freedom from outside of judgment or intervention. The Puritan community sensed that it’s obligat...
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...
...ty men and women had been accused of being witches. Of those, nineteen of them plead innocent and were hung. One man refused to acknowledge the accusation and refused to enter a plea. He was legally crushed to death. Of the ones who plead guilty and were sent to jail, many contracted illnesses and later died. The outbreak of hysteria caused many to suffer and die, families to break apart, and a society to succumb to the whims of children. In the Puritans quest to create a perfect society based on pure beliefs only created a society ripped apart by tension, anxiety and fear.
An eerie quiet filled the neighborhood as families walked side by side, focused, emotionless, affectionless, toward their silent destination. They sat, face forward, eyes forward, alert, silent and anxious, but very emotionless. Sermons filled the void caused by the silence, and every attendee of the church service that morning became engulfed in the religion they learned to value over anything else. Everything depended on their attendance, and those who did not show in silence faced brutal but inevitable consequences. The life of Puritans in 1692 Salem Villages was very different than a life led by an individual in present day. Values were placed heavily upon religion, and lifestyles were based around the church. After coming to the New World to become free from oppression in England, many Puritans found themselves faced with more challenges, moral and beyond, that heavily influenced their lifestyles from childhood to adulthood.
Woman and family roles are considerably different today than they were back in Puritan times. Puritans thought that the public’s foundation rested on the “little commonwealth”, and not merely on the individual. The “little commonwealth” meant that a father’s rule over his family mirrored God’s rule over creation or a king over his subjects. John Winthrop believed that a “true wife” thought of herself “in [weakness] to her husband’s authority.” As ludicrous as this idea may appeal to women and others in today’s society, this idea was truly necessary for colonies to be able to thrive and maintain social order.
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.
Realists were also trying to push for social reform through their writing, hinting at what may happen if reforms do not take place. Emily Dickinson views the Puritan life as a life that oppresses people from the joys it can bring. Puritans try to live a life full of hard work and little pleasure since pleasure is a thing of the devil.
...ntinued to watch over them and, sometimes forcefully, point them in the proper Puritan direction. The Essex County court records, then, demonstrate that Puritans were willing to forgive offenders and welcome them back into the community. Their priority was forgiveness and redemption, not condemnation and exclusion.