Essay On Puritan Society

When the Puritans first traveled to America, they dreamt of creating a religious city on a hill with conformity to strict community values, hard-working colonists, educated citizens and a strong theocratic government; however, the end of Puritan dominance led to the creation of a new vision for a “perfect” society with values to fit the growing nation. After the Act of Supremacy in 1534, England became a protestant country united under the Church of England. The Puritans were a sect of Protestants, who believed that the Anglican Church was not yet fully reformed. One especially radical group, the Separatists, believed the Church of England was past reform and desired to separate from the church entirely. These Separatists were persecuted

The vision for their society is both a strict, religious theocracy, and a relatively democratic government with the establishment of a regularly meeting assembly. From this initial document, the Puritans established a strongly religious and conservative community in the Plymouth Colony. They continued to expand and improve their vision for a perfect society as they created the Massachusetts Bay Colony. John Winthrop encapsulated the first generation Puritan desire for a perfect society in his jeremiad, “A Model of Christian Charity”, encouraging the colonist to “consider that [they] shall be as a city on a hill". The Puritans considered themselves God’s chosen people, and believed that they had a covenant with God, which mandated that their society be the epitome of Christian values. Conformity to these values was critical to their society. The Puritans maintained conformity by expelling dissenters such as Roger Williams and Anne Hutchinson. The Puritans would sing songs from the Bay Psalm Book, most notably the “Old Hundredth”, their strictly unison singing betrayed the complete lack of