The Importance Of Puritans In Modern America

Donald Trump: America 's favorite politician with no regard to political correctness. Once quoted to have said, “If Ivanka weren’t my daughter, perhaps I’d be dating her,” it is no wonder countless find him crazy (Latest News). Trump’s campaign claims to “Make America Great Again,” but what if America is already at the level it was before? America 's fear of immigration and scientific discovery is on par with the Puritans fear of Native Americans and medical advances. This fear caused one of the greatest small town tragedies in United States history: the Salem witch trials. While witchcraft is no longer a push button topic, modern society still holds numerous of the same flaws in judgment as those of the Puritans.

Although the preponderance

Both American and Puritan societies are highly religious societies. The Puritans use their religion to justify their actions against the Native Americans. When European disease hit the natives over 75% died within a few years (Henretta 45). Mistakenly the Puritans took this as a sign from God that they were a superior race. Consequently the Puritans had no qualms with killing for land. A similar situation occurs in modern America. Everyday, American citizens justify refusing marriage licenses to gay couples on the ground their religion deems others inferior. This idea of inferiority also exists in Puritan gender roles. Puritanistic beliefs dictate that while men and women are equal in their ability to achieve saintliness their equality stops there. Similarly, the United States is also a patriarchy; therefore, there has never been a female president and the bulk of companies are run by men. Even though women can vote, they continue to earn a lower wage and are often treated differently than

In refutation others might claim that not all of America is religious and there are some women in power. Although this is true, it 's not a reason modern society is unlike Puritans. Even though some people don 't act akin to the Puritans, the majority do; not every Puritan could be a crazy witch hunter, it only takes a few. For example, take the character of John Proctor in Arthur Miller’s The Crucible. When accused he cries, “No more! Let you look sometimes for the goodness in me and judge me not.” (Miller 55) Proctor continues to use logic to deny his involvement in witchcraft, but eventually the majority rules and sentences him to death. Another common argument is that the United States is more accepting now and works with innovative technology galore. This statement turns to support how analogous modern day society and the Puritans actually are. The Puritans forge themselves a new world with a highly functioning society, government and agriculture system that the whole town agreed upon. If anything, modern America is falling behind when compared to the