Puritans Influence On New England Essay

Evidence shows that the Puritans had politically influenced their colonies with their religious values. In the New World, a group of Puritans established the Massachusetts Bay Colony. There, the Puritans would create a government that would revolve around their covenant with God. On the way to the New World, John Winthrop, governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, led a sermon, titled “A Model of Christian Charity”, about Puritan ideals (Winthrop). As well as determining Puritan ideals, the sermon urges colonists to unite as a “city on a hill” for others to look up to (Winthrop). John Winthrop knew that their colony would “be a service to the church” by “[carrying] the gospel” into this new part of the world (Winthrop). This colony would demonstrate

The Puritans had great effect on the way America was set up, but actually originated in England. The religion started in the early 1600s and only took 30 years to be brought to the America. The starters of the Puritan faith where once apart of Church of England but felt that church was too influenced by the Catholic religion and wanted to purify the Church of England thus being called the Puritans. Like any religious group would do they attempted to change the ways of the Church of England but were unsuccessful. The actions they took lead to a civil war in England. The Puritan leaders eventually gave up and decided to try for the colonies in America. By March of 1630 they had funds ready to start their journey to the Massachusetts Bay Area. The leader, John Winthrop, led nearly 9,000 Puritans to the colony between 1630 and 1643. Making them the most rapid growing religion of their time.

The ideas constructed by the Puritans were not simply a principal starting point for American culture because they were the first in the country, but because they offered distinct ways of thinking that are still deep-seated in our culture today. Although many of the ideas of Puritans have evolved or vanished over time, it is important to give credit to the Puritan writers and thinkers such as John Winthrop and John Cotton who offered ideas that were new at the time and that stayed with the American consciousness—culturally, socially, and politically.

Life in the early 1600’s is a big contrast to the way we live in American in present day times. Back then America was just starting out as there were no official towns yet because not many Europeans lived here. All of that changed in the year 1607 when the first English settlement was built. Years later more came to America for different reasons; some came to have better opportunities and make a decent living but another big reason was to escape religious persecution. This was the beginning of Puritan life in America.

After a struggling start of the southern colony. There was a beginning to a new colony further north. Which was known as the New England. The New England that was started in the 1630 which was composed of people that were name puritans. This people called puritans would prosper through their hard work, thrift, and the quality of their commitment to God and each other. The reason the England colony was loved so much was because of the religion, how they made their living and the way there laws were set which was what made the colony so distinct.

The Salem Witch Trials, by Laura Marvel covers the tragedy from the era of witchcraft.. To give a brief overview of the historical event would be tough. Although it was a huge event that happened, most have heard false accusations that did not actually happen. Taking place in Salem Massachusetts, over 200 people were accused of practicing witchcraft, also known as the Devil’s Magic! A total of 20 were actually executed, some hung, some burned, and some drowned. It was a matter of whether the judges and court liked you or not, or if you were wealthy. They very much envied people with money or large plots of land. Such a tragic event shaped the society we live in today. The trials impacted the society in many ways, this essay

Document B shows how dense New England's towns were. The houses were very close together, and church and school were in the center of town. Their religious convictions influenced this structure because church was a central part of their lives, so they all needed to live close to a church. Because of their religious devotion, education was also important to the Puritans. Schools were founded much faster than in the southern colonies, because the Puritans "dread[ed] to leave an illiterate Ministery to the Churches" (Document E). This point of view, that education was important, is significant because it was unique to the New England colonies. The southern colonies had no need for education because all they came to the New World to do was farm and get rich. As a result, New Englanders were better educated than the other colonies. Document A explains from a Puritan point of view how much community was valued. Their desire for togetherness influenced the way their towns were organized, and, in turn, how close the colonists were to one another. Puritans' value of closeness and community also led to stable families. Family closeness was evidenced by Puritans traveling as whole families, unlike colonists in the Chesapeake, who were mostly single males. Divorce was basically illegal in New England, except under two circumstances: adultery and outright abandonment. Puritan kids usually grew up in

John Winthrop was a puritan who came to America seeking religious liberty. The puritans believed religion should be straight from bible scripture. They encouraged their supporters to read the bible and listen to sermons rather than participate in sacraments. They loathed Catholicism and disliked how England’s churches still utilized catholic rituals. They did not agree with the religious structure where authority passed down from pope, to bishops, and priests. They were Congregationalists who felt each congregation should independently run its own affairs. They puritans believe in seeking salvation as success indicated God’s grace, but God had already determined who was going to be saved. They felt because of their strong urge to bring religion

The New England colonies were made with the aspiration to escape commotion and disorder of England, with their sights set to found a formal, clean, Puritan society. Their society was strict conformity, fines were issued for breaking Sabbath by smoking or even stopping by to see friends. Strict dress codes were given, including a ban on wearing flashy ceremonious clothing to your own wedding and a ban was put on all games, such as: cards and dice. The land was distributed between wealthy families and the government was considered to be ruled by the people, well, the men; considering they were the only people allowed to vote. This was called a self government and was managed primarily by the male church members. Other men worked on subsidized farms, considering the rocky land wasn't useful for anything more than that. So their main exports that helped their economy was furs, lumber, and fish. Women were prohibited from working or even having their own churches.

The New England Puritans sought religious freedom for themselves in the “New World.” They compared themselves a lot to the Israelites and saw the new land as a “Promised Land.” Their attitude towards the land was that of respect, but they believed God wanted them to “use” the land. In their point of view, the Native Americans were living in the wilderness and not pleasing God. This produced tension with the Natives because Puritans would often expect the Natives to leave the land that they wanted. A possible consequence of this was King Phillips War.

According to (Jess Bloomberg) the puritans were a group of people who grew away from the Church of England and worked towards religious moral and societal reform. John Calvin writings gave a rise to Protestantism and

This being one of the main influences that still exists to this day, the “Puritan doctrine also helped to nurture self-government in the new land” (Fowler). Essentially, what this did was create a community democracy in which our state’s political system is based from in the United States. Although the Puritan’s initial idea of government was for the people, they also “favored a model of government based on a community’s covenant with god.” (Fowler) One of the main flaws with their self-governance was within their definition of democracy, only religious leaders could attain a position within government because of their political religious

The Puritans really want its people and their children to be able to read and write to the point where those in charge even want the parents to teach them if they don’t have the money to have a tutor for their children. When some families didn’t follow the Massachusetts School Law of 1642, a second law had to be made in 1647 just to enforce the importance the education. The law forced towns with fifty or more families to have someone teach the children how to read and write. As a result, the parents or masters of the children would have to pay for that fee. In towns with a hundred or more, there would be a grammar school. Additionally, those families that don’t make their children go to this school would have to pay 5 pounds until they do it. Another value of Puritan New England is religion. The Puritans in England believe that the Church of England was very corrupt. As a result, they decided to flee to the New World. There, they tried to enforce their own beliefs that revolved around church ceremonies and practice where there would be the availability of Biblical sanctions and elevated priests. The Puritans also tried to reform the world to conform to God’s

The Puritans were heavy believers in their religion. They would make their children read the bible. The closest thing today to the Puritans is probably Amish. They would be obligated to pay the Rev. Parris money to just hear him speak. At one point people stopped going to church because of his niece. Puritans were Catholic religion, it's a sin to believe in astrology and mythology, but they would believe you are a witch or even a part of a cult for that matter. Catholic believe that you should only believe in one God and should not have many gods above that

Liberty is an essential element in America, and it was influenced by people in the Seventeen Century. Most people who lived in New England were Puritans who had their own qualities and features. Puritans increased their liberty from aspects which includes their own religious belief and political model. They merged the democratic ideas in the government system and increased the liberty through local congregational worship. Puritans also showed their pursuit of liberty in their religion doctrine which emphasized the relationship between individuals and God. Moreover, Puritans’ contribution in these aspects created profound influence on the meaning of United States.