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Essay on puritans in new england
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The Puritans were a religious group from England in the 1630s who settled in the New England area. There Colony was known as the Massachusetts Bay Colony (Foner, 2012). The Puritans ran the show and they had a strict religion full of rules that they believed would reform the Church of England. The Puritans felt that they were like the ancient Israelites in Exodus when they were liberated by God (PBS, 2010). They had to establish a new, pure Christian common wealth. Their leader John Winthrop reminded them of their duties and obligations under the covenant (PBS , 2010). If they honored them then God bless them and if they failed, they would be reprimanded. They had many different ideas on what was holy and what not (PBS , 2010) . They thought that women have inherited Eve’s original sin so they could be as good as men (PBS , 2010). Also because of this woman could not be trusted because of their sinful ways (PBS , 2010). They were the root of all problems in the world and on men can fix them. Also on an elect few could join the church and they were the men at the center of Puritan society (Foner , 2012) . The ones who could join were the ones allowed to vote in the colony (PBS , 2010). Church attendance was mandatory for both man and women (PBS , 2010). If you did not attend it could be punished for it was a crime in their society. They did not allow any musical instruments to be played in or outside of church (Foner , 2012). They also saw Native America, European settlers of other faiths and unpredictable natural disasters as forms of the devil himself (PBS , 2010). Now during this time period most people did believe in withes. The Puritans saw them as the embodiment of the devil. Since they felt the Devil was most interested ... ... middle of paper ... ...old the court they were wrong. In September 9 six more people were convicted and sentenced to be hanged. They were Martha Corey, Mary Easty, Alice Parker , Ann Pudeator, Dorcas Hoar and Mary Bradbury. Cotton Mather wrote a letter complaining about how they ignored this request and five people were sentenced and hanged and they would allow spectral evidence meaning testimony about dreams and visions (Saari, 2001). Mather wanted the court not be able to use that typre of evidence (Blumberg , 2007). Governor Phipps responded to Cotton Mather by creating a new court for the trials and not allowing spectral evidence (Blumberg , 2007). In May of 1693 Phipps granted a pardoned all who were in prison on witchcraft charges. In all 19 people were hanged, Giles Corey was pressed to death, several died in jail and nearly 200 people were accused of being witches (Saari, 2001).
	In history Rebecca Nurse was hanged on July 19, John Proctor on August 19, and Martha Corey on September 22.
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.
The Puritans were also very superstitious. They believed that the devil would cause people to do bad things on earth by using the people who worshiped him. Witches sent out their specters and harmed others. Puritans believed by putting heavy chains on a witch, that it would hold down their specter. Puritans also believed that by hanging a witch, all the people the witch cast a spell on would be healed.
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.
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...
Puritans believed in strict religious dedications, by trying to follow the holy commandment. “The discipline of the family, in those days, was of a far more rigid kind than now.”(Hawthorne 9). They wanted to be considered the holiest of all people because they try to reflect a world of perfection in the sight of God. While they where trying to portray a holy life; however, they where also living a sinful life because they have been judgmental, slandering, uncompassionate, resentment, and forbearing, which are all sinful acts of the bible.
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 town jails were filling rapidly as more and more people were being accused and arrested. With the jails being brimming with arrested men and women, the Governor decided that there needed to be a method of convicting witches, so he made a court to take and evaluate the cases of witchcraft. Many different kinds of evidence were accepted and used in the court; tests were made to help convict accused witches:
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...
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.
During the Salem Witch Trials, According to Bakker, “at least 156 people were formally accused, and another sixteen” were named in court by the afflicted girls, but not actually tried, “meaning at least 172 were accused or informally cried out upon.” (2017). When in court, “everyone who pled not guilty was swiftly tried and convicted, and almost all were soon executed, yet, everyone who pled guilty was still alive.” (Bakker, 2017). The Puritans believed in forgiveness and repenting, therefore anyone who pled guilty was thought to be cleansed or in the process of change. Along with this they were also forced to provide the names of other witches. In the end, “twenty-five would perish in the crisis.” (Bakker, 2017).
Once the accusations began, many innocent people in the community were taken away. They were then either forced to admit that they were witches, to free themselves from a public hanging, or deny that they were witches, saving their integrity, but subjecting themselves to an unjust public hanging.
...y the accused there really was no hard evidence of witchcraft, the only reason anyone hanged was because the judges believed themselves so righteous that no one would dare lie in front of them, therefor the girls were telling the truth. I see no reasoning in the whole system they used to find witches back then in Salem.
According to Jones, modern estimates suggest perhaps 100,000 trials took place between 1450 and 1750, with an estimated execution total ranging between 40,000 and 50,000. This death toll was so great because capital punishment was the most popular and harshest punishment for being accused of witchcraft. Fear of the unknown was used to justify the Puritans contradictive actions of execution. Witch trials were popular in this time period because of religious influences, manipulation through fear, and the frightening aspects of witchcraft.
In many ways, the trials that delivered verdicts that often lead to an alleged witch’s death were often based on the word some respected member of the community or another. On close inspection, it becomes clear that most of the individuals accused and punished for practicing witchcraft led lives that were considered out of the ordinary, and were usually marginalized by society, as a result. After many innocent lives had been lost, Increase Mather, a Harvard College academic and a respected member of society, urged the Massachusetts’s legal representative to change the standards governing evidence on witchcraft to be equal to other crimes. The Massachusetts General Court later deemed the trials as being unconstitutional and unlawful since they did not adhere to the due process. Magistrates such as Samuel Sewall, who were responsible for executions in the trials, apologized publicly for their actions to undermine the people’s rights. The court also ruled on offering financial compensation to the heirs of the executed suspects in 1711. The Salem Witch Trials are now widely accepted as unjustified killings resulting from inaccurate accusations made due to mass hysteria, religious extremism and social