Puritans of the mid 1600s Puritanism is a religion that arose from the Church of England, in the early 1600s. Puritanism first appeared during the colonization of New England. Puritans withstood much persecution from members of more populated religions. Even though Puritans were persecuted, they stood by their values. Their ideas and values greatly influenced New England colonies, in the mid-1600s, through rapid political, economic, and social development. Puritan church leaders were the head of the government of the colonies. There was no separation between church and state. The Puritans did not want to be a colony, instead they wanted to be a community through a covenant with God. An elected governor of the Massachusetts Bay colony was
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.
8.Puritans— ‘Followers' of Puritanism, a movement for reform in the Church of England that had a profound influence on the social, political, ethical, and theological ideas in England and America. In America the early New England settlements were Puritan in origin and theocratic in nature. The spirit of Puritanism long persisted there, and the idea of congregational democratic government was carried into the political life of the state as one source of modern democracy.
The puritans had many religious beliefs. The religious beliefs they held were strong and they were extremely devoted to serving their Lord. Puritans believed that people of God had a teetotal lifestyle, worked hard and were responsible. They also believed that anything and everything that happens on earth is already predestined by God. People would not earn salvation with works of righteousness but through God’s grace. The congregation would make all of the decisions in the church and they would not acknowledge any other religions. When Puritans worshipped, it was very simple and only focused on God. There was no music, stained glass windows or art.
The Puritans were "Christians," in that they believed in Jesus Christ yet some may argue that they did not lead "Christian" lives. These fanatics seemed to obssess over a major tenet of their religion, that being "Pre Destination." That is, God Himself chose those destined for eternal salvation in the beginning of time, long before our conception and birth. This pre-ordained number is considerably miniscule, which, at times, the Puritans seemed to ignore.
Although at first glance the arrival of the Puritans in America seemed solely for religious freedom, it actually was deeply embedded in economic trading opportunities. In 1629, the English crown authorized the colonization of a large area of New England by the Massachusetts Bay Company, which was a joint stock trading company. The company was taken over by a group of wealthy Puritans, and they successfully established the Massachusetts Bay Colony under the leadership of John Winthrop in the New World. The Puritans brought the company’s charter with them, which allowed them to bend the charter to their own purposes, transforming the company into a commonwealth.
The Puritans were mainly artisans and middling farmers by trade and in the wake of the reformation of the Church of England, left for the colonies to better devout themselves to God because they saw the Church of England as a corrupt institution where salvation was able to be bought and sold, and with absolutely no success in further reforming the Church, set off for the colonies. English Puritans believed in an all-powerful God who, at the moment of Creation, determined which humans would be saved and which would be damned (Goldfield 45).
The puritans were very religious. They wanted to show everyone what happens if you are good and believe in god and the heavens. If you do bad things you would be punished or be killed. If you do good things you can be hand chosen to go to heaven.
Additionally, the Puritans governed their communities democratically but only allowed male church members to vote. Puritanism was declared the official state religion and all other religious practices were banned. The Puritan religion was to be followed by community members through conversion or they were asked to leave. Gender equality was only considered within the meaning of being saved by God. Otherwise, women were inferior to men and must obey them in every aspect of their lives. Also, women were not allowed to lead prayer or worship meetings, nor could they be preachers or ministers. The Puritans lived faithfully by the words and laws of the Bible. They saw themselves to be like the Israelites being liberated by God from oppression and were chosen to fulfill an established, pure, Christian commonwealth.
Puritanism refers to the movement of reform, which occurred within the Church of England. It began at the time of the Elizabethan settlement of 1559 and ended at the end of the Rump Parliament with the ascension of Charles II to the British throne in 1660.
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...
The Salem Witch Trials were a time of confusion, where half a dozen girl accusers threw the town of Salem on its head. The end result was 19 hung and one crushed to death for failure to admit or deny witchcraft and 150 more were imprisoned throughout the course of the trial (Hall p38). The Puritans came to the “New World” for their religious freedom to fallow their ideals for a new way of life, the “perfect way of life.” They were issued charter--to live on the land--. The King Phillip’s war labeled as “[t]he bloodiest war in America’s history …which…took place in New England in 1675” (Tougias par.1) had a dramatic effect on the Puritan society. Their charter was revoked and reinstated at least twice throughout the course of the war. This stress of having their land revoked and reinstated without a doubt placed pressure on the society as a whole to develop and become self-sustaining entity free from England. After the war people would look to the church even more than they had in the past for guidance. This set the seen for the problems to come. The churches relentless attempt to maintain the society that they had established was the cause of the Salem witch trials.
The Puritans were Englishmen who chose to separate from the Church of England. Puritans believed that the Anglican Church or Church of England resembled the Roman Catholic Church too closely and was in dire need of reform. Furthermore, they were not free to follow their own religious beliefs without punishment. In the sixteenth century the Puritans settled in the New England area with the idea of regaining their principles of the Christi...
Puritan life is probably one of the biggest paradoxes known to man theoretically. In practice is doesn’t seem like such an absurd notion. There are certain things that may lead someone into confusion over the way that Puritan life was conducted. One of these things is the object of holiness. This means that only certain members are allowed into the Puritan life after proving themselves holy. Another object that may cause confusion is the idea of enjoying oneself in Puritan life. Recreation did occur in Puritan life, but the definition of Puritan recreation is differently defined. One more object of confusion in Puritan life is the type of Puritan in which you are stereotyped into depending of your actions regarding your religion. Although this might sound complicated it is not as intricate as it is written. For Puritan’s this was a way of life. This tells us that, in practice, all of these social theories are probably more plausible than they sound. Winthrop did encounter all of these problems in his journey from England to Massachusetts, and them encountered some of these while he was in control of the society there.
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.
...y from the Church of England. Puritanism was weakened at its core because of this strict and finicky hierarchy within its church. It drove people away, leaving it in great need of loyal members. “In effect, strict religious purity was sacrificed somewhat to the cause of wider religious participation” (Kennedy, 73).