There is no denying that all American history classes mention Puritans. They took a significant role in not only British history, but also American history. Why were they mentioned so frequently? There are mountains of other groups of early Americans. Why did people just mention Puritans instead of other. Everything started after the English Reformation. For the religions freedom, the first group of British started to leave to the new world. They are known as Pilgrims toady. Instead of giving up their religions in England, Puritans tried to purify the churches inside the country. However, they dejectedly started their journey to the new world later on. From then on, Puritans’ unique culture spread to the New England and they remained one of the dominant cultures until 19th century. Their lives had essential influence on the economic growth, religion culture and education of new colonies and early American culture. By 1629, fearing the punishment by God to the church of English, a group of rich Puritans got together and established Massachusetts Bay Company. And then they transported more Puritans through this joint stock company to their new colony——Massachusetts Bay Colony. Later on, the money that Massachusetts Bay Company gained became capital to create new lives in New English and as simulation of economics to all colonies. The government use the local taxes to build up churches and supported schools. One of the most powerful religious leaders at that time called
The non-Separatist Puritans secured a royal charter from King Charles I to form the Massachusetts Bay Company in 1629. The Massachusetts Bay Company was planned to be a business venture, but was also used as a refuge for Puritans. The Bay Colony quickly became the biggest and most influential of all of the New England colonies. For many years, the charter was used as a constitution for the Company. Governmental power rested with the General Court, who then elected the governor and his assistants.
Puritanism was a religious reform movement that wished to purify the Church of England of the remnants of the Roman Catholic faith. The Puritans were persecuted by many denominations across Europe and around 1620, King James I, a member of the Church of England, began oppressing the Puritan community as well. This led the Puritans to flee England and come to the New World where in the words of John Winthrop they were to build a “city upon a hill”. The Puritans settled in the Massachusetts Bay Colonies, more specifically just north of Boston. The most prominent members of this time were John Winthrop.
In the 17th c., the Massachusetts Bay Company centered around the trade between England and the Massachusetts Bay Indians. Upon the realization that the original company charter issued by the king did not explicitly bind the company’s meeting to England, the Massachusetts Bay Company founded the Massachusetts Bay Colony during the Great Puritan Migration. The Massachusetts Bay Colony consisted of a large group of Puritans-- those who sought to “purify” the Church of England of the remnants of the Roman Catholic papacy whose name was grievously tainted in the late middle ages. The Puritans were fervently loyal to their ministers who were under religious persecution by the Church of England. Therefore the Puritans followed their ministers to
The Puritans believed that idleness was a sin; more specifically, the blatant waste of time and lack of any substantive achievement was, in a word, useless. Thus, the very economic culture of the New England colonies was impacted. The abundant supply of timber and the importance of fishing in place of agriculture guaranteed that timber and fishing were the most treasured and valued products from the New England colonies. Since the Puritans thought that their wealth indicated that they had won God’s favor, the Puritan merchants worked relentlessly to ensure that that part of Boston became a commercial center in New England so that they would be valid players in the economic scene of the New World. Nevertheless, unlike the Chesapeake colonies, New England did not evolve as a region that was focused on economic activity because it was founded as “a plantation of religion” (Doc J), as opposed to a center for “worldly trade.”
The Puritans was a huge deal in the 1600s. It consisted of colonists who were seeking religious tolerance. Puritans were so strict that it was so far fetched from tolerant. One would be punished to not attend church, it was against the law. Men and women were separated through the day long services.
About a century later, during the 1630’s, the Puritans decided that the best way to reform was to emigrate away from the Church of England. Author David Hall claims “excitement ran high that a new kind of society was being created, a community without “the unclean conversation of the wicked” as Thomas Weld reported to his former parishioners in England.” They called this society “New England” and the puritans were one of the many religious movements able to escape to it, but their historical timing was in no way unique. The Puritans eventually realized that they’re next step was developing their society, shaping its system to fit their beliefs.
The Puritans influenced the development of the New England colonies, including Massachusetts Bay, Rhode Island, and Connecticut through the Puritans’ extreme theological values and ideas that create the theocracy, their hard work ethic that increases their economic stability, and their resistance to tolerate other’s different opinions.
More than 80% of Americans have Puritan ancestors who emigrated to Colonial America on the Mayflower, and other ships, in the 1630’s (“Puritanism”). Puritanism had an early start due to strong main beliefs that, when challenged, caused major conflict like the Salem Witch Trials. Puritanism had an extremely rocky beginning, starting with a separation from the Roman Catholic Church. Starting in 1606, a group of villagers in Scrooby, England left the church of England and formed a congregation called the Separatist Church, and the members were called The puritans (“Pilgrims”).
The Puritans were the founder of the northern colonies of New England although, not all New England Colonists were Puritans. The Puritan religion was an influence in the seventeenth-century. Then there were Quakers, who believed that neither preachers nor bibles were necessary to worship god. Which was the complete opposite of what puritans believed. There is one major difference between the two.
On a normal day I wake up, get ready, put on clothes I want to wear, eat my breakfast and go to school. The weather doesn't matter; if it's raining or sunny. People are nice, people are mean; I am too. My worries are different, my thought consist of how my hair looks, if I have acne, am I'm going to stand out? (Hopefully not.)
New England’s economy would also be influenced by the British tax later that would cause Americans to revolt many of which trusted in their faith to guide them The Puritans who settled in Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1630 were also motivated by religious beliefs. They believed in the idea of a "city upon a hill," a vision of a holy community that would serve as an example to the rest of the world (American YAWP, 2.6). This belief led to a strict social order and a commitment to the moral and spiritual purity of the community. It also led to conflicts with other religious groups, such as the Quakers, who were seen as a threat to the Puritan social order.
Any other religions were persecuted and looked down upon. The people of England fought the religious intolerance severely, but the rules never changed. Finally, an opportunity for religious freedom presented itself. The men and women who wanted religious freedom were allowed to travel to the new colonies that England had established in America and practice their religions there. The people took a risk and traveled to America.
They wanted to create pure, moral Christian society based on moral living. By hard working, integration of religion in politics, and social development of certain lifestyle practices, Puritans had a large influence on the development of the New England colonies from 1630s through the 1660s. Puritans believed in hard work as the pathway of success since they thought they were favored by God to succeed (Doc I). They tried to shun idleness and believed that being lazy is not profitable (Doc C).
The Puritans created the Massachusetts Bay colony in the 1620s because they wanted to establish a christian utopia in the New World, free from persecution(Doc A). While the colonists ultimately failed this goal, they still left their mark on New England society, as seen in Document E. In this Document, the Puritans are calling for the regulation of wages in Connecticut . This is because they were against excess, and believed everything should be in moderation. The idea of regulating wages so that they weren’t too big would have been ludicrous to the Virginians.
The government in England had significant control over their people in many areas, one of these areas being religion. The major religion in England during that time period was Roman Catholic. The Catholics and Protestants often times would try to ban each other’s religion. The people of the Protestant faith in order to get away from the Roman Catholic Church, migrated to America; since one of the drawing factors was the chance to practice their religious beliefs freely.