Puritan Separatists/Plymouth Plantation/Pilgrims/Mayflower Compact: Puritan Separatists were a group of English Puritans who left England to seek religious freedom. They first went to the Netherlands, and in 1620 to America. They were sponsored by Thomas Weston and other merchants who had received a patent for a settlement from the Virginia Company of London. Eighteen families went across the Atlantic in the Mayflower with the agreement that they would send back goods to England to pay for their new land. In November of 1620, the Mayflower landed at Plymouth, outside the bounds of Virginia.
Although, they left England because of the intolerance they experienced at the hands of the Church of England they too become extremely intolerant. Lastly, the Puritans government in the Massachusetts was a Theocracy, retaining the English system wherein leaders had a divine right to rule and where the authorities. The Puritan Theocracy consisted of a government ran by religious authorities. Church and state were one and the laws of God were the laws of the
During that time if you were not a part of the newly founded Church of England then you were considered a separatist. Puritans became known as separatists because they did not want to be a part of the Church of England’s practices. Being separated from the Church of England left them vulnerable to attacks from others who did attend the Church. People like John Whitgift were hired by Queen Elizabeth I to stop Puritanism in its tracks. Whitgift tried to stop all the resistance from the Puritans.
They believed in congregationalism which allowed them to have power over all the people in the state because the church could have major influence. They did allow some freedom through their Church Democracy. It was a start to them eventually opening up to the world, even if they weren’t ready to. Their sense of Democracy spread to New England; accept it wasn’t the church who dictated it. One major change between the puritans and the people of New England was that New England strongly believed in the separation of church and state.
Puritans disagreed with the people who followed Church of England which made them secede and practice on their own. Although, leaving the church made Puritans victimized. Puritans that separated, Separatists, strayed away from the Church of England and made a pact with the Virginia Company of London to voyage the May Flower to Virginia. The Separatists, also referred as Pilgrims, landed in Plymouth, Massachusetts. The Pilgrims did not believe they were under jurisdiction of the Virginia Company of London so they created the Mayflower Compact which was an agreement of majority rule and a promise to defend any other member of the group if ejected.
The Puritans in Massachusetts were very intolerant of other religious beliefs, regardless of the fact that they had been persecuted in England for what they believed. Puritans insisted that regular church attendance was mandatory in order to receive voting privileges. This meant that in order to have a say in anything you had to be a devout Puritan. They often argued about discrepancies within their own religion, such as whether or not sainthood was passed down from generation to generation. Puritans even went as far as to exile other Puritans the did not conform to the standard version of Puritanism.
The Puritans were brave individuals who set out to alter the way their religion should be. Expanding to America was the way to escape the ills of the Catholic Church. Puritans felt that expanding was their right, and it was the only way to uphold God's word. The Roman Catholic Church was headed towards a path of destruction, and this was not what God wanted for his people. In Matthew 5:14, we find one of the major basis of the Puritan belief system.
Because Puritans faced countless persecutions in England, many fled to Holland. In 1620, fearing that they would lose their identity as English Protestants, a small group set out for the New World in hopes of building a new society based on the Word of God. Convictions of the Puritans helped shaped the American character. Such convictions included moral, ethical, and religious. There were approximately twenty thousand English Puritans in New England by 1640.
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”).
Puritanism was a movement that arose towards the end of the 16th century. It was a direct result of the split of the Catholic Church. The Anglicans became the dominant Protestant religion in England and disapproved of the Puritan beliefs. To escape the religious persecution that followed, they escaped to the New World. (Religion of the American Republic) Puritans saw God as an omniscient and omnipotent being.
The first colonists of New England were driven by religious reasons; the settlers were devout Puritans. Their religiousness helped develop New England. John Calvin’s followers, called Puritans wanted to purify and reform the Church of England. The Puritans took their inspiration from Calvinism; they lived their lives of strict devotion. In addition, the Puritans valued their community, where everyone within the community must care for one another.
“ Freedom and prospers when religion is vibrant and the rule of law under God is acknowledged” (Ronald Reagan). The Puritans were people who left New England in search of religious freedom. They believed that the Church’s doctrine was incorrect and didn’t follow God’s intentions. This led John Winthrop ( a Puritan leader) to migrate a large quantity of Puritans to America during the 1600’s. Before they moved to America the Puritans were persecuted and weren't able to practice their beliefs in peace.
According to the social characteristics of the said New England region, the Separatists and Puritans of this region would likely not support the French and Indian War. The Separatists, or Pilgrims, wanted to be separate from the Church of England. However, in these times, it was illegal to not worship the Church of England, so they left for America to avoid religious persecution and worship as they choose. The Puritans, similar to the Separatists before them, left for America for religious reasons. They had tried and failed at reforming the Church of England, so they left Britain and settled in the New England colonies.
Puritans- was a dissenter religious group which was trying to reform the Church of England by what they referred to it as purifying it. Some of the first Puritans included Anne Dudley who was the first English-speaking poet and Simon Bradstreet. Their main goal to was to create a “holy” community in New England. John Winthrop- the first governor and main person in charge of creating a model new society of Puritans in America.
In New England, there was no such thing as religious tolerance. Everyone was required to be part of the Church of England whether they believed or not. This led to a disagreement among those who believed that those who were not “visible saints” should not be allowed to worship in the same place as those who were. These colonists were referred to as the Separatists because they eventually separated from the Church of England. Those who chose to stay with the church were called Puritans, although that term could technically be used to describe both.
