Puritans Impact On Colonial Society

Puritanism was a religious and social movement that began in 16th century England and later spread to the United States. The Puritans were a group of Protestant Christians who believed that the Church of England was not sufficiently reformed and sought to purify it of its Catholic influences. They placed a great emphasis on hard work, and the importance of the Bible as the ultimate authority on matters of faith and morals. Many Puritans began to migrate to the New World in the early 17th century in search of religious liberty and the opportunity to practice their faith as they saw fit. Puritans had a major part shaping the political, economic, and social structure of New England Colonial life.

Puritanism greatly impacted the political structure

Winthrop writes “Wee must delight in eache other; make other’s conditions our owne; rejoice together, mourne together, labour and suffer together, always haueving before our eyes our commission and community in the worke as members of the same body.” Puritans shaped the social structure of America entirely as they showed what its like to be a community and Winthrop states that they must do everything together. According to the History.com editors “by the beginning of the 18th century, Puritanism had both declined and shown its tenacity. Though “the New England Way” evolved into a relatively minor system of organizing religious experience within the broader American scene, its central themes recur in the related religious communities of Quakers, Baptists, Presbyterians, Methodists and a whole range of evangelical Protestants.” Even after the decline to Puritanism it still had a drastic impact to the religious structure of Early America. Puritanism was the beginning to the belief to have a strong connection with their god as of which started the Great Awakening and spread to new religions. Puritanism, even at its decline, shaped the social fabric of early